Daniel J. Travanti Movies
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- 1982
This 1982 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Daniel J. Travanti and features musical guest John Cougar. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel J. Travanti, John Mellencamp, (more)
- 1995
This Taiwanese comedy is set in Lower Manhattan and chronicles the travails of two Taiwanese illegal aliens as they try to get a green card. The woman, Siao-yu, works as a sweatshop seamstress while her lover, Jiang Wei, is a student who works in a fish market. They meet an Italian-American, Mario, who has racked up a large gambling debt. They agree to give him the $10,000 he needs if he will only marry Siao-yu and get her a green card. Mario is anything but an ideal husband as he is slovenly, middle-aged, and dull; his idea of fun is to play cards and occasionally sleep with his wife, from whom he is separated. Following the "wedding" Siao-yu moves into his spare bedroom, and gradually the two become friends. As they become closer, their lovers begin to feel jealous, and eventually Siao-yu must choose whether to be with Jiang or stay with Mario. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 2000
A young woman learning to make her own way in the world has to deal with the disapproval of her family -- who, as it turns out, have some secrets they haven't been sharing -- in this independent drama. Mel (Lauren Stamile) is a law student whose father Harrison (Daniel J. Travanti) insists that she take a job working as a clerk at his legal firm. Harrison is at the home of his mother (Anne Jackson) recovering from a recent illness, so Mel doesn't have the heart to tell him that she's losing interest in the law and would prefer to take up cooking as her profession. Without telling Harrison, Mel quits her position at the firm and takes a job as a chef at a restaurant run by Lee (Nick Chinlund). When Harrison finds out the truth about Mel's new situation, he's not at all happy, but Mel soon learns that her father has been keeping an even bigger secret from her. Something Sweet was the first feature from writer and director Olivia Pi-Sunyer; the film was shown at the 2000 American Film Institute Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Chinlund, Anne Jackson, (more)
Ex-crime reporter turned novelist Raymond St. Ives (Charles Bronson) is drawn back into the world of his former profession by wealthy Abner Procane (John Houseman). St. Ives is hired to locate a stolen set of ledgers that, if made public, could trigger an all-out mob war. Amazingly, St. Ives fails to recognize who his real friends and enemies are in the course of his investigation, and it takes all his mental and physical resources to keep from being exterminated. One of the characters who isn't all that she seems is sexy Janet Whistler (Jacqueline Bisset). While the "main" cast is serviceable, the lineup of future stars in minor roles (Daniel J. Travanti, Jeff Goldblum, Robert Englund, Michael Lerner) is fascinating. Based on The Procane Chronicle, a novel by Oliver Bleeck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, John Houseman, (more)
- 1990
A disabled ex-Green Beret who served in Vietnam begins getting clues of his forgotten past via flashbacks and attempts to make sense of it. Apparently, he makes somebody uncomfortable in doing so, and soon is a target for a more complete cover-up. This story of intrigue and dangerous political games was made for cable TV. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Future Newhart costar Mary Frann is cast as female FBI Agent Pat Driscoll. Inspector Lewis Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) is on the trail of a serial killer whose victims have all been members of the same college sorority. Inasmuch as Pat Driscoll is a former member of the benighted sorority, she agrees to set herself up as bait to trap the elusive psycho. This episode was directed by series regular Phillip Abbott. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) gets to show off his tennis prowess when he goes undercover to end the criminal activities of suave racketeer John Harris (Joseph Campanella). The elusive Harris has ordered the killing of a Federal agent, and Erskine hopes to trap the man into incriminating himself. Meanwhile, Harris' paid assassin prepares to eliminate the only witness to the killing, a lonely teenage girl named Barbara (Brooke Bundy). Featured in a villainous role is future Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti, here billed as "Dan Travanty." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
