From the WAI! vault

 

Little Known Spaghetti Western actors ~ Augusto Di Giovanni

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

Augusto Di Giovanni is an Italian actor known for his work in Italian theater and cinema during the mid-20th century. Born in Salerno, Italy on February 11, 1910, he appeared in several films, including “Sei bambine ed il Perseo” (1940). Di Giovanni began acting with amateur theatre companies in Salerno, marking his first steps in performance before any professional engagements.

Di Giovanni made his film debut in 1937, portraying King Ferdinand II of Naples in the historical drama “Il dottor Antonio”, directed by Enrico Guazzoni. This marked his entry into cinema while he continued his established work in theatre. In the late 1930s, Di Giovanni appeared in a series of supporting roles across various genres, including dramas, comedies, and musical films. He featured in “L'ultimo scugnizzo” (1938), directed by Gennaro Righelli, “Giuseppe Verdi” (1938), “Il barone di Corbò” (1939), “Il cavaliere di San Marco” (1939), “Piccolo hotel” (1939), “Imputato, alzatevi!” (1939), and “Lo vedi come sei... lo vedi come sei? (1939), directed by Mario Mattoli.[9] His most prominent early role came in Sei bambine e il Perseo” (1940), directed by Giovacchino Forzano, where he played the leading part of Benvenuto Cellini in this adventure film. Entering the 1940s amid the wartime period, Di Giovanni took on notable character parts, including a guappo role as don Peppino Esposito alongside Totò in “San Giovanni decollato” (1940), directed by Giorgio Bianchi and Amleto Palermi. He reunited with Totò the following year as the boastful lion hunter Asdrubale in “L'allegro fantasma” (1941), directed by Amleto Palermi. In 1942, he appeared in “A che servono questi quattrini?”, directed by Esodo Pratelli and featuring the De Filippo brothers. These films highlighted his versatility in comedic and character-driven supporting performances up through the early 1940s.

During the closing years of World War II and the ensuing post-war period, Augusto Di Giovanni sustained a steady career as a character actor in Italian cinema, contributing supporting performances across diverse genres including dramas, comedies, adventure films, and melodramas. His final screen appearance was in “Addio per sempre!” (1958). These numerous supporting parts reflected his versatility and consistent presence in the Italian film industry throughout the post-war reconstruction era until his retirement from cinema around 1958. He died five years later in Naple, Italy on April, 9, 1963, at the age of 53.

Augusto Di Giovanni appeared in one Euro-western, “Il sogno di Zorro” (The Dream of Zorro) as Don Formoso in 1951.

Di GIOVANNI, Augusto [2/11/1910, Salerno, Campania, Italy – 4/9/1963, Naples, Campania, Italy] – theater, film actor.

The Dream of Zorro – 1951 (Don Formoso)

Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director ~ Jack Daring

Jack Daring was the stage name for Percy Moran an Irish-born action hero of British silent films, notably as Lieutenant Jack Daring in a series of crime adventures. He was born in Ireland on June 18, 1886. Moran had been a boxer and film extra before he began acting for the screen in 1912.From then until 1924 she acted in forty-eight films between 1911 and 1924 British silent productions. One of his best-known roles was as Lieutenant Jack Daring in several adventure films. Precisely under the name of Jack Daring, he directed a western film in 1919, “Jack, Sam and Pete”, also starring him.

According to some sources, and under the name Eddie Moran, he could have continued to perform for the big screen in the 1940s in the United States.

Percy Moran died in 1958.

As Jack Daring he directed one silent Euro-western "Jack, Sam and Pete" in 1919

DARING, Jack (aka Eddie Moran, Herbert Stewart) (Percy Moran) [6/18/1886, Ireland, U.K. – 1958] – boxer, stuntman, director, writer, actor.

Jack, Sam and Pete – 1919

 

Spaghetti Western Screenwriter ~ Giovanni Bufalini

Giovanni has had an interest in film since the age of ten. He moved from his hometown to Milan in the early 1990s where he worked as a professional illustrator. He also took up singing and began his career as an actor appearing in local theater plays.

He then began experimenting making video films and released his first film “Marasma Milano” in 2001. He graduated from Civic School of Cinema, Television and New Media in Milan and then moved to Rome where he attended the above mentioned VIII° Corso RAI SCRIPT course.

His love of westerns comes from his father where they attended the cinema for Bud & Terence. The Dollar Trilogy was seen on TV every time Leone's films were played. Add to it that Orvieto, Tuscia in particular, is the Italian Louisiana as I always say. In my youth it was therefore easy to superimpose some vintage American atmospheres with what we lived on the sunny country roads. I grew up riding horses, because we had them available in the family. Then, in adulthood, I also began to get passionate about western shooting with real vintage weapons.

