Tony Danza: Easy Does It... On Stage, On TV, In Life
Mention Tony Danza and certain adjectives leap to mind: easy-going, playful, likable and relatable. He’s a guy you can picture pulling up a chair for a friendly family poker game, singing karaoke to a Sinatra song at a neighborhood bar or charming his way out of a parking ticket with a wink, a shrug and a smile.
“I guess I have an affinity with making people feel comfortable,” says Danza, disarmingly. “I do.”
"TV’s “Who’s the Boss”
His 40-year career in show business began accidentally when TV’s “Taxi” was casting about for a young, handsome boxer to be part of the ensemble company of actors led by Judd Hirsch. The role fit like a golden glove. With a combination of naiveté and New York swagger, the kid with the blow-dry hair became an audience favorite. That five-year-long series was followed by an eight-year run of ‘Who’s the Boss” (which takes place in Fairfield, Conn.), this time with Danza in a leading role.
Cast of TV’s “Taxi”
Now 67 and still in fighting shape, Danza is getting back in the ring with yet another TV series — his eighth or ninth round, but who’s counting — this time by the creator of the hit series “Monk.”
“The Good Cop,” which premieres Sept. 21 on Netflix, centers on the odd-couple relationship between Tony Sr. (Danza), a disgraced former NYPD officer who never followed the rules and his son whom he lives with, Tony Jr., a straight-arrow, honest NYPD detective played by Josh Groban, most noted as a multi-platinum recording artist and performer. (Groban’s new album, “Bridges,” is also released Sept. 21 and he will be in concert Nov. 10 at Mohegan Sun.)
“It’s funny,” says the Emmy-nominated Danza recently in a telephone interview from his home in New York. “On the show, he fights and I sing.”
Tony Danza at Sardi’s during Broadway run of “Honeymoon in Vegas” Photo by Frank Rizzo