Antony Alda
Encyclopedia
Antony Alda was an American actor who grew up in a famous acting family. The son of Robert Alda
, he was born in France
, his early studies were in Rome
and he finished at The Juilliard School in New York City
. An active actor, he appeared on stage, and in film and television including his role as Johnny Corelli in Days of our Lives
. His career culminated in writing, directing, and performing in The Role of a Lifetime. Alda lived an energetic life finding humor in many situations. He died at age 52.
actress. His half-brother, Alan Alda
, graduated from Fordham University
in the year of Alda’s birth and embarked upon an acting career that has surpassed that of his father. Antony’s sons, Ian and Alexander (Zan), as well as Alan Alda’s daughters, Beatrice
and Elizabeth
have continued the family tradition.
Alda described growing up within the dynasty, "The theater has always been a comfortable place for me. I spent all my summers on Broadway. Dad would be in one play and Alan would be in another. I used to hang out with the lighting guys." He found that being an Alda had its professional ups and downs. "People figure you know what you're doing because you grew up around acting. Other people think you got the part because of your name."
Antony Alda finished his high school studies at Notre Dame International in Rome and completed his academic career studying musical composition at The Juilliard School in New York City. Alda was married twice, first in 1975 to Leslie Clark at Saint Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City at Fifth Avenue. Their reception was held at the old Biltmore Hotel
. The marriage lasted until 1977. His sons were born during his marriage to actress Lori Carrell to whom he was married from 1981-1992. During this time, his mother commented, "Marriage was good for Tony. It changed him and made him more mature."
, which won an Oscar, and Homeboy
. He also appeared in three movies including Hot Child in the City
and two TV “shorts” including Bungle Abbey. He was cast in several television series and appeared in more than 200 episodes including two on Knots Landing
, which were his first claim to fame. Alda later played Johnny Corelli during two years (1990-91) on NBC’s Days of Our Lives
.
Like Johnny Corelli, Alda saw himself as something of a jokester. He said, "I always played practical jokes on people." One prank involved his putting on a wig and passing himself off as one of his mother's church friends to a visiting aunt.
. Bobby has lost his wife in the Hollywood rat race and is on his way to becoming a “has been.” He has an accident that results in a disappearance long enough for Hollywood to assume he is dead and to begin to cast a movie based on his life. Bobby takes on a different identity, that of Texan Buck Steele, in order to audition for and, eventually, play himself in the movie. In the persona of Buck Steele, Bobby interacts with his ex-wife, his best friend and a mysterious old Hispanic gentleman. These experiences, while disturbing, enable Bobby to reexamine many aspects of his life. (Alda both credited and quoted Socrates
. He inconspicuously placed Socrates’ quote: “An unexamined life is not worth living” in several scenes.)
at age 52. The cause of death was cirrhosis
of the liver, the twelfth leading cause of death by disease, and which accounts for over 27,000 deaths per year, a slight majority of which are men.
Robert Alda
Robert Alda was an American actor. He was the father of actors Alan Alda and Antony Alda.-Life and career:...
, he was born in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, his early studies were in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and he finished at The Juilliard School in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. An active actor, he appeared on stage, and in film and television including his role as Johnny Corelli in Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
. His career culminated in writing, directing, and performing in The Role of a Lifetime. Alda lived an energetic life finding humor in many situations. He died at age 52.
Early life
Antony Joseph Alda, born Antonio D'Abruzzo on Dec. 9, 1956 in St. Julien, France, into what would later be called an acting dynasty. His father was well-known in the United States both in film and on Broadway, where he earned a Tony. Alda's mother, Flora Martino was an ItalianItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
actress. His half-brother, Alan Alda
Alan Alda
Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo , better known as Alan Alda, is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H...
, graduated from Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
in the year of Alda’s birth and embarked upon an acting career that has surpassed that of his father. Antony’s sons, Ian and Alexander (Zan), as well as Alan Alda’s daughters, Beatrice
Beatrice Alda
Beatrice Alda is an American actress who appeared in The Four Seasons and Men of Respect and is the daughter of Alan and Arlene Alda. She is married to Jennifer Brooke and together they have a film company which created the 2008 film Out Late.-External links:...
and Elizabeth
Elizabeth Alda
Elizabeth Alda is an American actress who appeared in only two films, including The Four Seasons with her sister Beatrice and the short-lived teleivsion version. She is also the daughter of Alan and Arlene Alda.-External links:...
have continued the family tradition.
Alda described growing up within the dynasty, "The theater has always been a comfortable place for me. I spent all my summers on Broadway. Dad would be in one play and Alan would be in another. I used to hang out with the lighting guys." He found that being an Alda had its professional ups and downs. "People figure you know what you're doing because you grew up around acting. Other people think you got the part because of your name."
Antony Alda finished his high school studies at Notre Dame International in Rome and completed his academic career studying musical composition at The Juilliard School in New York City. Alda was married twice, first in 1975 to Leslie Clark at Saint Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City at Fifth Avenue. Their reception was held at the old Biltmore Hotel
Biltmore Hotel
Bowman-Biltmore Hotels was a chain created by hotel magnate John McEntee Bowman.The name evokes the Vanderbilt family's Biltmore Estate, whose buildings and gardens within are privately owned historical landmarks and tourist attractions in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. The name has...
. The marriage lasted until 1977. His sons were born during his marriage to actress Lori Carrell to whom he was married from 1981-1992. During this time, his mother commented, "Marriage was good for Tony. It changed him and made him more mature."
