Preface:  As a youngster during the Great Depression, Anthony Caruso dreamed of becoming an actor.  The son of Italian immigrants, he grew up in Long Beach, California and would not only get his chance to act, but would become one of the most prolific character actors during the Golden Age of film and television.  Throughout his 60 plus year career in show business, he may be best remembered as the "safe cracker" in John Huston's film noir classic, The Asphalt Jungle, with Marilyn Monroe; or as the gangster/tough guy who intimidated everyone from Alan Ladd, Glenn Ford and William Holden to Tom Tyler's "Phantom", George Reeves' "Superman" and Robert Stack's "Eliot Ness" to even Laurel and Hardy and The Bowery Boys.  Throughout the 1950s and '60s when Anthony Caruso's fine performances added greatly to many a Western film and television show, the veteran actor not only proved to be a master at playing the "heavy" role, but the "sympathetic" role as well.  With hundreds of stage and screen credits under his belt, Tony shared with us at Wildest Westerns his fond memories of working in the genre he liked best --- the Western.

    Upon graduation from high school in 1934, Caruso immediately acquired an acting job on the stage, joining an "old-fashioned stock company" in Long Beach performing in tent shows, which according to the actor, was basically "theatre under a tent."  Tony reminisces, "I appeared in a new show every week for two years.  What a great experience that was to learn my craft."  From there Caruso climbed the ladder to the Pasadena Playhouse and was involved...................