Roland La Starza (born May 12, 1927) (died Sept. 29, 2009) was a retired
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
boxerBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
and
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. Originally from the Bronx, La Starza fought 66 professional bouts from July 7, 1947 to May 8, 1961. He won 56 of the fights, 31 by knockout.
In a March 24, 1950 fight that went against him on a split decision, La Starza may have come closer than any other boxer to defeating
Rocky MarcianoRocky Marciano , born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, was the heavyweight champion of the world from September 23, 1952, to April 27, 1956, when he retired as the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire having won every fight in his professional career.- Early years :Marciano was an...
. The scoring for the bout was 5-4, 4-5, 5-5, but La Starza lost on a supplemental point system used by New York and Massachusetts at that time.
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Roland La Starza (born May 12, 1927) (died Sept. 29, 2009) was a retired
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
boxerBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
and
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. Originally from the Bronx, La Starza fought 66 professional bouts from July 7, 1947 to May 8, 1961. He won 56 of the fights, 31 by knockout.
In a March 24, 1950 fight that went against him on a split decision, La Starza may have come closer than any other boxer to defeating
Rocky MarcianoRocky Marciano , born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, was the heavyweight champion of the world from September 23, 1952, to April 27, 1956, when he retired as the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire having won every fight in his professional career.- Early years :Marciano was an...
. The scoring for the bout was 5-4, 4-5, 5-5, but La Starza lost on a supplemental point system used by New York and Massachusetts at that time. Both boxers were undefeated at the time of the fight, with La Starza's record at 37-0. According to newspaper reports, the decision was "universally condemned around ringside as a miscarriage of justice". La Starza maintains to this day that he deserved the decision, saying "The fact is his manager Al Weill was matchmaker for the Garden. I would say that had a lot to do with the decision."
http://coxscorner.tripod.com/rocky.html
The most important fight of La Starza's career was a world heavyweight championship bout, and a rematch, against Marciano on September 24, 1953. La Starza fought Marciano on even terms for the first six rounds but began to tire afterwards. Referee
Ruby Goldstein"Ruby" Goldstein , the "Jewel Of The Ghetto," was an American boxer and prize fight referee.-Boxing career:Before he became a referee, Goldstein boxed professionally from 1925 to 1937...
stopped the fight in an eleventh round TKO as Marciano battered La Starza relentlessly. This was La Starza's first fight (out of 53) when he was stopped.
After his boxing career La Starza appeared on
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
in a number of stereotypical tough-guy roles. His biggest break was a regular role as Pvt. Ernie Lucavich on the short-lived
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
series
The Gallant MenThe Gallant Men was a 1962-1963 ABC television series which depicted an infantry company of American soldiers fighting their way through Italy in World War II.-Description:...
. He also did guest appearances on various shows including
77 Sunset Strip77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
,
The Wild Wild WestThe Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
and
Perry MasonPerry Mason is an American TV series produced by Paisano Productions that ran from 1957 to 1966. Perry Mason was played by actor Raymond Burr. The title character is a fictional Los Angeles, California, defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
. He even showed up in a couple episodes of the campy
BatmanBatman is a 1960s American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name, which starred Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin, two crime-fighting heroes who defended "Gotham City". It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for two and a half seasons...
series of the 1960s, and appeared in a few movies such as
Point BlankPoint Blank is a 1967 crime film directed by John Boorman and starring Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson, adapted from the classic pulp novel The Hunter by Donald E. Westlake, writing as Richard Stark...
(1967) and
The Outfit (1973).
He and his wife (Jane) and two children (Amy and Mark) left California to retire at their family's cattle ranch outside of New Smyrna Beach, FL in 1972.
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