How Did I Get *HERE*? (Looking Around the Rabbit Hole)

Tweet

The interesting thing about these wild goose chases I go off on in terms of information is….sometimes I don’t even know what gets me started!!! I do remember the reason this one started, though: the “this day in history” glance on Wikipedia. I noticed that January 1, New Year’s Day in the western world, was notable for a lot of deaths. One of them was actor Victor Buono. To people my age, Buono is best remembered as King Tut on Batman, but he had several other significant roles. The best-known of these was his Oscar-nominated role in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. He died on New Year’s Day, 1982 at the age of 43. (He was reported to weigh 400 pounds, so his cause of death being a heart attack should be no surprise.) Here’s where things get interesting (at least, for me). Buono’s father, Victor Francis Buono, had died the year before his son passed. No, that’s not the interesting part. HERE is the interesting part. His obituary, posted on Find-a-Grave, states that he died on May 17, 1981 at the age of 71. He was a veteran of the San Diego Police Department and a bail bondsman. Here’s the flowery statement: During his eight years with the San Diego Police Department he was twice wounded and received department commendations for his efforts. He owned interests in tuna boats, canneries and mining ventures in Baja California. In addition to operating a bail bond company until 1958, he was employed by San Diego Gas & Electric Co. Mr. Buono managed his son Victor's affairs until 1970 and at one time sold marine insurance. What it doesn’t mention is that he was also a convicted murderer. Yep, Victor Buono’s dad did time for murder. There was a man alleged to be in the rackets in San Diego by the name of Anthony “Papa Tony” Mirabile. He was the uncle of a Detroit mobster Joe Hooks and allegedly ran loan shark and bar rackets in San Diego. In October 1958 he was questioned by a city assembly rackets committee. Of course, Mirabile was Sgt. Schultz: he heard nothing, he saw nothing, and he knew NOTHING!!! Maybe, however, he’d been investigated too closely or there was too much information that the cops got from investigating him. So, on December 27, 1958, he was found shot to death in his apartment in San Diego. Two days later the newspapers reported that they found the gun and traced its ownership to one Victor F. Buono, a “convicted bird smuggler” and former bail bondsman. He claimed that he loaned the gun to a friend, who said it had been missing for about two weeks. By February 1959 Buono was arrested, along with three others, for the murder. The case was moved to Los Angeles out of San Diego, and on September 15, 1959, Buono and the other three defendants were convicted of the murder. The actor Victor Buono was already active in performing by the time all of this happened. In fact, while his father was awaiting trial Buono was discovered in a Shakespeare play and taken to Hollywood. He quickly got TV roles (his first reported role was on 77 Sunset Strip) and film spots, including the Oscar nomination in 1962 and a role in 1964’s Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte with Bette Davis. He said he loved playing King Tut, saying, ”Batman allowed me to do what actors are taught NEVER to do: overact.” Buono had a great sense of humor, recording an album of self-deprecating humor called Heavy! Here’s his poem, “I’m Fat.”