Tony Giorgio

Tony Giorgio, born in Herkimer in 1923, was an actor and magician of Italian descent. He started out as a stage performer doing magic and card manipulation, leaving home at 12 to join a circus, and he went on to work conventions, fraternal and country clubs, casinos and film studios. In the 1960s Playboy Clubs employed him as their gambling expert, and he gave lectures about confidence games and scams. He was among the earliest performers at The Magic Castle and in the 1990s took its award for best close-up magic. On screen he played Bruno Tattaglia in The Godfather (1972) and appeared in Magnum Force (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974), then in Capone (1975) and American Me (1992). He also worked in television, on Kojak, The A-Team, Mannix and Mission Impossible. In theater he was the first to play Big Julie in Guys and Dolls. He died in 2012.