Tony won two national prizes from writing competitions in the under 11 category and with some pals ran a successful underground school magazine at High School. By the age of 18 Tony was making his own small professional films that received wide public distribution. Klinger worked on the iconic TV series The Avengersand in the following years wrote and/or produced films all over the world such as The Kids are Alright, Deep Purple Rises Over Japan, The Butterfly Balland many more. Over a distinguished, award-winning career, Tony served as company President or Chief Executive for media companies in the UK and USA.
Tony later worked in partnership with his father, the legendary film producer, Michael Klinger, who made such films as Get Carter, Repulsion, Cul-de-Sacand worked together with him on Gold, Shout at the Devil andRachel’s Manand several others Tony made with others such as Full Circle.
He knows what it’s like to work with stars, having done so with people like Jack Nicholson, Peter Ustinov, Lee Marvin, Sir John Gielgud, Roger Moore, Deep Purple, Barbara Parkins, The Who, Peter Finch, Susannah York, Michael Caine and many others. Tony has led more than a hundred productions ranging from documentaries to cinema feature films and TV movies of the week in various leading roles in more than thirty countries.
Tony went on to become a hugely successful university academic, serving as a lecturer and Programme Leader at the Bournemouth Film School and Course Director, then Visiting Fellow at the Northern Film School and Director of the Media Production Centre and headed up two other Directorates at the University of East London. Tony has served on many international boards, such as the Association of Media Practice Educators (AMPE) as National Secretary.
2015 saw Tony’s debut as a playwright with A Tired Heart & The Big C. 2017 is a big year for the energetic Klinger with the publication of his third book, Under God’s Table. Tony’s novel, The Butterfly Boywas successfully published as was his best-selling book, Twilight of the Godsabout his making the film, The Kids are Alrightwith The Who rock group which has a second edition about to be published under the title The Who & I.
He has written the feature film screenplay for the best-selling book Just a Boy, the traumatic, ultimately triumphant life story of Richard McCann, that Tony is also scheduled to produce. He is currently writing the book for live stage show featuring the life and music of David Courtney, The Show Must Go Onwhich is due for its first production on the London stage in 2018.
Tony’s next two feature films are the story of Havana, a girl whose growth into a woman is warped by circumstances beyond her control; this is her opportunity to change the world around her. He is the founder of Give-Get-Go – a force for creativity underpinning an enhanced work experience and performance.
Tony, who was born in London, has won many international awards for all aspects of his work among which are The Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Education, The London Film Festival, The San Sebastian Film Festival and many Fuji and Kodak prizes.