Porky’s Actor Tony Ganios Dead at 64

Tony Ganios, who played Anthony “Meat” Tuperello in Porky’s sex comedy franchise, died. He was 64 years old.

Ganios’ fiancee, Amanda Serrano-Ganios, announced his death today x, formerly known as Twitter. He died on Sunday morning after a long operation for a spinal infection.

“The last words we said to each other were ‘I love you,’” Serrano-Ganios wrote. “Love is an understatement. You are my everything. My heart, my soul and my best friend. #Iloveyou #tonyganios.”

Dan Monahan, Mark Herrier, Tony Ganios as Wyatt Knight in ‘Porky’s Revenge’.

20th Century Fox/Getty

“Now it’s just unreal to me. It was so fast,” Serrano-Ganios wrote x Tuesday. “He was not feeling well and hid it from me for days. When he finally told me and they took him to the hospital, his spinal cord was badly infected. They did the operation, the next morning his heart stopped. I am devastated.”

“Now I’m completely empty inside. He was my best friend, my soul mate. I just love him so much,” Serrano-Ganios told PEOPLE.

Ganios made his debut in Philip Kaufman’s 1979 coming-of-age film. Wanderers, playing tough guy Perry LaGuardia. The film also starred Ken Wahl, who worked with Ganios again in the 1991 film Taking Beverly Hills and crime series 1987-1990 Smart.

“Rest in peace Buddy ….. I love you,” Wahl wrote x Monday.

Tony Ganios 2012.

Bobby Bank/WireImage

In 1981, Ganios acted in three films, of which he was the most popular Porky’s. He became a centerpiece of the teen sex comedy franchise, appearing as Anthony “Meat” Tuperello in the 1983 sequel. Porky’s II: The Next Day and Porky’s Revenge in 1985.

Ganios also starred opposite John Belushi in the 1981 comedy Continental division and his last Hollywood film was in 1993 The rising sun, directed by Kaufman. He played an assassin who stabbed Bruce Willis’ John McClane in the eye with an ice pick in the 1990s. Die Hard 2.

His television work includes five episodes Smartepisode The Scarecrow and Mrs. King 1987 and episode Equalizer in 1988.

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Gianos was scheduled to appear at the Cult Classics Convention in Bastrop, Texas, along with his colleagues Porky’s stars Roger Wilson, Dan Monahan, Cyril O’Reilly and Mark Herrier in March.

In the 2015 interview A cult factionGianos described the group as a “big, dysfunctional family” that stuck together through life’s ups and downs.

“We’re like a big, dysfunctional family that has seen each other for over thirty years through marriages, births, divorces, lawsuits and the tragic loss of one of us,” said the Brooklyn-born actor. “Sometimes we feel like we’re strangling each other, but when the chips are down, we’ve always come together for each other’s help and defense.”

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