Guardino won raves on Broadway and in feature character roles before establishing himself as a TV lead in the early 1960s. Craggy-faced, sporting bushy eyebrows, and often somewhat rumpled, he convinces as Italian-American tough guys in and out of uniform and on both sides of the law. TV generally cast Guardino in positions of responsibility including lawyers (DA Hamilton Burger on "The New Adventures of Perry Mason" CBS, 1973-74), G-men ("Monty Nash" syndicated 1971), and police brass in a series of pilots both successful and busted ("The Police Story" NBC, 1973; "Get Christie Love!" ABC,
