Tony Charmoli — Director | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Tony Charmoli (June 11, 1921 – August 7, 2020) was an American dancer, choreographer, and director. He began dancing on Broadway in such shows as Make Mine Manhattan but soon began choreographing for television with Stop the Music in 1949. Charmoli then choreographed dance sequences for the popular Your Hit Parade, winning his first Emmy Award in 1955. He went on to direct and choreograph for some of the biggest stars including Dinah Shore, Lily Tomlin, Danny Kaye, Julie Andrews, Cyd Charisse, Shirley MacLaine, Mitzi Gaynor, and others. On Broadway, Tony choreographed Ankles Aweigh and Woman of the Year with Lauren Bacall.

More recently, Charmoli focused his talents on directing for television, where he directed such programs as the famous 1977 production of The Nutcracker starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, which was nominated for two Emmys (neither nomination was for Charmoli, however). He directed and choreographed nearly all of Mitzi Gaynor's television specials in the 1970s as well as two of Shirley MacLaine's. He also worked many times with Sid and Marty Krofft, directing all seventeen episodes of Lidsville and The Bugaloos, respectively, as well as their TV special Fol-de-Rol. He directed the first two years of Star Search, and several years of Circus of the Stars, as well as John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together, winning the Directors Guild Award.

Charmoli also directed several Bob Hope specials, more than twenty televised beauty pageants, and the short-lived summer replacement series The Keane Brothers Show.

He was the recipient of three Emmy Awards, plus eight other Emmy nominations.

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