Philip Michael Bosco was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Margaret Remunde Thek, a policewoman, and Philip Lupo Bosco, a carnival worker. He is of Italian and German descent. Bosco graduated from Saint Peter's Prep School, 1948, and from the Catholic University of America, A.B. 1957. He served as a private in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, 1951-53. Bosco worked in a carnival and as a trailer truck driver before becoming an actor. He received the Shakespeare Society of Washington, D.C. Award (1957), won the Variety NY Drama Critics' Poll for his performance as Heracles in "The Rape of the Belt" (1961), and received a Tony nomination for "The Rape of the Belt".