# Daniel J. Travanti

Daniel J. Travanti (born Danielo Giovanni Travanti; March 7, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for playing police captain Frank Furillo in the television drama series Hill Street Blues (1981–1987) for which he received a Golden Globe Award from five nominations, and two consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards from five nominations.

## Early life, family and education

Travanti, one of five children, was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to Italian immigrant parents John and Elvira Travanti. His father worked at the American Motors assembly plant in that city.
Daniel attended Mary D. Bradford High School, where he was an all-star football player; he received athletic scholarship offers to several colleges, but he decided he wanted to be an actor rather than an athlete. A good student, he was offered scholarships to Harvard University, Princeton University, and the Alfred P. Sloan Scholarship to Dartmouth College, but he took the General Motors Scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1961. After that, he attended the Yale School of Drama on a Woodrow Wilson fellowship. In 1978, he graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a master's degree in English.

## Career

Travanti's first credited role was in "Child of a Night", an episode of Route 66. In 1964, Travanti guest-starred in the episode "Murder by Scandal" of CBS's drama about newspapers, The Reporter. He made his feature film debut in 1965 (credited as "Dan Travanty") playing a deaf mute nightclub bouncer in the psychological thriller Who Killed Teddy Bear? starring Sal Mineo and Juliet Prowse. In 1965, he appeared in an episode of Gidget as a photographer.
In 1966, he played the role of radio talk show host Barney Austin in the Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Midnight Howler". He (credited as Dan Travanty in all four) was the lead guest star in the Season 3 episode "Collision of Planets" of Lost in Space in 1967, appeared in the episode "The Octopus" of the single-season crime drama The Silent Force in late 1970, was featured in the Season 5 episode "Murder Times Three" of Mannix in late 1971, and appeared in the Season 6 episode "Image" of Mission: Impossible in early 1972. Also in 1972, he played a fugitive in the episode "The Devil's Playground" of Cannon with future Hill Street co-star James B. Sikking. In 1974, Travanti appeared briefly in The Bob Newhart Show episode "The Battle of the Groups". Also in 1974, he appeared in a Gunsmoke episode, "Like Old Times", with his future Hill Street co-star Charles Haid.
Travanti earned five nominations and two Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Hill Street Station Captain Frank Furillo. In 1982, Boston's Emerson College chose him as the commencement speaker and gave him an honorary Doctorate degree. In 1983, Travanti starred in the TV movie Adam, for which he received another Emmy nomination. He starred opposite Sophia Loren in Aurora (1984), which premiered on NBC and received a theatrical release in Italy. Travanti has appeared in a number of TV movies and has made appearances in television programs such as Poltergeist: The Legacy (1997) and Prison Break (2005). In 1986, HBO broadcast the made-for-cable biographical film Murrow, with his portrayal of Edward R. Murrow receiving a Cable Ace nomination. He co-starred in the film Millennium (1989) and as Lt. Ray McAuliffe in the television series Missing Persons (1993).$^{:696}$
From January to March 2007, Travanti appeared off-Broadway in Oren Safdie's The Last Word... at the Theater at St. Clements in New York City, and from November to December 2008, Travanti played the "Con Melody" in an off-off Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's A Touch of the Poet for Friendly Fire Theater in New York.
In 2010, he appeared in an episode of Criminal Minds as a 75-year-old serial killer with Alzheimer's disease.
Travanti had a recurring role on the Starz television series Boss. He also appeared on The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas as Captain William Fletcher in the audio adaptation of "The Little People".
Starting in 2017, he played the father of Chris O'Donnell's character (G. Callen) in NCIS: Los Angeles. His final appearance, and final acting role to date, was in a 2019 episode of that series.

## Personal life

Travanti has publicly acknowledged his past as an alcoholic who found sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous, calling alcoholism a "disease of loneliness and secrecy". In 1981, he made such a confession to Rona Barrett in an interview on NBC and even recited, from memory, all of the organization's "Twelve Steps" on camera. Captain Furillo, his best-known character, was also a recovering alcoholic, and the character was shown multiple times taking part in AA meetings.

## Filmography

Many of Travanti's roles prior to the mid-1970s were credited as "Dan Travanty" or "Dan Travanti." Later roles are credited as "Daniel J. Travanti."

