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Anthony Franciosa

A handsome, forceful, compact leading man of Italian descent with an easy, lithe manner and walk and an aggressive, sly quality not unlike Burt Lancaster, Franciosa first established himself on stage with a powerful turn as the brother of a drug addict in Michael V Gazzo's play "A Hatful of Rain" (1956). Hollywood beckoned and in 1957 he had roles in four prominent features: a nightclub owner in "This Could Be the Night," an unethical personal manager in Elia Kazan's "A Face in the Crowd," a hired man who falls for his boss' wife in "Wild Is the Wind" and recreating his stage triumph in Fred Zinnemann's film version of "A Hatful of Rain," for which he earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination. The actor was miscast as a weak Southerner in "The Long Hot Summer" (1958) but delivered a strong portrayal of a struggling actor in "Career" (1959).