Since 2001 Bufalini has directed forty-four films, written for forty-five and acted in fourteen.

Giovanni has written two screenplays for Euro westerns: “Last Light Mile” in 2014 and “Resurrection” with Emiliano Ferrera in 2017.

BUFALINI, Giovanni [12/11/1973, Orvieto, Umbria, Italy -     ] – producer; director, assistant director, writer, film actor, brother of writer, actor Francesco Bufalini, married to ? (2017-    ).

Last Light Mile – 2014 (co)

Resurrection – 2017 (co)

 

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Alberto Fusi

Alberto Fusiborn in Rome on October 25, 1913, was an Italian cameraman thirty-one films between 1935 and 1958 and a cinematographer also on thirty-one films 1935 to 1970. I can find no biographical information on him other than he died on January 14, 1993. He was 79 years old.

Alberto Fusi was a cinematographer on three Spaghetti westerns: “Per un pugno nell’occhio” (A Fistful of Knuckles) with Julio Ortas in 1965, “Anche nel West c’era una volta Dio” (Between God, the Devil and a Winchester) with Pablo Ripoll in 1968 and “Reverendo Colt” (Reverend Colt) in 1970.

FUSI, Alberto (aka A. Fusi, R. Fusi) [10/25/1913, Rome, Lazio, Italy – 1/14/1993, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – cinematographer, cameraman.

A Fistful of Knuckles – 1965 (co)

Between God, the Devil and a Winchester – 1968 (co)

Reverend Colt - 1970

Who Are Those Singers & Musicians? ~ Mary Usuah

 

Mary Afi Usuah trained as an opera singer at the prestigious St Cecilia Academy in Rome and spent 13 years touring Europe with artists like Duke Ellington and Deep Purple. She matched vocal chops with Robert Plant performing with Led Zeppelin and blew away the top names on the Lagos scene when she returned to Nigeria. She also broke a few hearts with her killer smile, if some accounts are to be believed. Mary Afi Usuah only released two albums, but she is undeniably one of the greatest female singers the African continent has produced. ‘African Woman’ serves as her legacy, along with the remarkable number of Nigerian female singers she mentored and inspired.

A keen guitarist from a young age, Afi Usuah's advances as a female composer/songwriter made her career unusual at the time. A similar exception came with the criminally underrated Lijadu Sisters, a twin duet who created dreamy soundscapes by singing in perfect synchronization; the same effect is made on Ekpenyong Abasi, with Afi Usuah's vocals reverbing into infinity against an echo of backing singers. She possesses the sultriness of the great African American jazz singers, complemented on most tracks by the kind of slow, dark funk that Sly & The Family Stone did best.

USUAH, Mary (aka Mary Afi, Afi Usua) (Mary Afi Usuah) [194?, Oron, Nigeria – 2/?/2013] – composer, songwriter, singer, musician (guitar).

And Now… Make Your Peace With God – 1968 [sings: “Just a Coward”]

Special Birthdays

Horst Schulze (actor) would have been 105 today but died in 2018.

Virgil Andriescu (actor) would have been 90 today but died in 2025.

From the WAI! vault

 

Little Known Spaghetti Western actors ~ Altiero di Giovani

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

 

Altiero di Giovani is/was an Italian character actor. He appeared in around ten films between 1967 and 1979. I can find no biographical information on him. 

Altiero di Giovani appeared in nine Spaghetti westerns: “Un fiume di dollari” (The Hills Run Red as a saloon patron), “Uccidi o muori” (Kill or be Killed) as Burkhart both in 1966, “Bill il taciturno” (Django Kills Silently) as a bandit in 1967, “Una pistol para cien tumba” (A Pistol for 100 Coffins) as Butcher the town sheriff in 1968, “Sledge) (A Man Called Sledge) as Kehoe and “Giunse Ringo e… fu tempo di massacre” (Ringo It’s Massacre Time) as the sheriff both in 1970, “Uomo avvisato mezzo ammazzato…parola di Spirito Santo” (Blazing Guns) as the Holy Ghost messenger in 1971, “Una Colt in mano del diavolo” (When the Devil Grips a Colt) as a prison guard in 1972 and “Dieci bianchi uccisi da un piccolo indiano” (Blood River) as El Vengador) in 1973.

di GIOVANNI, Altiero [Italian] – film actor.

The Hills Run Red – 1966 (saloon patron)

Kill or be Killed – 1966 (Burkhart)

Django Kills Silently – 1967 (bandit)

A Pistol for 100 Coffins – 1968 (Butcher Town sheriff)

A Man Called Sledge – 1970 (Kehoe)

Ringo, It's Massacre Time – 1970 (sheriff)

Blazing Guns – 1971 (Holy Ghost messenger)

When the Devil Grips a Colt – 1972 (prison guard)

Blood River – 1973 (El Vengador)