Tony Danza

Monday, June 30, 2003

By Patricia Sheridan, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Last Saturday night Tony Danza celebrated his 17th wedding anniversary. It's that kind of commitment that has endeared him to fans since his days on "Taxi." A prizefighter from Brooklyn, he was discovered while sparring in the gym. Since then, he's been a TV icon still best known for "Who's the Boss?" For the past eight years, he's been touring in a one-man show singing and dancing. Danza entertained Friday at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Tracy, and daughters Emily and Katie.

Q. What's your secret to a solid marriage?

A. Well, you know, I've figured out the secret. Actually, it's pretty easy. Just find a great girl.

Q. What were you planning to do with your life before you were discovered?

A. Well, I'd gone to school to teach. I was a history major. When I got out of school, I just felt like I was too young to teach anybody anything. In fact, one of the things I want to do -- I have these long-range plans -- is when my youngest daughter leaves for college to see if I can throw myself into the L.A. unified system and teach for a year. There is such a shortage of teachers that they're willing to let you learn on the job. I'd really like to try that.

Q. Once you got your big break with "Taxi," you never looked back -- acting, producing, writing and now singing and dancing.

A. I'm still acting, producing and writing. Once I got started, I always thought of myself as an entertainer. I never thought of myself as one kind of actor. There are so many frontiers. I'm really proud of this -- the live part of my life [the live show]. It's something I dreamed up myself, and it worked out. I'm getting good at it, too. At first, holy mackerel, it was tough going.

Q. While you've had some incredible luck, you also experienced a string of tragedies in 1993 and early '94. Your mother died, you had a terrible skiing accident, and then you lost your house in an earthquake.

A. Well, the hardest part was my mom. I spent the last six months with her in New York in the house that I grew up in. I had lost my father 10 years earlier in much the same way, you know, smokers. And, actually, the ski accident was a product of losing my mother. I was skiing and thinking about her and forgot where I was. That's how it really happened. The earthquake was just a bad break. The worst part of it was we had just spent 11 months refurbishing the house. I don't usually think about this much, but I didn't just lose my house, I lost my home. So how do you cope? I think you just pick yourself up and start all over again. We rebuilt the house. I've been really lucky, you are right, but life is fraught with ups and downs. It's how you deal with them that makes the difference. I look for the comedy. I mean, they ambulance me to my home from the airport, and three days later the house comes down and we were in it.

Q. Do you think reality TV is an infection that will eventually eat up all time slots?

A. I think it's here to stay as long as it keeps working. It's not the best thing in the world for actors. This lust for TV exposure that the American public in general has keeps it going. I wouldn't call it an infection, though. Some of it's kind of interesting. Listen, I'm not crazy about a lot of it. I do this joke, if you can titillate and humiliate people at the same time, man, you've got a hit.

Q. When did you learn to sing and dance?

A. Well, singing is something I've been doing, you know, in the shower. But dancing was really the key. I'm sort of a late-in-life endeavor guy. First of all, if you force yourself, you can practice enough. Second of all, it's more important how long you stick with something. And so I got myself a teacher because I wanted to tap dance. I've been dancing now for 20 years, and my wife says I ain't bad.

Q. I read you'd love to do a musical. What would be your first choice?

A. Well, the dream is something new comes along. I mean a revival is great, but something new. Some great play that revives the musical theater on Broadway, and I'm the star. If you're gonna dream, you might as well dream big, you know.

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