Bio
In the summer of 1959, a talent scout from Warner Bros. saw the heavyset Buono play Falstaff at the Globe and took him up to Hollywood for a screen test.
He made his first network TV appearance playing the bearded poet Bongo Benny in an episode of 77 Sunset Strip.
Over the next few years he appeared on numerous shows playing menacing heavies in just about every Grade A private eye series. He also appeared on The Untouchables. Due to his overweight stature, Buono usually played older characters.
After appearing in a few motion pictures uncredited, he was cast by director Robert Aldrich in the psychological horror movie What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) with screen luminaries Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. He played the part of the ne'er-do-well musical accompanist, Edwin Flagg.
Buono was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance.
He appeared in Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) playing Big Sam Hollis, the father of Bette Davis, who had the title role, which was also directed by Aldrich. And he appeared in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) starring Max von Sydow, Michael Anderson, Jr. and Carroll Baker, which was produced and directed by George Stevens.
He also appeared in such movies as 4 for Texas (1963), Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964), The Silencers (1966), Who's Minding the Mint? (1967), Target: Harry (1969) and Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970).
Buono had a vast body of work in movies, and among his extensive TV appearances were the recurring roles of the demented Count Manzeppi on the popular (CBS) series The Wild Wild West starring Robert Conrad and Ross Martin, which ran from 1965 to 1969, and he also played an unrelated character in the second and final Wild Wild West reunion movie.
He played King Tut on the (ABC) series Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward, which ran from 1966 to 1968. He was in demand to play villains of various nationalities and ethnic origins on many programs between 1964 and 1970.
His later roles were more of pompous intellectuals and shady con men.
Victor Buono died on 1 January, 1982, of a heart attack. He was 43.