By Pat Brigandi
Submitted by taxifan

Who’s The Boss? As far as millions of TV fans are concerned, there is only one answer to that question-Tony Danza! It doesn’t seem to matter if he’s playing an ex-boxer on Taxi or an ex-baseball player on Who’s the Boss?, Tony’s ex-ceptional to all his fans.
Dynamite just had to find out why all the ex-citement about this particular actor. What’ so special about Tony Danza to make him one of TV’s hottest stars? We tracked down the answers to this question and lots more. Now you can read all about this famous star performer.

The Schooling of Tony
As a boy growing up in Brooklyn, New York, Tony Danza probably never thought he’d become a star on a hit TV show. He knew he had talent-but it was in boxing. Tony competed as a light-heavyweight in Golden Gloves boxing tournaments. From these matches Tony decided that boxing was where he’d find his fame and fortune.
But his mom and dad had a better idea. They encouraged him to get a good education before he became a professional fighter. So when Tony was offered a scholarship to the University of Dubuque in Iowa, he accepted. Tony ended up earning a degree in history. But he’s the first to admit that education wasn’t limited to the classroom. "The real education was cultural," Tony reported. "I learned that there’s a big difference between growing up in the street of New York and going to school in the cornfields of Iowa!"

A Star Is Discovered!
After college, Tony returned to New York and continued boxing. He worked out regularly at a gym. One day a movie company came to his gym looking for young actors to appear in a film on boxing. Of course, Tony was a natural for a part and he was asked to make a screen test. But, like so many film projects, the movie was never made. However, there must have been something special about Tony’s acting because his screen test eventually found its way in to the producers of the ABC-TV movie, Fast Lane Blues. Tony auditioned and won a role in this film, then continued boxing. But he had to interrupt his boxing career again. Once Hollywood producer Jim Brooks saw his performance in Fast Lane Blues, Tony was on a fast track to co-starring in a hot new TV series Brooks was co-producing. The name of the series was Taxi! The rest is TV history!
Tony tried to continue as a middle-weight boxer and still star on the weekly hit TV show, but it wasn’t easy. His boxing suffered. "I still think boxing is where I had the most natural ability," Tony has said. "But other fighters were working on it full-time and I wasn’t." Then something else started to bother Tony. What would happen if he got hit and was badly injured? Not only could he lose a boxing career but he could lose his acting career, too! The time had come for Tony to make a decision. With 10 wins and 3 losses he threw in the towel-on boxing. SO the boxing world lost a good fighter, but TV land gained one terrific star.

On His Own
No matter how good or how popular a TV show is, there comes a time when that horrible word-canceled-is announced. Taxi had seen better days, but Tony’s glory days were just beginning. Producers Blake Hunter and Martin Cohan were already busy developing a new series, Who’s the Boss?. They knew that Tony was perfect for the part of Tony Micelli.
At first Tony’s manager didn’t think it would be a good idea for Tony to play a housekeeper. After all, how would it look for a rough and ready guy like Tony to be seen cooking in the kitchen? But Tony was the first to admit that he was more than qualified to work around the house. "When I was at home, my mom made me clean before I could go out," Tony revealed. "You’re looking at Mr. Goodmop. He obviously convinced everyone that he’d had a lot of serious training to take on the role of a housekeeper!
It did take Tony a little longer to adjust to being in a starring role, however. On Taxi he was just one of a great groups of supporting cast members. But now, on Who’s the Boss? He was on his own! Tony realized that there was a lot of people depending on him, and he knew how well he had to handle the lead part. He admitted to feeling the pressure. But as soon as Who’s the Boss? Become one of the top ten shows to watch, everyone knew Tony was doing his best to be the best.