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{{Short description|American actor and director (1921–2020)}}
'''Tony Charmoli''' (June 11, 1921 – August 7, 2020) was an American dancer, choreographer, and director. He began dancing on Broadway in such shows as ''[[Make Mine Manhattan]]'' but soon began choreographing for television with ''[[Stop the Music (American game show)|Stop the Music]]'' in 1949. Charmoli then choreographed dance sequences for the popular ''[[Your Hit Parade]]'', winning his first [[Emmy Award]] in 1956. He went on to  direct and choreograph for some of the biggest stars including [[Dinah Shore]], [[Lily Tomlin]], [[Danny Kaye]], [[Julie Andrews]], [[Cyd Charisse]], [[Shirley MacLaine]], [[Mitzi Gaynor]], [[Lucille Ball]], and others. On Broadway, Tony choreographed ''[[Ankles Aweigh]]'' (1955) and ''[[Woman of the Year (musical)|Woman of the Year]]'' (1981) with [[Lauren Bacall]]. Over his career, he was nominated for fifteen [[Emmy]] awards and won three.<ref name="HollywoodR">{{cite news|url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tony-charmoli-dead-emmy-winning-choreographer-mitzi-gaynor-shirley-maclaine-was-99-1306721|title= Tony Charmoli, Emmy-Winning Choreographer for Mitzi Gaynor and Shirley MacLaine, Dies at 99|last=Barnes|first=Mike|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=2020-08-10|accessdate=2020-08-11}}</ref>

==Early life==
Charmoli was born in 1921 in [[Mountain Iron, Minnesota]] as the youngest of nine siblings. His parents had immigrated from Italy. When he was 16 years old, he traveled alone by bus to Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts in order to intern as a dancer for the summer. The next year, on Valentine's Day, he met Wilford Saunders, who was to become his life partner and business manager.<ref name= "HollywoodR" /><ref name= "Leritz">{{cite web|url= https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwdance/article/Lawrence-Leritz-Pens-Personal-Remembrance-About-Tony-Charmoli-20200811|title= Lawrence Leritz Pens Personal Remembrance About Tony Charmoli|work=[[BroadwayWorld]]|date=2020-08-11|accessdate=2020-08-20}}</ref>

Charmoli and Saunders each enlisted in the military during [[World War II]]. Charmoli was an operations officer in the 43rd Fighter Squadron in the U.S. Air Force in Panama and organized entertainment shows for them, while Saunders was sent to Europe and became a secretary to Gen. [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]].<ref name= "HollywoodR" />

==Career==

In 1947, he performed on Broadway for the first time, in the production ''Dear Judas''. He also choreographed ''Eddie Fisher at the Winter Garden'' in 1962, as well as Shirley MacLaine's Broadway revue in 1976. In 1948, Charmoli danced in ''Make Mine Manhattan'', but gave the part to [[Bob Fosse]] when the show toured nationally. Charmoli found Fosse work as a dancer on the TV shows he was working on when Fosse returned from the tour.<ref name= "HollywoodR" />

Charmoli worked in 1949 as choreographer on ABC television's ''Stop the Music''. He then joined NBC-TV's ''Your Hit Parade'' in 1950, and in 1956 won his first Emmy, for his work on the show. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles to take a position on [[Dinah Shore]]'s television variety program.<ref name= "HollywoodR" />

At that time, Charmoli continued to work on directing for television, where he directed programs as the famous 1977 production of ''[[The Nutcracker]]'' starring [[Mikhail Baryshnikov]],<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2vyc8HCqWY Der Nussknacker Ballett von Tschaikowsky (1977), YouTube]</ref> which was nominated for two Emmys (neither nomination was for Charmoli, however). He directed and choreographed nearly all of Mitzi Gaynor's television specials in the 1970s as well as two of [[Shirley MacLaine]]'s. He also worked many times with [[Sid and Marty Krofft]], directing all seventeen episodes of ''[[Lidsville]]'' and ''[[The Bugaloos]]'', respectively,<ref name="Variety">{{cite magazine|url= https://variety.com/2020/tv/features/sid-marty-krofft-hr-pufnstuf-crafts-walk-of-fame-interview-1203481956/ |title= The Craft of the Kroffts: Sid & Marty's Road to Hollywood's Walk of Fame |last=Hurwitz|first=Matt|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=2020-02-13|accessdate=2020-08-28}}</ref>  as well as their TV special ''[[Fol-de-Rol]]''.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqYBugNktIk Sid & Marty Krofft present Fol-de-Rol (1971 Unsold TV Pilot), YouTube]</ref> He directed the first two years of ''[[Star Search]]'' (1984–85), and several years of [[Circus of the Stars]], as well as ''[[John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together]]'' (1979),<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuEzaMzaSHU John Denver and The Muppets - A Christmas Together (1979), YouTube]</ref> winning the Directors Guild Award.

Charmoli also directed several [[Bob Hope]] specials, more than twenty televised beauty pageants,<ref>http://www.inbaseline.com/person.aspx?view=TVCredits&person_id=257976{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}</ref> and the short-lived summer replacement series ''[[The Keane Brothers|The Keane Brothers Show]]'' (1977).

He was the recipient of three [[Emmy Awards]], plus twelve other Emmy nominations. His second win was in 1974 for "Mitzi ... A Tribute to the American Housewife" starring [[Mitzi Gaynor]]; the final one was for Shirley McLaine's 1976 show "Gypsy In My Soul" (for which he also won the [[Directors Guild of America]] award).<ref name= "HollywoodR" />

Other performers he collaborated with included Beyoncé, LeAnn Rimes, and Justin Timberlake.

In 2016, he teamed with Paul Manchester to compose his biography called ''Stars in My Eyes''.

Charmoli died in August 2020 at his home in the Hollywood Hills at the age of 99.<ref name="BW">{{cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Award-Winning-Director-and-Choreographer-Tony-Charmoli-Dies-at-Age-99-20200810|title= Award-Winning Director and Choreographer Tony Charmoli Dies at Age 99|work=[[BroadwayWorld]]|date= 2020-08-20|accessdate=2020-08-28}}</ref> His partner Saunders died in 1999.

Charmoli is considered one of the top television choreographers in history.<ref name= "HollywoodR" /> He felt the television cameras needed to be just as involved with choreography as the dancers, so he always took time to block those as well.<ref name="BW" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0153346}}
* {{emmytvlegends name|tony-charmoli}}

{{Directors Guild of America Award Musical Variety}}
{{EmmyAward Choreography}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charmoli, Tony}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:People from St. Louis County, Minnesota]]
[[Category:American choreographers]]
[[Category:American male dancers]]
[[Category:American male musical theatre actors]]
[[Category:American television directors]]
[[Category:American theatre directors]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Minnesota]]
[[Category:Primetime Emmy Award winners]]
[[Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II]]