1960s adventure footnote: My Friend Tony

Main title to My Friend Tony

One of the most successful television producers of the 1960s was Sheldon Leonard (1907-1997). Leonard produced many situation comedies, but also dabbled in dramas such as I Spy (1965-68).

My Friend Tony (1969) was one of Leonard’s least successful efforts, which ran a mere 16 episodes on NBC.

The series star was James Whitmore (1921-2009), an Emmy winning actor who was also twice nominated for an Oscar.  The title character was played by Enzo Cerusico (1937-1991). Whitmore’s character first encountered Cerusico’s Tony during World War II in Italy.

These days, there’s not a lot of information available about the show. One promo that aired during NBC’s broadcast of the 1969 Super Bowl had this description: “A vial of deadly germs imperils an entire city on My Friend Tony tonight.”

The series creators included Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who had written the 1949 film White Heat. By 1969, the duo had become writer-producers handling the day-to-day supervision of Mannix, which aired on CBS.

Leonard summoned Earle Hagen to come up with a theme. The musician, by this point, had worked for Leonard for years on sitcoms such as The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle and The Dick Van Dyke Show. Hagen also had composed the theme for I Spy.

A video with the main and end titles to an episode of My Friend Tony has been on YouTube for a while. The cast included veteran character actor Richard Anderson as well as future sitcom star Penny Marshall.

Richard Anderson, busy actor, dies at 91

Richard Anderson as a presidential candidate in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Richard Anderson, an actor who kept busy as a guest star or in supporting roles on television series, has died at 91, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

As a guest star, he appeared in series such as The Man From U.N.C.L.E,, Gunsmoke, The FBI, Hawaii Five-O and Columbo.

As a supporting player, Anderson was in such shows as The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman (both as their boss, Oscar Goldman); Dan August (as the police chief who supervised Burt Reynolds’ title character); and Perry Mason as Lt. Steve Drumm, who came aboard during that show’s final season following the death of Ray Collins, who portrayed Lt. Tragg.

Anderson’s career lasted more than 60 years. He was in such movies as Scaramouche (1952), Forbidden Planet (1956) and Paths of Glory (1957).

Anderson participated in a commentary track for an episode of Thriller, the 1960-62 anthology show hosted by Boris Karloff. He was asked about shifting to working on television and replied actors go where the work is.

While Anderson found plenty of it on television, he also received parts in movies such as Seven Days in May (1964) and Seconds (1966).