The ongoing war between the planets Argon and Zinan is slated to be resolved in a winner-take-all battle, to be held on the "neutral" planet Earth. Among the six representatives of the two planets is Argon warrior Kyle (Lloyd Bridges), who upon assuming human form arrives in a sleepy California town. Kyle's militaristic resolve is challenged by the curious emotions stirred up via his relationship with local resident Sandy (Angie Dickinson). The Love War was originally telecast on March 10, 1970 as an "ABC Movie of the Week" presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Police detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) returns to finds himself in hot water with the police over his acceptance of help from a neighborhood anti-drug group. The group has done some things which are far from textbook legal, such as stealing and destroying a large shipment of drugs. Though they pulled off their robbery without loss of life, a corpse is found at the scene of the heist. Tibbs, now suspended from the force, uses their help to string together clues which enable him to break up a large drug ring. This is the third movie made starring Poitier and based on John Bail's novels In The Heat of the Night and They Call Me Mister Tibbs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Barbara McNair, (more)
Saving the homestead is the essential plot of this Christmas movie in which a Welsh teenager fights a land developer who wants her dead grandfather's horse ranch. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sian McLean, Daniel J. Travanti, (more)
- 1996
This made-for-TV sequel to the 1968 theatrical feature To Sir With Love stars Sidney Poitier, recreating his role as Mark Thackery, an American-born schoolteacher who in the original film had taken a post in a tough East Side London neighborhood. Thirty years have passed, and Thackery has been forcibly retired, much to the dismay of the thousands of underprivileged students both past and present who have grown to love him. Although he has received several offers to teach in America's most prestigious universities, Thackeray chooses instead to start his career all over again, teaching so-called "incorrigible" students at an inner-city Chicago school presided over by cynical, weak-willed principal Horace Weaver (Daniel J. Travanti). Anyone who has seen the original To Sir With Love can pretty much guess the outcome of the sequel, though a subplot involving Thackeray's search for a lost love is less easy to second-guess. In addition to Sidney Poitier, actresses Lulu and Judy Geeson appear in brief cameos as the now grown-up characters they played in the 1968 film. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, To Sir, With Love II first aired April 7, 1996 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Daniel J. Travanti, (more)
- 1995
Roger Corman executive-produced this made-for-cable remake of his 1960 horror-camp classic. Jennifer Rubin plays an aging model who owns a cosmetics company; when a researcher experimenting with wasps brings her a serum that will turn back the aging process, she decides to first try it on herself. The good news is -- the serum works! The bad news is --- sometimes, it also turns her into a wasp woman who tends to kill people ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Rubin, Daniel J. Travanti, (more)
- 1993
In this suspenseful mystery, two rival sisters vie for the love of a powerful businessman. One of them ends up murdered and then the real trouble begins. The story is based on a best-seller by Mary Higgins Clark. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel J. Travanti, Kristin Scott Thomas, (more)
- 1965
Shot on location in Manhattan during the mid-'60s, Who Killed Teddy Bear? is a startling piece of dramatic filmmaking. Juliet Prowse portrays Nora, a deejay and hostess at a sleazy midtown discothèque who starts to receive obscene phone calls. Nora dismisses them, until she crosses paths with Bill Madden (Jan Murray), a grim, obsessive police lieutenant specializing in sex crimes (his obsession, as he later reveals, derives from the fact that his own wife was assaulted and murdered while out alone one night); he manages both to offend and frighten Nora with his depth of knowledge and suspicions about the kinds of people who commit those crimes. They develop a close but wary relationship even as the caller, whoever he is, proves to know not only a great deal about her personal life, but also about events transpiring right inside her apartment. She goes about her life as best she can, attending auditions and making the rounds of theaters, and socializing with her co-workers at the club, including the bus boy, Larry (Sal Mineo), who seems lonely and has a very sweet younger sister who is mildly retarded. She looks to her club manager (Elaine Stritch) for help, but then rejects her when she suspects that the older woman is attracted to her -- and then Stritch is killed by the stalker, by mistake, outside Nora's building when she is seen wearing the girl's coat. Nora tries to relax and looks to Larry for friendship, only to discover that he is the stalker. Madden also makes the connection, and figures out how he was observing her inside her apartment, but he's too late to save Nora from being assaulted. Larry ends up on the run from the police, who are in hot pursuit as he flees through Manhattan's streets. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sal Mineo, Juliet Prowse, (more)
