Tony Darrow (born Anthony Borgese; October 1, 1938) is an Italian-American actor. Darrow was born in the

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough lin ...

section of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He had plenty of opportunity to observe would-be mobsters and their attitudes while growing up in his neighborhood in Brooklyn. As a teenager, he gravitated towards show business, entering and winning talent shows while working odd jobs. After ten years of singing in nightclubs, Darrow received an offer to appear in what turned out to be a cult film, ''

Street Trash ''Street Trash'' is a 1987 American black comedy body horror film directed by J. Michael Muro (credited as Jim Muro). It won the Silver Raven at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film. The film has acquired a status as a cult classic ...

'' in which he played a mobster. Several months after ''Street Trash'', Darrow was contacted by the film director

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

. It turned out that Scorsese had seen ''Street Trash'' and wanted him to audition for a role in ''

Goodfellas ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' Wis ...

''. He was successful and was cast as the owner of the Bamboo Lounge, Sonny. Darrow was also in the

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

films ''

Bullets over Broadway ''Bullets Over Broadway'' is a 1994 American black comedy crime film directed by Woody Allen, written by Allen and Douglas McGrath and starring an ensemble cast including John Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Chazz Palminteri and Jennifer Tilly. The film ...

'', ''

Mighty Aphrodite ''Mighty Aphrodite'' is a 1995 American comedy film written, directed by, and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Mira Sorvino, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Rapaport, and F. Murray Abraham. The screenplay was vaguely inspired by the story of ''Py ...

'', ''

Deconstructing Harry ''Deconstructing Harry'' is a 1997 American black comedy film written, directed by, and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Caroline Aaron, Kirstie Alley, Bob Balaban, Richard Benjamin, Eric Bogosian, Billy Crystal, Judy Davis and others. The film ...

'', ''

Small Time Crooks ''Small Time Crooks'' is a 2000 American crime-comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen, the film's plot has some similarities to that of the 1942 comedy ''Larceny, Inc.''Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies on June 15, 2006 It stars Alle ...

'' and ''

Sweet and Lowdown ''Sweet and Lowdown'' is a 1999 American comedy-drama mockumentary film written and directed by Woody Allen. Loosely based on Federico Fellini's film ''La Strada'', the film tells the fictional story, set in the 1930s, of self-confident jazz guit ...

''. In 1999, Darrow played a large role in ''

Analyze This ''Analyze This'' is a 1999 American mafia comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, who co-wrote the screenplay with playwright Kenneth Lonergan, and Peter Tolan. The plot follows a crisis-stricken mafioso (Robert De Niro) who solicits the assista ...

'' with

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...

and

Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...

. Later the same year, he appeared in ''

Mickey Blue Eyes ''Mickey Blue Eyes'' is a 1999 romantic comedy crime film directed by Kelly Makin. Hugh Grant stars as Michael Felgate, an English auctioneer living in New York City who becomes entangled in his soon-to-be father-in-law's mafia connections. Sever ...

'' with

Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as both a charming, and vulnerable romantic lead and has since transitioned into a dramatic character actor. Among his numerous a ...

, and got another big role as mobster Larry Barese in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

hit series ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

'', which he was on for the entire series run (1999–2007). More recently, Darrow starred in the independent film ''Lynch Mob''. In June 2009, Darrow was charged with extortion in a 2004 incident. Along with

Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Ame ...

soldier Joseph "Joey Boy" Orlando and associate Giovanni "Johnny" Monteleone, Darrow was accused of ordering the maiming of a man in

Monticello, New York Monticello ( ) is a village located in Thompson, Sullivan County, within the Catskills region of New York, United States. The population was 7,173 at the 2020 census. It is the seat for the Town of Thompson and the county seat of Sullivan Count ...

who owed money to a

loan shark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

. Darrow and Orlando both pleaded guilty in federal court to these charges in February 2011, in exchange for a sentence of up to 33 months. However, Monteleone cooperated with the FBI. At sentencing, Darrow's attorney successfully argued that Darrow's 50+ year history of community service, medical condition, and lack of prior criminal history warranted a sentence of house arrest, followed by a period of probation. Orlando was sentenced to 51 months in prison and Darrow received six months of house arrest.

Partial filmography

*''

'' (1987) - Nick Duran *''

'' (1990) - Sonny Bunz *''The Good Policeman'' (1991) *''Men Lie'' (1994) - Hot Dog Customer *''

Bullets Over Broadway ''Bullets Over Broadway'' is a 1994 American black comedy crime film directed by Woody Allen, written by Allen and Douglas McGrath and starring an ensemble cast including John Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Chazz Palminteri and Jennifer Tilly. The film ...

'' (1994) - Aldo *''

Who Do I Gotta Kill? ''Who Do I Gotta Kill?'' (also known as ''Me & the Mob'') is a 1994 comedy film directed and co-written by Frank Rainone with James Lorinz and Rocco Simonelli also writing. The film stars Sandra Bullock, John Costelloe, Steve Buscemi, and Jam ...

'' (1994) - Tony Bando *''

'' (1995) - Boxing Trainer *''The North End'' (1997) - Nunzio *''

'' (1997) - Camera Operator *''

Celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

'' (1998) - Moving Man in Loft *''

'' (1999) - Moony *''

'' (1999) - Angelo *''

'' (1999) - Ben *''

'' (2000) - Tommy *''Crooked Lines'' (2003) - Jimmy Pico *''Searching for Bobby D'' (2005) - Ralph Argano *''Lynch Mob'' (2009) - Boss Giavanni *'' One Angry Man'' (2010) - Bobby *''

Kill the Irishman ''Kill the Irishman'' is a 2011 American Biopic, biographical Crime film, crime film directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, and starring Ray Stevenson (actor), Ray Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Christopher Walken, and Val Kilmer. Written by Hensleigh ...

'' (2011) - Mikey Mendarolo *''The Goat'' (2013) - Patsy Pirati *''

Friends and Romans ''Friends and Romans'' is a 2014 American independent comedy film written and directed by Christopher Kublan and starring Michael Rispoli, Annabella Sciorra, Paul Ben-Victor and Tony Sirico. It was awarded Best Narrative Feature and Best Cinemato ...

'' (2014) - Frankie Fusso *''

The Brawler ''The Brawler'' is a 2019 American biographical film directed by Ken Kushner and starring Zach McGowan as Chuck Wepner. The film also stars Amy Smart and Taryn Manning. Plot Chuck is a heavyweight boxer ranked in the top ten struggling to provide ...

'' (2019) - Tommy *''Offstage Elements'' (2019) - Carlo Capozzoli *''Duped'' (2019) - Attorney / Carmine (''pre-production'') *''Made in Chinatown'' (2021) - Al Capella

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Darrow, Tony 1938 births Living people American male film actors Gambino crime family Male actors from New York City People from East New York, Brooklyn