Argo began his career as a stage actor. Attempting to break into show business at a time when there was much prejudice against Latino performers, Victor professionally adopted the surname "Argo" to better his casting chances, stating in an interview that he "felt the prejudice was against the name, not even against me."[3] While performing in an Off-Broadway play during the 1960s, Argo met Yoko Ono, with whom he participated in the so-called "Happening" movement. He met Harvey Keitel during the early stages of his career; the two actors remained close friends for nearly forty years and worked together on several films, including Bad Lieutenant which Argo helped persuade Keitel to accept the lead role for.[4] In 1977, Argo became a founding member of the Riverside Shakespeare Company on New York City's Upper West Side. As a member, he toured the parks of Manhattan playing Lord Montague.[5]
Screen
Argo lent his talents to nearly seventy theatrical films and forty television films and series.[6]
In 1985, Argo appeared on The Equalizer episode "The Defector" as O'Hare, who poses as a police officer and puts Melissa Leo's character, Russian ballerina Irina Dzershinsky, into "protective" custody by order of the KGB. Other appearances in the 1980s include, Spenser: For Hire (1985), Miami Vice (1988), and episodes of Law & Order (1992, 1997) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2003). In one of his final roles, Argo played Chuck Manetta, a tough-talking soccer grandpa, in the independent feature, Personal Sergeant, released in 2004.[13]
Music
Outside of acting on the screen and stage, another deep passion for Argo was country music, the actor at one time having traveled to Nashville to cut several song demos.[3]
Later years and death
Shortly before his death, Argo realized a lifelong dream of performing on Broadway when he was cast as Santiago, the owner of a cigar factory, in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Anna in the Tropics.[14]
In his last screen role, in the independent film Lustre by director Art Jones, Argo portrayed a New York City loan shark who retreats from his everyday, hard-nosed rants to a deeply spiritual retreat from the world. The film was released in 2005. In a review, Jeannette Catsoulis at The New York Times writes that Argo's "fireplug body and throaty growl -- emanating from a face resembling a rather sad bulldog -- added texture and memorability to characters who might easily have disappeared in a fog of stereotype."[15]
