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Daniel J. Travanti

 
Actor: Daniel J. Travanti
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  • Born: Mar 07, 1940 in Kenosha, Wisconsin
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '70s-'90s
  • Major Genres: Drama
  • Career Highlights: Adam, Fellow Traveler, Adam: His Song Continues
  • First Major Screen Credit: Hill Street Blues: Season 01 (1981)

Biography

The youngest son of an American Motors auto worker, Daniel J. Travanti excelled in high school on both the football and debate teams. While attending the University of Wisconsin, Travanti developed an interest in drama; so eager was he to jump-start his career that he begged the faculty to allow him to graduate in three years. He remained the archetypal overachiever at the Yale School of Drama; by the time he was 25, he was co-starring with Colleen Dewhurst in a road company version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Moving to Los Angeles in 1966, the actor appeared on scores of TV shows, playing misfit high schoolers and braying bad guys (he billed himself under his actual last name of Travanty until the early '70s). To counter career frustrations, Travanti grew increasingly dependent upon liquor, an addiction that had plagued him on a lesser scale since his college days. Only when his boozing began adversely affecting his on-stage performances (at one point he was replaced by his understudy in full view of the audience) did he seek professional help. After a six-month stint on the ABC daytimer General Hospital, Travanti was cast as Captain Frank Furillo on Hill Street Blues, a job he held down from 1981 through 1987. During this period, he also showed up in a number of well-received TV movies and specials, including the title role in a 1985 made-for-cable biography of Edward R. Murrow. Daniel J. Travanti was back behind the badge as a Chicago police lieutenant in the brief 1993 TV series Missing Persons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Daniel J. Travanti
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Daniel J. Travanti
Born Daniel John Travanti
7 March 1940 (1940-03-07) (age 69)
Kenosha, Wisconsin,
United States

Daniel John Travanti (born March 7, 1940) is an American actor. He is known for his starring role as Captain Frank Furillo in the television drama Hill Street Blues.

Travanti, one of five children, was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to Italian immigrant parents. His father was a factory worker. During his teen years, Travanti was an athlete and good student, earning scholarships to Harvard University, Princeton University, and Dartmouth College though he eventually attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison.[1]

In 1964, Travanti guest starred with Paul Richards and Roy Thinnes in the episode "Murder by Scandal" of CBS's drama about newspapers, The Reporter, with Harry Guardino in the title role of journalist Danny Taylor. Years later, Travanti earned two Emmy Awards for his portrayal of the Hill Street Station Captain Frank Furillo. Since Hill Street Blues, not much has been heard from Travanti with the exception of a few bit parts in television programs such as Poltergeist: The Legacy (1997) and Prison Break (2005). He did co-star in the 1989 cult classic Millennium and as Lt Ray McAuliffe in the 1993 series Missing Persons.

In January-March 2007, Travanti appeared off Broadway in Oren Safdie's The Last Word... at the Theatre at St. Clements in New York City and November-December 2008, Travanti played the leading role of Con Melody in an off-off Broadway production of Eugene O'Neil's "A Touch of the Poet" for Friendly Fire Theatre in New York City.

Travanti did a complete career interview with the Archive of American Television that can be viewed on You Tube.

References

  1. ^ Horwitz, Simi (2007-02-20). "Having 'The Last Word...'". Backstage.com. http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/features/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003547750. Retrieved 2007-02-21. 

External links

v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Drama Series

Peter Falk (1976) · James Garner (1977) · Edward Asner (1978) · Ron Leibman (1979) · Edward Asner (1980) · Daniel J. Travanti (1981) · Daniel J. Travanti (1982) · Ed Flanders (1983) · Tom Selleck (1984) · William Daniels (1985) · William Daniels (1986) · Bruce Willis (1987) · Richard Kiley (1988) · Carroll O'Connor (1989) · Peter Falk (1990) · James Earl Jones (1991) · Christopher Lloyd (1992) · Tom Skerritt (1993) · Dennis Franz (1994) · Mandy Patinkin (1995) · Dennis Franz (1996) · Dennis Franz (1997) · Andre Braugher (1998) · Dennis Franz (1999) · James Gandolfini (2000)
v • d • e
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama

Mike Connors (1969) · Peter Graves (1970) · Robert Young (1971) · Peter Falk (1972) · James Stewart (1973) · Telly Savalas (1974) · Robert Blake/Telly Savalas (1975) · Richard Jordan (1976) · Edward Asner (1977) · Michael Moriarty (1978) · Edward Asner (1979) · Richard Chamberlain (1980) · Daniel J. Travanti (1981) · John Forsythe (1982) · John Forsythe (1983) · Tom Selleck (1984) · Don Johnson (1985) · Edward Woodward (1986) · Richard Kiley (1987) · Ron Perlman (1988) · Ken Wahl (1989)

Complete List · (1969-1989) · (1990–present)
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