Charles Victor Buono was born on February 3, 1938 in San
Diego, California. His interest in entertainment was originally encouraged by
his grandmother, Myrtle Glied [1886-1969], who had once been a vaudevillian on
the Orpheum Circuit. It was she who taught Victor how to sing and recite in
front of company. His initial choice of career was somewhere in the direction
of medicine but the pure joy he experienced from several high school
performances (playing everything from Aladdin's evil genie to Hamlet himself)
led him to dismiss such sensible thinking and take on the bohemian life style
of an actor.
In 1959, a Warner Brothers agent happened to scope out
the talent at the Globe Theatre and caught Victor's wonderful performance and
gave him a screen test. Looking older than he was, the studio set upon using
Victor in weird and wacky ways, such as his bearded poet Bongo Benny in an
episode of ‘77 Sunset Strip’. His wry and witty demeanor, fixed stare, huge
girth and goateed mug guaranteed his use in nearly every TV crime story needing
an off-the-wall character or outlandish villain. Victor's hearty,
scene-stealing antics dominated late 1960s TV shows. Recurring madmen included
his Count Manzeppi on the popular ‘The Wild Wild West’ (1965) and King Tut who
habitually wreaked havoc on Gotham City on ‘Batman’ (1966). Buono appeared as
Frank ‘Honey’ Fisher in his only Euro-western “Boot Hill” (1969) opposite Bud
Spencer, Terence Hill and Woody Strode.
Continuing with the theatre but on a more infrequent
basis, his one-man stage shows included "Just We Three,"
"Remembrance of Things Past" and "This Would I Keep." He
also appeared as Pellinore opposite Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence in a 1975
performance of "Camelot" and earned minor cult status for his
memorable performance in the play "Last of the Marx Brothers’
Writers" in a return to the Old Globe Theatre in 1977.
A well-regarded gourmet chef and an expert on
Shakespeare, he died of a massive heart attack at his ranch in Apple Valley,
California on January 1, 1982.
Today we remember Victor Buono on what would have been
his 85th birthday.
He was a master at playing oddball characters. If I remember right, he was the villain on the pilot episode of The Wild Wild West. And I especially liked him in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Whatever role he played, he always brought something fresh and fun for audiences to enjoy.
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