Ever-busy Danza can work it out

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 | 8:06 a.m.

Workaholic Tony Danza will perform at The Orleans this week, but he had to cancel a date at the Suncoast in October because -- well, he'll be working.

Not content with a couple of hit TV series ("Taxi," "Who's the Boss?"), Broadway (Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh"), off-Broadway ("Wrong Turn at Lungfish"), films ("Angels in the Outfield," "Dear God") and a cabaret act in which he sings and dances, the peripatetic personality will host a TV talk show in the fall.

Beginning Sept. 13 Danza will join Ellen DeGeneres, Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, Montel Williams and a host of other hosts when his syndicated "The Tony Danza Show" premieres, following "Live With Regis."

During a recent attempt at a telephone interview the 54-year-old Danza was running through the airport in Philadelphia, assisted by police, talking on his cell phone and trying to make it to the starting gate.

"It's really exciting," he said, trying to juggle several tasks as he ran. "This is a big change in my life, a big challenge. I'm really excited. You can't re-invent the wheel, but I think I can bring something new to the talk-show scene."

Danza had to interrupt the interview. He excused himself and hung up. Something about a ticket. After a few minutes, he called back.

"I'm going to try to bring a little bit of entertainment, some inspiration to the show," said Danza, who did a successful guest co-host gig with Philbin recently to test the waters.

He doesn't want to interview the same old celebrities who make the talk show rounds.

"I want to get off the beaten path, as far as guests go," Danza said. "I'll go after the celebrities that don't do interviews. Or the kid that won the national spelling bee, and the kid that fainted and came in second place -- the kind of stuff people are interested in."

He has his sights set on the likes of Sidney Poitier as a guest.

"I'll talk about what's interesting to me" said Danza, who attended the University of Dubuque, Iowa, on a wrestling scholarship before becoming a small businessman -- he owned a car wash and a couple of bars in his native Brooklyn.

He says he won't avoid politics as a topic of discussion.

"But I will try to do something a little different," he said. "I will try to hear both sides. Everything is so polarized these days."

Danza says his concert performances over the past 10 years have been a good training ground for being a talk-show host.

"You have to be fast on your feet when you're in front of a live audience," Danza said, meaning not just in terms of dancing but in reacting.

Danza decided to turn to performing onstage after a skiing accident in 1993 that almost killed him. He says when he recovered he was determined to make the most of his life, and that included a lifelong dream of singing and dancing.

Danza put an act together, opened for such legends as Tony Bennett and Joan Rivers and eventually struck out on his own.

He says he won't give up the stage for his talk show -- he will just have to find ways to work around it.

Nor will he give up other interests, such as producing movies. His current film project is "The Man who Played God."

The original story, by Gouverneur Morris, was made into a silent film in 1922 and remade with sound in 1933. The plot involved a concert pianist who went deaf, retired to his penthouse in New York and spent his life helping other people, dramatically changing their lives.

"There are a couple of parts I would like to play in the film," Danza said. "Maybe the tough private eye, an Italian guy."

But most of his focus will be on the talk show.

"It's an incredible opportunity," Danza said. "It's a chance for me to bring what I do to the venue."

Buena Vista offered him a talk show more than a year ago, but he was too busy to take them up on the deal.

"It was a good offer," Danza said. "I'm really excited about it, but it's going to be a lot of work."

So, what else is new?