Tony Danza
3
Hard to rate him very high, in my opinion, although-- in fairness-- I can't say I've ever seen him in too much. Then again, what has he been in? I never watched "Taxi", thought "Who's The Boss?" was execrable, and saw him as cop-killer/Mafia wanna-be Gus Farace in a TV-movie (the name of which escapes me, at the moment) based on reality. I thought he wasn't bad as Farace, maybe even better than ok, but he assuredly didn't give Nick Nolte or Denzel Washington any sleepless nights. On the other hand, as a person, I always thought highly of him. In 1984, I briefly met him at Ferrara's Bakery on NY's Mulberry Street. Ironically enough, it was the very night that Andy Kaufman died. A friend and I had spent the day in NY, and were buying pastry (as we normally did) before returning to NJ. There were 2 parts to Ferrara's; the one part that was like a normal bakery where you grabbed a ticket and bought what you wanted, and the other part where you sat down, ordered, and ate, like in a regular restaurant. We were in the bakery part, and several old Italian ladies were giddy, talking about "Tony". One of them practically pushed us into the other section, telling us, "Go meet Tony Danza; he's next door." I didn't want to for 2 reasons; No. 1-- I wasn't a fan, and No. 2-- he was a boxer and had recently gotten into well-publicized trouble for allegedly assaulting someone who was annoying him. I was in good shape in those days, but I wasn't a trained boxer (whatever boxing career I had once contemplated had ended ignominiously with a few well-placed shots to my fragile dome) and had no desire to get my name mentioned in the tabloids as still another poor schmuck who got his ass kicked by Tony Danza. But I also wasn't about to slink out, clutching my cannolis timidly to my chest and giving NJ a bad name. When we entered the restaurant part of the establishment, Tony was there surrounded by a bevy of gorgeous young women. I walked by, muttered, "Hey, Tony, how you doing?", and held out my hand. To my surprise, he gripped it strongly, said something along the lines of, "Hey, pal, how you doin'?", and seemed genuinely glad to see me. My friend received a similar response. A small matter, no doubt, and supremely unimportant in the larger scheme of things, but I always held a certain regard for Danza after that that I probably otherwise wouldn't have had. Especially when you consider the untalented, arrogant prima donnas out there. Danza still seems like a regular, gracious guy, and I've wished him all the success he wants. As far as his acting ability, I can't really say, but he's a good guy.
