Conti, Tom 1941- (Thomas Antonio Conti)

PERSONAL:

Born November 22, 1941, in Paisley, Scotland; son of Alfonso and Mary Conti; married Kara Wilson (an actor), July 2, 1967; children: Nina. Education: Attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England. Agent—Chatto & Linnit Ltd., 123a Kings Rd., London SW3 4PL, England.

CAREER:

Actor, director, writer. Actor in films, including Flame, 1975; Galileo, 1975; The Duellists, 1977; Full Circle, 1977; Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, 1983; Reuben, Reuben, 1983; American Dreamer, 1984; Heavenly Pursuits, 1985; Saving Grace, 1985; Miracles, 1986; Beyond Therapy, 1987; Two Brothers Running, 1988; That Summer of Roses, 1989; Shirley Valentine, 1989; Caccia alla vedova, 1991; Someone Else's America, 1995; Sub Down, 1997; Something to Believe In, 1998; Out of Control, 1998; Don't Go Breaking My Heart, 1999; The Enemy, 2001; Derailed, 2005; Paid, 2006; Rabbit Fever, 2006; O Jerusalem, 2006.

Actor in plays, including: The Roving Stage Boy, produced in Glasgow, Scotland; Savages, produced at the West End, London, England; The Devil's Disciple, produced at the West End; Whose Life Is It Anyway?, produced on Broadway and at the West End; They're Playing Our Song, produced at the West End; Romantic Comedy, produced at the West End; The Ride down Mount Morgan, produced at the West End; Two into One, produced at the West End; An Italian Straw Hat, produced at the West End; Present Laughter, produced at the West End; Chapter Two, produced at the West End; Jesus, My Boy, produced at the West End; One Helluva Life, national tour; The Real Thing, national tour; Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell, produced at the West End. Director of plays, including Dog Days, Present Laughter, and The Last of the Red Hot Lovers.

Actor in both films and television movies in England and the United States, including Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story, 1986; The Quick and the Dead, 1987; Roman Holiday, 1987; Fatal Judgement, 1988; Voices Within: The Lives of Truddi Chase, 1990; The Inheritance, 1997; (narrator) Bagpipe: Instrument of War: Part I, 1998. Actor in episodes of series produced in England and the United States, including: Friends, Cosby, I Was a Rat, and Donovan.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Tony Award, Best Actor, Variety Club Best Actor award, and Laurence Olivier Best Actor of the Year award, all 1979, all for Whose Life Is It Anyway?; National Board of Review Best Actor awards for Reuben, Reuben and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence; Oscar nomination for Best Actor, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for Reuben, Reuben; Golden Globe nominations for Reuben, Reuben and Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story; voted Favorite West End Actor in the last twenty-five years by theatergoers, 2002.

WRITINGS:

The Doctor (novel), Robson Books (London, England), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

Tom Conti is a Scottish-born actor who has appeared in many well-received films and plays during a career that began in the late 1960s. First appearing in British theater productions, he soon became a favorite of American audiences with his many film and television roles. With the play Whose Life Is It Anyway?, produced in 1979, Conti turned to more dramatic roles. In this production he plays the role of a sculptor who is paralyzed by an automobile accident. His work in this play resulted in several awards, including a Tony Award. The actor has also received accolades for his work in the films Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and Reuben, Reuben. His portrayal of an alcoholic poet teaching at a New England college in the latter film resulted in an Oscar nomination. His role in Robert Altman's Beyond Therapy was that of a neurotic psychiatrist, and in Shirley Valentine, he plays an archetypal Greek lothario.

Conti turned author with his debut novel, The Doctor. The protagonist, Hal Sinclair, who had a violent career with British intelligence as a special operations pilot, escapes to Africa to begin a new life with his younger lover, Francesca Trestrai. He becomes a pilot for an organization of flying doctors but is unable to shake his past. When one of the doctors is killed, Hal fakes his own death and assumes the doctor's identity. He abandons Francesca and returns to England to begin the study of medicine, but his past returns to haunt him. Library Journal reviewer Ronnie H. Terpening commented that the story is "narrated in a witty, highly distinctive voice."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, June 1, 2006, Ronnie H. Terpening, review of The Doctor, p. 106.

ONLINE

Camden New Journal Online,http://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/ (October 14, 2004), Gerald Isaaman, "Actor Tom Conti Decides to Write His Own Script," interview.

Hollywood.com,http://www.hollywood.com/ (July 15, 2007), biography.

Horowhenua Library Trust Web site,http://www.library.org.nz/ (September 13, 2005), review of The Doctor.

Paisley on the Web,http://www.paisley.org.uk/ (July 15, 2007), biography.

Tom Conti Home Page,http://www.tomconti.co.uk (July 15, 2007).