Anthony Eisley

Biography

Born Frederick Glendinning Eisley in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, whose father was a general sales manager for a large corporation. He was the father of Amanda Eisley, Jonathan Erickson Eisley, Nan R. Eisley, David Glen Eisley and grandfather of actress India Eisley.

Stage work

Following service in the United States Navy, he took drama classes at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, and then landed his first acting job in a Pennsylvania stock company production of A Slight Case of Murder, which starred veteran actor James Dunn. Eisley also acted in the stage play productions of Picnic, Mister Roberts, and The Desperate Hours.

Early career

His first on-screen role was as a military policeman in the 1952 movie Fearless Fagan. In 1953, he began appearing on television. In 1958, he was cast in the episode "The Trial" of the American Civil War drama Gray Ghost with Tod Andrews. Eisley was in the 1959 Roger Corman film The Wasp Woman, which he described as "a hell of a lot of fun". Eisley's big break was being discovered playing opposite Jerry Paris in a Pasadena, California production of Who Was That Lady I Saw You With? where he was signed to a contract with Warner Bros. In the days of Tab, Ty, and Rock, Warner Bros. did not want a leading man with the name of "Fred" so they changed his first name to "Anthony". In 1959, Eisley played Carter Henry (as Fred Eisley), The Young Philadelphians (1959).

In 1957, Eisley played Joe Foss in the episode "Jose Foss, Devilbird" of the military television series Navy Log. Foss was a World War II Medal of Honor winner who later became the governor of South Dakota and an American sportsman. The episode also features Mason Alan Dinehart as Marly.

Hawaiian Eye

Eisley was best known for his starring role in the series Hawaiian Eye, which aired from 1959 to 1963. After being seen in the play Who Was That Lady? he was signed to Warner Bros. Eisley changed his name from Fred to Anthony at the request of the studio. Anthony had thought he would play a comedian but Warner Brothers Television placed him in a suave private eye role in Hawaiian Eye. Eisley said that he left after the third season to be replaced by Troy Donahue as a hotel social director, Philip Barton. In the two previous seasons, Donahue had portrayed the detective Sandy Winfield, II, on another ABC/WB series, Surfside 6, set on a houseboat in Miami Beach. Donahue was eleven years Eisley's junior.

When a television critic attacked Hawaiian Eye, Eisley penned a reply that was printed in the critic's newspaper column: "I too would like to see more food for thought on television. I have children whose viewpoints will be largely affected in certain areas by their many hours gazing at the one-eyed monster. But our world is solemn enough as it is. I'd hate to limit them -- or myself -- to a leisure-time diet devoid of laughter, adventure and romance."

During his Warner Brothers period, Eisley also appeared in Portrait of a Mobster (1961).

Support of school prayer

In 1964, Eisley emceed a "Project Prayer" rally attended by 2,500 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The gathering sought to flood the United States Congress with letters in support of school prayer, following two decisions in 1962 and 1963 of the United States Supreme Court which struck down the practice as in conflict with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Eisley declared that the nation was facing in 1964 "an ideological crisis. Movie stars and the stars of the entertainment world will tell you what you can do about it. Everything will be from the heart." Eisley was joined at the event by Walter Brennan, on whose series The Real McCoys he had once been a guest star, Rhonda Fleming, Lloyd Nolan, Dale Evans, Pat Boone, and Gloria Swanson. Eisely added that John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Roy Rogers, Mary Pickford, Jane Russell, Ginger Rogers, and Pat Buttram would also have attended the rally had their schedules not been in conflict.

Syndicated columnist Drew Pearson claimed in his "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column that Project Prayer had "backstage ties" to the anti-Communist John Birch Society. Pearson noted that the principal author of the prayer decisions, Chief Justice Earl Warren, was a Republican former governor of California and that most mainline denominations endorsed the court's restrictive rulings.

Later career

Easley guest-starred in an episode of the ABC religion drama series Going My Way, with Gene Kelly. He appeared six times in Jack Webb's 1967-1970 revival of Dragnet; in one segment he played a corrupt policeman and once he played an attempted murderer. During the eight-year run of ABC's The F.B.I., with Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Eisley made 17 appearances as an agent. He also appeared three times on CBS's Perry Mason during the final three seasons of that series. In his second guest appearance in 1964 he played murder victim Vince Rome in "The Case of the Missing Button."

Eisley was a guest as a villain in an episode of The Wild Wild West, with his former Hawaiian Eye co-star Robert Conrad. In 1970, he guest-starred in an episode of The Silent Force.

In 1973, he appeared as Ross Nelson, newscaster at Mary's competitor, channel 8, in the Season 4 episode "WJM Tries Harder" on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He had appeared with Mary Tyler Moore years before in "The Lady and the Tiger and the Lawyer," a 1964 episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Eisley appeared as a Soviet agent in an Armed Forces training film Espionage Target: You made in 1964. In 1965, Eisley was cast as an attorney in an anti-pornography institutional film entitled "Printed Poison"; produced by the "Citizens For Decency" movement. The film also featured actor Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flintstone) as one of the trial judges.

Eisley co-starred as character Clint Braden, suitor to the Nancy Kovack character of Nellie Bly, in the 1966 Elvis Presley vehicle, Frankie and Johnny. He also played Ben Mitchell in the 1968 musical film Star!, starring Julie Andrews.

His most memorable role in film was as Griff in The Naked Kiss (1964), Sam Fuller's controversial attack on American small town hypocrisy. Eisley became known as a cult schlock star for his appearances in Antonio Margheriti's Lightning Bolt (1965), Jack Broder's The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966), Journey to the Center of Time (1967), The Mighty Gorga (1969), Al Adamson's Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971), Ted V. Mikels's The Doll Squad (1974), Monstroid (1980) and Deep Space (1988).

Death

Anthony Eisley died of heart failure 10 days after his 78th birthday, on January 29, 2003 in Woodland Hills, California, and is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).