Tony Mordente

Tony Mordente (December 3, 1935 – June 11, 2024) was an American actor, dancer, choreographer, and television director.

He attended the High School of Performing Arts and won a scholarship to the American Ballet Theater School. There he was discovered by the choreographer Michael Kidd, who cast him as Lonesome Polecat in the 1956 Broadway musical adaptation of the Al Capp comic strip Li'l Abner.

Mordente was then featured in the Broadway (1957) and West End productions and film version of West Side Story, during which time he met his future wife Chita Rivera, who played Anita in the original Broadway cast. In the stage version Mordente played A-Rab, and in the film he played Action.

Mordente was the voice of Oliver Cool on the 45 rpm single recording, "Oliver Cool" b/w "I Like Girls" by Oliver Cool (Roulette R-4292). The record did not chart nationally in the US but was a big hit in Australia in 1961.

He understudied the title role and served as assistant to Gower Champion in Bye Bye Birdie (1960) He next teamed again with Kidd for Ben Franklin in Paris (1964) and the ill-fated Breakfast at Tiffany's (1966), which closed during previews. He received his first credit as sole choreographer for Here's Where I Belong (1968), which never made it past opening night.

As an actor, Mordente had guest appearances on the tv series Combat! and The Outer Limits. He began to choreograph for television variety shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.

Mordente began to direct for television in the mid-1970s. His credits include twenty-nine episodes of Rhoda, ten episodes of Matlock, thirty-seven episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger, five episodes of The A-Team, four episodes of The Love Boat, and thirty-three episodes of 7th Heaven, in addition to episodes of The Practice (1976), Busting Loose, Love, Sidney, Family Ties, Day by Day, M*A*S*H, and Burke's Law, among other television shows.