Tony Charmoli is a director-choreographer best known for his choreography and directorial work on programs such as Your Hit Parade (1955), The Nutcracker (1977), Gypsy in My Soul (1976) and several television specials with Mitzi Gaynor, Shirley MacLaine, Bob Hope, Lily Tomlin, and Dinah Shore.
Charmoli began his Hollywood career as a choreographer for the television show Stop the Music (1949 and eventually moved on to choreograph sequences for Your Hit Parade, winning his first Emmy Award in 1955. In 1970, Charmoli made his television directorial debut with The Bugaloos and has gone on to direct many programs, including the 1977 production of The Nutcracker starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, the first two years of Star Search (1984-1985), several Miss Universe pageants, and John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together (1979). Charmoli’s final directorial effort came in 1999 for the TV musical audition series, Destination Stardom.
For his choreography work, Charmoli has won three Primetime Emmy Awards for; Gypsy in My Soul (1976) and Mitzi...A Tribute to the American Housewife (1974) and Your Hit Parade (1955). For his directing efforts, Charmoli has been nominated for six Primetime Emmys and five DGA Awards, winning the Guild’s honors in 1977 for Gypsy in My Soul and in 1980 for John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together.
Charmoli passed away in August 2020.