Anthony Eisley (January 19, 1925 – January 29, 2003) was an American actor best known as one of the detective leads, Tracy Steele, in the ABC/Warner Brothers television series Hawaiian Eye. Early in his career, he was credited as Fred Eisley and later was sometimes billed as Tony Eisley.
Biography
Born Frederick Glendinning Eisley in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his father was a general sales manager for a large corporation. Eisley changed his name from Fred to Anthony at the request of the studio. Eisley had thought he would play a comedian but Warner Brothers Television placed him in a suave private eye role in Hawaiian Eye. Eisley left after the third season to be replaced by Troy Donahue as a hotel social director, Philip Barton. In the two previous seasons, Donahue had portrayed the detective Sandy Winfield II, on another ABC/WB series, Surfside 6, set on a houseboat in Miami Beach. Donahue was eleven years Eisley's junior.
When a Los Angeles Times television critic attacked Hawaiian Eye, Eisley penned a reply that was printed in the critic's column on December 7, 1960: "I too would like to see more food for thought on television. I have children whose viewpoints will be largely affected in certain areas by their many hours gazing at the one-eyed monster. But our world is solemn enough as it is. I'd hate to limit them -- or myself -- to a leisure-time diet devoid of laughter, adventure and romance."
During his Warner Brothers period, Eisley appeared in one episode of Jack Webb's Pete Kelly's Blues (1959) and in Portrait of a Mobster (1961).
Support of mandatory school prayer
In 1964, Eisley acted as master of ceremonies at a "Project Prayer" rally attended by 2,500 people at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The gathering sought to flood the United States Congress with letters in support of mandatory school prayer following two decisions in 1962 and 1963 by the United States Supreme Court, which struck down mandatory school prayer as conflicting with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Eisley declared at the Project Prayer rally that the United States was facing "an ideological crisis. Movie stars and the stars of the entertainment world will tell you what you can do about it. Everything will be from the heart." Eisley was joined at the event by Walter Brennan, on whose series The Real McCoys he had once been a guest star, Rhonda Fleming, Lloyd Nolan, Dale Evans, Pat Boone, and Gloria Swanson. Eisley added that John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Roy Rogers, Mary Pickford, Jane Russell, Ginger Rogers, and Pat Buttram would also have attended the rally if their schedules had not been in conflict.
Later career
Non-Hollywood American films
Eisley appeared as a Soviet agent in an Armed Forces training film Espionage Target: You made in 1964. In 1965, Eisley was cast as an attorney in an anti-pornography institutional film entitled "Printed Poison"; produced by the "Citizens For Decency" movement.
Feature films
Eisley performed a memorable role in film as Griff in The Naked Kiss (1964), Sam Fuller's controversial attack on alleged American small town hypocrisy.
Eisley co-starred as character Clint Braden, suitor to the Nancy Kovack character of Nellie Bly, in the 1966 film Frankie and Johnny. He also played Ben Mitchell in the 1968 musical film Star!.
Television
Eisley guest-starred in an episode of the ABC religious drama series Going My Way and in the title role of The Outer Limits episode The Brain of Colonel Barham. He appeared three times on CBS's Perry Mason during the final three seasons of that series. In his second guest appearance in 1964 he played murder victim Vince Rome in "The Case of the Missing Button." In the same year he appeared albeit briefly in a strong Series 3 episode of Combat!, “The Gift Of Hope”.
He appeared six times in the 1967-1970 revival of Dragnet; in one segment he played a corrupt policeman and once he played an attempted murderer. During the eight-year run of ABC's The F.B.I., Eisley made 17 appearances as Special Agent in Charge Chet Randolph.
Eisley was a guest as a villain in an episode of The Wild Wild West, with his former Hawaiian Eye co-star Robert Conrad and reunited with Conrad for A Man Called Sloane.