Career
Throughout his career, Alda played in seven films including Melvin and HowardMelvin and Howard
Melvin and Howard is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Demme. The screenplay by Bo Goldman was inspired by real-life Utah service station owner Melvin Dummar, who was listed as the beneficiary of USD$156 million in a will allegedly handwritten by Howard Hughes that was...
, which won an Oscar, and Homeboy
Homeboy (film)
Homeboy is a 1988 drama film, directed by Michael Seresin. It was written by and stars Mickey Rourke in the role of self-destructive cowboy/boxer Johnny Walker...
. He also appeared in three movies including Hot Child in the City
Hot Child in the City
"Hot Child in the City" is a pop rock ode to runaways from the album City Nights. It was recorded by Nick Gilder and it went to number one both in Canada and in the United States...
and two TV “shorts” including Bungle Abbey. He was cast in several television series and appeared in more than 200 episodes including two on Knots Landing
Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
, which were his first claim to fame. Alda later played Johnny Corelli during two years (1990-91) on NBC’s Days of Our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
.
Like Johnny Corelli, Alda saw himself as something of a jokester. He said, "I always played practical jokes on people." One prank involved his putting on a wig and passing himself off as one of his mother's church friends to a visiting aunt.
The Role of a Lifetime
His most notable accomplishment is the film, The Role of a Lifetime, released in 2001. Alda wrote, directed, and acted in, the film. The film is about a formerly successful actor, Bobby. Bobby seems to be egotistical at first, but is rendered into a sympathetic persona by the starring actor, Scott BakulaScott Bakula
Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...
. Bobby has lost his wife in the Hollywood rat race and is on his way to becoming a “has been.” He has an accident that results in a disappearance long enough for Hollywood to assume he is dead and to begin to cast a movie based on his life. Bobby takes on a different identity, that of Texan Buck Steele, in order to audition for and, eventually, play himself in the movie. In the persona of Buck Steele, Bobby interacts with his ex-wife, his best friend and a mysterious old Hispanic gentleman. These experiences, while disturbing, enable Bobby to reexamine many aspects of his life. (Alda both credited and quoted Socrates
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
. He inconspicuously placed Socrates’ quote: “An unexamined life is not worth living” in several scenes.)
Death
Antony Alda died July 3, 2009, in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
at age 52. The cause of death was cirrhosis
Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules , leading to loss of liver function...
of the liver, the twelfth leading cause of death by disease, and which accounts for over 27,000 deaths per year, a slight majority of which are men.
Film
- National TreasureNational Treasure (film)National Treasure is a 2004 mystery adventure heist film from the Walt Disney Studios under Walt Disney Pictures. It was written by Jim Kouf, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Cormac Wibberley, and Marianne Wibberley, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and directed by Jon Turteltaub...
(2004) - Role of a Lifetime (2001)
- Killing Device (1993)
- Driving Me Crazy (1991)
- HomeboyHomeboy (film)Homeboy is a 1988 drama film, directed by Michael Seresin. It was written by and stars Mickey Rourke in the role of self-destructive cowboy/boxer Johnny Walker...
(1988) - Smart Alec (1987)
- Hot Child in the CityHot Child in the City"Hot Child in the City" is a pop rock ode to runaways from the album City Nights. It was recorded by Nick Gilder and it went to number one both in Canada and in the United States...
(1987) - Melvin and HowardMelvin and HowardMelvin and Howard is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Demme. The screenplay by Bo Goldman was inspired by real-life Utah service station owner Melvin Dummar, who was listed as the beneficiary of USD$156 million in a will allegedly handwritten by Howard Hughes that was...
(1980)
Television
- RenegadeRenegade (TV series)Renegade is an American television series that ran for 110 episodes spanning 5 seasons between September 19, 1992 and April 4, 1997.The series stars Lorenzo Lamas as Reno Raines, a police officer who is framed for a murder he didn't commit. Raines goes on the run and joins forces with Native...
(1993) - Days of Our LivesDays of our LivesDays of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
(1990–1991) - Hunter (1987)
- Too Close for ComfortToo Close for Comfort (TV series)Too Close for Comfort is an American television sitcom which ran on the ABC network and later in first-run syndication from November 11, 1980 to September 27, 1986. It was modeled after the British series Keep It in the Family, which debuted nine months before Too Close for Comfort debuted in the U.S...
(1986) - ThrobThrobThrob was an American television sitcom broadcast in syndication from 1986 to 1988. It revolved around thirty-something divorcee Sandy Beatty who gets a job at a small New Wave record label, Throb. Beatty's boss is Zach Armstrong , who looks like Michael J. Fox but dresses like Don Johnson...
(1986) - Knots LandingKnots LandingKnots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
(1985) - Quincy, M.E.Quincy, M.E.Quincy, M.E., also called Quincy, is a United States television series from Universal Studios that aired from October 3, 1976, to September 5, 1983, on NBC...
(1983) - CHIPsCHiPsCHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
(1981) - HomeroomHomeroomHomeroom or advisory is the classroom session in which a teacher records attendance and makes announcements. It can also be called Registration or Planning Period...
(1981) - Bungle Abbey (1981)
- M*A*S*H (1980)
- Hallmark Hall of FameHallmark Hall of FameHallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
(1978) - ColumboColumboColumbo is an American crime fiction television film series, which starred Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. It was created by William Link and Richard Levinson. The show popularized the inverted detective story format...
(1978) - Nowhere to Run (1978)
- SwitchSwitchIn electronics, a switch is an electrical component that can break an electrical circuit, interrupting the current or diverting it from one conductor to another....
(1976) - Three Coins in the Fountain (1970)
- Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1968)
- Daniel BooneDaniel BooneDaniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
(1968)