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1965 | Who Killed Teddy Bear? | Carlo | |
| 1971 | The Organization | Sergeant Chassman | |
| 1976 | St. Ives | Johnny Parisi | |
| 1980 | It's My Turn | The Interviewer | Uncredited |
| 1988 | Midnight Crossing | Morely Barton | |
| 1989 | Millennium | Arnold Mayer | |
| 1990 | Megaville | Duprell | |
| 1991 | Eyes of a Witness | Roy Baxter | |
| 1992 | Hello Stranger | Unknown | |
| 1995 | Just Cause | The Warden | |
| 1995 | Siao Yu | Mario Moretti | |
| 2012 | Cicero in Winter | Charlie | |
| 2012 | One Small Hitch | Max Shiffman | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1964 | Route 66 | Marty Johnson | Episode: "Child of a Night"; First credited role in film or television |
| 1964 | East Side/West Side | Paul Jerome | Episode: "The Name of the Game" |
| 1964 | The Patty Duke Show | Myron ‘Rock’ Milankovich | Episode: "Block That Statue" |
| 1964 | The Reporter | Cutler | Episode: "Murder by Scandal" |
| 1964 | The Defenders | Detective Russo | Episode: "The Siege" |
| 1965 | Gidget | Tom Brighton | Episode: "Now There's a Face" |
| 1966 | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | Luca | Episode: "The Deadly Goddess Affair" (as Dan Travanty) |
| 1966 | Perry Mason | Barney Austin | Episode: "The Case of the Midnight Howler" |
| 1966 | Flipper | Commander Willard | 2 episodes |
| 1967 | Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea | Unknown | Episode: "Shadowman" |
| 1967 | Lost In Space | Ilan, Space Hippie | Episode: "Collision Of Planets" |
| 1967 | Judd for the Defense | Don Oliver | Episode: "A Civil Case of Murder" (as Dan Travanty) |
| 1968 | Call to Danger | John Henderson | TV movie |
| 1968 | Lancer | Dan Cassidy | Episode: "The Escape" (as Dan Travanty) |
| 1968 | Here Come the Brides | Will Sullivan | Episode: "A Jew Named Sullivan" (as Dan Travanty) |
| 1968 | The F.B.I. | Roy Blake | Episode: "Death of a Fixer" |
| 1969 | The Mod Squad | Milo | Episode: "Child of Sorrow, Child of Light" (as Dan Travanty) |
| 1969 | The Mod Squad | George | Episode: "Willie Poor Boy" |
| 1970 | The Silent Force | Unknown | Episode: "The Octopus" |
| 1970 | The Love War | Ted | TV movie |
| 1970 | The F.B.I. | Billy Jack Lyle | Episode: "The Diamond Millstone" |
| 1971 | The Interns | Harry Random | Episode: "The Choice" |
| 1971 | Mannix | Tom Stabler | Episode: "Murder Times Three" |
| 1972 | The F.B.I. | Harry | Episode: "The Franklin Papers" |
| 1972 | Mission: Impossible | Tony Gadsen | Episode: "Image" |
| 1974 | Gunsmoke | Carl | Episode: "The Colonel" (as Dan Travanty) |
| 1974 | Gunsmoke | Barker | Episode: "Like Old Times" (as Dan Travanty) |
| 1974 | The Bob Newhart Show | Mr. Gianelli | Episode: "The Battle of the Groups" |
| 1974 | Kojak | Lieutenant Chuck Danena | Episode: "A Souvenir from Atlantic City" |
| 1974 | The F.B.I. | Professor Grant | Episode: "Confessions of a Madman" |
| 1976 | Kojak | Captain Badaduchi | Episode: "A Grave too Soon" |
| 1977 | Family | Benjamin Maxwell | Episode: "...More Things in Heaven and Earth" |
| 1979 | General Hospital | Spence Andrews | Unknown episodes |
| 1979 | Hart to Hart | Edgar | Episode: "Max in Love" |
| 1980 | Knots Landing | Lieutenant Steinmetz | Episode: "The Constant Companion" |
| 1981–1987 | Hill Street Blues | Captain Frank Furillo | Main cast Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama (1981) Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (1981–1982) Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actor in a Quality Drama Series (1985) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama (1983–1986) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (1983–1985) |
| 1983 | Newhart | Himself | Episode: "A View from the Bench" |
| 1983 | Adam | John Walsh | TV movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie |
| 1984 | Aurora | David Ackermann | TV movie |
| 1986 | Murrow | Edward R. Murrow | TV movie Nominated—CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Miniseries |
| 1988 | American Playhouse | Gene Garrison | Episode: "I Never Sang for My Father" |
| 1989 | Howard Beach: Making a Case for Murder | Joe Hynes | TV movie |
| 1990 | Screen Two | Jerry Leavy | Episode: "Fellow Traveller" |
| 1991 | Tagget | John Tagget | TV movie |
| 1992 | Weep No More, My Lady | Ted | TV movie |
| 1992 | The Christmas Stallion | Alan | TV movie |
| 1993 | In the Shadows, Someone's Watching | Drum London | TV movie |
| 1993–1994 | Missing Persons | Lieutenant Ray McAuliffe | Main cast |
| 1995 | The Outer Limits | Thornwell | Episode: "The Voice of Reason" |
| 1995 | The Wasp Woman | Dr. Zinthorp | TV movie |
| 1996 | To Sir, with Love II | Horace Weaver | TV movie |
| 1997 | Poltergeist: The Legacy | William Sloan | Recurring role (Season 2) |
| 2005–2006 | Prison Break | President Richard Mills | 2 episodes |
| 2006 | Murder in My House | Unknown | TV movie |
| 2008 | Grey's Anatomy | Barry Patmore | Episode: "Here Comes the Flood" |
| 2010 | Criminal Minds | Lee Mullens | Episode: "Remembrance of Things Past" |
| 2011–2012 | Boss | Gerald 'Babe' McGantry | Main cast |
| 2016–2019 | NCIS: Los Angeles | Nikita Aleksandr Reznikov / Garrison | 5 episodes |
| 2016 | Chicago Med | Edward Hall | Episode: "Brother's Keeper" |