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Tom Conti

With his malleable face dominated by large brown eyes, a seemingly perpetual hangdog expression and a facility for mimicry, Scottish actor Tom Conti proved to be a gifted comedic player, often cast in a variety of ethnic roles. This son of an Italian immigrant and a Scottish mother, both of whom were hairdressers, received his training at Glasgow's Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. In the late 1950s, Conti joined the Citizens' Theatre where he made his stage debut. It was more than a decade later, though, before he enjoyed the first fruits of success, starting with a well-praise turn opposite Paul Scofield in "Savages" (1973). British TV afforded him good parts in two highly-praised productions, "The Glittering Prizes" (1976), Frederic Raphael's look at a group of Canterbrigians from their college days to middle age, and "The Norman Conquests" (1977), Alan Ayckbourn's cycle of six plays about three couples spending weekends together. In both, Conti demonstrated his ease with shifting from comic material to more dramatic fare. He displayed similar virtuosity with his galvanizing turn as a sculptor left paralyzed after an automobile accident in "Who's Life Is It Anyway?." For his performance, the actor received numerous accolades, including a 1979 Tony Award as Actor in a Play.