In 1970, he guest-starred in an episode of The Silent Force. In 1973, he appeared as Ross Nelson, newscaster at Mary's Channel 8 competition, in the Season 4 episode "WJM Tries Harder" on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He had appeared with Mary Tyler Moore years before in "The Lady and the Tiger and the Lawyer," a 1964 episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Schlock
Eisley became known as a cult schlock star for his appearances in One Way Wahine (1965), Antonio Margheriti's Eurospy film Lightning Bolt (1966) and The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966).
He starred in David L. Hewitt's Journey to the Center of Time (1967), The Mighty Gorga (1969), and The Tormentors (1971) as well as Al Adamson's Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971) and Ted V. Mikels's The Doll Squad (1975). He appeared in other dubious delights such as Oliver Drake's They Ran for Their Lives (1968) and The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals (1969), The Killers (1971) alongside Cameron Mitchell, Monstroid (1980) and Fred Olen Ray's Deep Space (1988).
Personal life
Eisley was married to Judith Rogers Tubbs from March 1, 1951 until her death on January 9, 1994. The couple had four children: musician David Glen Eisley, the father of India Eisley; actor and stuntman Jonathan Erickson Eisley; Nan R. Eisley, an assistant to Lawrence Kasdan; and Amanda Eisley.
Death
Anthony Eisley died of heart failure on January 29, 2003, in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 78.
Filmography
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1952|| Fearless Fagan || MP || Uncredited
|-
|1952|| Operation Secret || Maquis || Uncredited
|-
|1957|| The Gray Ghost || || Episode: "The Trial"
|-
|1957|| Navy Log || Joe Foss || Season 3, Episode 13; "Joe Foss, Devilbird"; credited as "Fred Eisley"
|-
|1958|| Onionhead || Lt. Commander || Uncredited
|-
|1959–1963|| Hawaiian Eye || Tracy Steele || Leading role
|-
|1959|| Pete Kelly's Blues || Johnny Cassiano || Supporting role
|-
|1959|| The Young Philadelphians || Carter Henry ||
|-
|1959|| The Wasp Woman || Bill Lane ||
|-
|1961|| Portrait of a Mobster || Legal Advisor ||
|-
|1964|| The Dick Van Dyke Show || Arthur Stanwyck || Season 3, Episode 16; "The Lady and the Tiger and the Lawyer"
|-
|1964|| 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt || Fred || Uncredited
|-
|1964|| The Naked Kiss || Griff ||
|-
|1964|| Espionage Target: You || Nick Macrados|| Military training film
|-
|1965|| One Way Wahine || Chick Lindell ||
|-
|1966|| Frankie and Johnny || Braden ||
|-
|1966|| Lightning Bolt || Lt. Harry Sennet ||
|-
|1966|| The Navy vs. the Night Monsters || Lt. Charles Brown ||
|-
|1967|| Journey to the Center of Time || Mark Manning ||
|-
|1968|| They Ran for Their Lives || Doc Wright ||
|-
|1968|| Star! || Ben Mitchell ||
|-
|1969|| The Witchmaker || Victor Gordon ||
|-
|1969|| The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals || David Barrie ||
|-
|1969|| The Mighty Gorga || Mark Remington ||
|-
|1969|| The Virginian (TV series) || Tom Kendrick || Season 8, Episode 15; "You Can Lead a Horse to Water"
|-
|1971|| Dracula vs. Frankenstein || Mike ||
|-
|1971|| The Tormentors || Lt. Connors ||
|-
|1971|| The Killers || Paul Ryan ||
|-
|1973|| The Doll Squad || Victor Connelly ||
|-
|1974|| The Mary Tyler Moore Show || Ross Nelson || Season 4, Episode 16; "WJM Tries Harder"
|-
|1975|| Half a House || Jordan Blake ||
|-
|1980|| Monstroid || Pete ||
|-
|1988|| Deep Space || Dr. Rogers ||
|-
|1990|| Evil Spirits || Detective ||
|-
|1991|| Lolita al desnudo || Bryan Foster || (final film role)
|}
References
External links
- "Anthony Eisley, 78; Television Detective and B-Movie Actor" - Los Angeles Times obituary
- (as Fred Eisley)