Some of you may remember Tony Rosato from his time on Saturday Night Live or from SCTV. I had the pleasure of directing Tony as a voice actor in the animated TV series Monster By Mistake, where he played the father, Tom.
Some voice actors nail their performance on the first take and others need a few takes to warm up. Tony was one of the latter. He always provided a wealth of possibilities and my job (and the job of the other directors) was to gently guide Tony into the interpretation we thought best. You never had to worry about Tony coming up with a good reading.
It was also a pleasure as a writer to know that Tony would improve any comedy scene he was handed. Thinking of him while I sat at the keyboard made writing funny scenes for his character that much easier.
It seems that Tony has slipped between the cracks of the criminal justice and mental health systems, as this article details. I haven't seen Tony since 2003, but I have enormous respect for his abilities and genuine fondness for him as a person. I hope that his situation gets straightened out and that he gets the help that he needs and deserves.
Tony was found languishing in jail by a fan, who wishes to remain anonymous, that was just curious about what Tony Rosato was up to these days. If this case stands for just one thing, it’s how important it is to have an advocate because people really do get lost in our system of justice.
ReplyDeleteHi Mike. I've been following Tony Rosato's case here and there. I don't know him although I see we both worked on Due South although not on the same episodes it seems. For whatever reason his bizarre illness struck a chord.
ReplyDeleteIf you have any contact with him let him know there are people that don't even know him saying a prayer and as you say, hoping that he gets the help he needs and deserves. It's got to be tough on all of his family and friends and I'll keep them on the list for prayers as well.
John Wade
johnwade@johnwade.ca
BTW, I'm pretty sure I regularly hear the theme music for Monster's by Mistake reverberating into my home office so I'm sure it's a hit on one of the televisions at my house. Congratulations.