The Merchandise Guide
Annual 1977

It happened after the tragic space death of Paul Morrow, the original Main Mission Controller on Moonbase Alpha. There was only one possible man capable of filling Paul's place, and that was Tony Verdeschi. Of Italian origin, Verdeschi was tough. Capable. Articulate. With a highly scientific brain.    In the international world of Space: 1999 characters, Tony Anholt - the man who plays Verdeschi - is himself the most international of them all. He is British, but with French, Dutch, Swedish and Irish blood.    Two series in particular have attracted attention to Tony. He was with Robert Vaughn and Nyree Dawn Porter in 'The Protectors' and portrayed the dashing young Eduard Strauss in 'The Strauss Family'. Additionally, he was seen in 'Napoleon And Love', and has guested in such popular shows as 'Jason King', 'A Family At War' and 'The Seasons'.    Son of an insurance company representative, Tony Anholt was born in Singapore in 1941, but was hurriedly evacuated to Australia, then South Africa, when the Japanese arrived.    His travels continued. He was taken to Burma, then London, where he went to school. His working life began - would you believe - as a tea-taster, but he left to join an uncle in selling	toys, dolls and fancy goods. After that, he was teaching English and Latin at a school in Herne Bay.    His rolling stone way of life didn't stop there! He joined an insurance company, left it to return to teaching, and in fact taught English in Barcelona. A spell with a travel company took him to Paris, and then he came back to Britain, where he joined a firm of publishers.    Finally - and he was still only twenty-three by this time - he took a crash course in acting, working as a night-watchman to help his expenses. He made his television debut in a potato crisps commercial!    There followed other commercials, then stage repertory, small parts in television plays and series, more stage work and his London theatre debut in 'Boys In The Band'. Spotted by Gerry Anderson, he got his first big break in Anderson's 'Protectors' series.    So Tony's stopped his wandering at last. He leaves the roaming to the other Tony. Verdeschi. And who can tell how far Moonbase is going to take him! Tony Anholt, pictured here with Catherine Schell. Moonfact: Verdeschi's sort of sweet on Maya!

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