Tony Russel
Tony Russel was an American actor. He was noted for having worked extensively in the Italian film industry in the mid-1960s, and for his work as a voice actor where he was the founder and president of the English Language Dubbers Association in Italy. He was one of several American actors who turned down the lead of A Fistful of Dollars.
Biography
Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, from Italian immigrants, Russel served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He then studied at University of Wisconsin-Madison.Russel founded the English Languages Dubbers Association of Rome in 1954, providing dubbing services for films and becoming the leading English dubbing group in Europe. He was responsible for uniting all of the rival organizations operating in the city, and served as president until 1966, when he was succeeded by Roger Browne.
After making Burt Topper's War is Hell, he went to Italy first appearing in the title role of La leggenda di Fra Diavolo. He then appeared in several sword and sandal and Eurospy films, including Secret of the Sphinx and Gladiators Seven. Russel played Zorro in Behind the Mask of Zorro ; he had originally tested for the role of Walt Disney's Zorro but lost out to Guy Williams. Among Russel's starring roles are parts in the sci-fi epics Wild, Wild Planet and its sequel, War of the Planets filmed concurrently.
He left Italy for America in 1967, and later appeared in such films as The Hard Ride and Soul Hustler.
He died on March 18, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada, aged 91, and is buried in Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery under his birth name, Antonio P. Russo.