Tony Ganios: 5 Things About ‘Porky’s’ Actor Dead at 64
‘The Wanderers’ star died on February 18, 2024, after undergoing surgery in New York. Here are 5 things to know about Tony amid the somber news.
Tony Ganios has died after undergoing surgery in New York, as reported by Variety on February 20, 2024. His fiancée, Amanda Serrano-Ganios, took to X (Twitter) to confirm the news on February 19 with a photo. “I love you so much, my love. I’m broken,” she penned in the caption. In the snapshot, Amanda sweetly held her fiancé’s hand as they rested together.
Later, she took to the social platform once more to share what Tony’s final words to her were. “The last words we said to each other were ‘I love you.’ Love is an understatement. You are everything to me,” Amanda wrote. “My heart, my soul and my best friend. #I love you #tonyganios.” In a response to a fan, Amanda revealed that her soon-to-be husband had suffered from a spinal cord infection.
“Thank you, Marc. It’s just unreal to me right now. It was so fast,” she explained in the post. “He hadn’t felt well and hid it from me for days. When he finally told me, and was taken to the hospital, his spinal cord was severely infected. They did surgery, next morning, his heart stopped. I’m crushed.”
Amid Tony’s unexpected death, below are five things to know about him.
Tony Ganios Was Known for His Time on ‘Porky’s’
Tony (b. 1959) was most known for his role as Meat in the 1981 film, Porky’s. He starred in the Bob Clark-directed project alongside Dan Monahan, Mark Herrier, and Sex and the City alum Kim Cattrall. The comedy was so successful that Tony also appeared in the two sequels including Porky’s 2 and Porky’s Revenge! The movies featured a group of teenage boys seeking to lose their virginity during the 1950s, as reported by Deadline.
Tony Also Starred in ‘The Wanderers’
Two years before Porky’s Tony starred in The Wanderers. The film starred other A-listers including Ken Wahl, John Friedrich, and Scrooged actress Karen Allen. The Philip Kaufman-directed movie was released in 1979 and was about an Italian-American gang based in the Bronx. In this film, Tony played the role of Perry. Other films that featured the late actor included Continental Divide, Body Rock, The Taking of Beverly Hills, and more. He even appeared in Die Hard 2 alongside Bruce Willis in 1990.
He Was Engaged to A Woman Named Amanda
Although it’s unclear how long Tony and Amanda were together, she was clearly smitten with her leading man. Most recently, on February 20, 2024, Amanda gushed over her late life partner via social media. “He was the best anyone could ask for. So loving, intelligent and funny. He was the light of my life,” she wrote via a reply to a friend. “Thank you so much, Cody. Your family came up in our conversation just last week, and I told him how blessed he was, how John was a true friend and I wish I had met him.”
Tony Ganios Didn’t Believe He Was Successful
After his time on Die Hard 2, Tony retired from acting. He opened up about why he chose to step away from Hollywood during a 2015 interview with Cult Faction. “By the early ‘90s my ever lethargic career had slowed to a complete stop. Auditions for film and television roles, which had always been few and far between, had now become non-existent,” Tony said at the time. “And I was never the darling of the slimy agents and self-important casting directors. It was time to move on.”
He later returned for brief work in Hollywood. However, Tony didn’t feel successful. “It’s a strange thing. While I did miss acting, I didn’t miss the entertainment industry or most of the people in it. But as time went by, I would constantly run into fans who were genuinely disappointed to know that I had quit the business,” he explained. “Their votes of confidence notwithstanding, I think few of my friends and fans realized how difficult it would be for me to get back into an industry where I was hardly successful in the first place.”
He Is Being Mourned by Many Following His Death
After news of Tony’s death landed on social media, many of the late star’s fans took to X to publicly mourn his loss. “My condolences. Our whole family loved Tony,” one fan penned to Amanda. “He and I were corresponding on my old Twitter account & I deleted my account when Elon Musk took over. I remade it only recently. Wish I had kept that account for our messages. He was a titan among men, and full of love & stories.”
Ken, who starred in The Wanderers alongside Tony, took to X on February 19 to mourn his friend. “Rest In Peace, Buddy ….. I love you. #tonyganios,” he captioned a throwback photo with his former co-star. Later, actor Jack Mulcahy, took to X on February 20 to grieve Tony’s death. “Devastated by the news that my friend and ‘PORKY’s’ cast-mate Tony Ganios passed away last Sunday. You’ll be missed, Joe Guy. Rest In Peace,” he captioned a series of throwback photos with Tony.