.Westerns...All'Italiana!

Sunday, October 4, 2026

From the WAI! vault

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Marshall Efron

[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.]

Marshall Efron was born in Los Angeles, California on February 3, 1938. Efron was an American actor, humorist, and voice artist whose career spanned radio satire, television sketches lampooning consumerism, and animated films. Born to accountant Jacob Efron and homemaker Ida Plotkin, he began performing in the 1960s on listener-sponsored Pacifica radio stations WBAI in New York and KPFK in Los Angeles, delivering wry, illustrated commentaries that honed his deadpan style. Efron gained prominence in the 1970s as a regular on the PBS anthology series ‘The Great American Dream Machine’, where his segments skewered advertising and American excess through absurd, low-budget vignettes, contributing to the show's cult status for its irreverent public-television satire. Later, he transitioned to voice acting, providing character voices in films including “THX 1138” (1971), “Robots” (2005), and “Ice Age: The Meltdown” (2006), as well as animated series like ‘The Smurfs’ and ‘Transformers’. His work emphasized precise, understated humor over broad comedy, reflecting a commitment to intellectual parody amid the era's countercultural media landscape.

Efron died from a heart attack at the actor’s home in Englewood, New Jersey on September 30, 2019 at the age of 81

Marshall Efron appeared in one Spaghetti western, “Duelo a muerte en O.K. Corral” (‘Doc’) as the Mexican bartender.

EFRON, Marshall (Marshall Harold Efron) [2/3/1938, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. – 9/30/2019, Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.A. (cardiac arrest)] – writer, theater, film, radio, TV, voice actor.

‘Doc’ – 1970 (Mexican bartender)

Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director ~ Henry Levin

Henry Levin was an American film director renowned for his versatile and prolific output across multiple genres, helming over 50 feature films from 1944 to 1980. Born in Trenton, New Jersey on June 5, 1909. Levin began his entertainment career as a stage actor and director before transitioning to Hollywood in the early 1940s, initially working as a dialogue director at Columbia Pictures. His debut feature, the thriller “The Cry of the Werewolf” (1944), marked the start of a journeyman career that saw him collaborate with major studios like Columbia, Twentieth Century-Fox, and MGM, producing B-movies and occasional prestige pictures in styles ranging from film noir and swashbucklers to musicals, westerns, comedies, and science fiction.

Levin's most acclaimed works include the musical biopic “Jolson Sings Again” (1949), which captured the life of entertainer Al Jolson and earned praise for its energetic performances, and the adventure epic “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (1959), a science fiction classic based on Jules Verne's novel that featured groundbreaking special effects and starred James Mason and Pat Boone. He also directed the fairy-tale anthology “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” (1962), a lavish Cinerama production nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography, and the youth-oriented comedy “Where the Boys Are” (1960), which became a box-office hit and defined spring break culture for a generation. Other significant films encompass the historical drama “Genghis Khan” (1965) with Omar Sharif and the blaxploitation actioner “That Man Bolt” (1973), showcasing his adaptability to evolving cinematic trends.

Throughout his career, Levin maintained a reputation as a reliable studio craftsman rather than an auteur, often prioritizing efficient storytelling and commercial appeal over artistic innovation, which allowed him to sustain steady employment amid Hollywood's upheavals. He occasionally ventured into television and production, and his final years included work on projects like the family film “Scout's Honor” (1980), during the production of which he passed away in Glendale, California on May 1, 1980, at age 70. Levin's contributions, though understated, reflect the breadth of mid-20th-century American cinema, bridging low-budget programmers with ambitious spectacles.

Henry Levin directed one Spaghetti western, “La marca de Cain” (The Desperados!) in 1969.

LEVIN, Henry [6/5/1909, Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.A. – 5/1/1980, Glendale, California, U.S.A.] – producer, director, actor, married to Mildred Levin, married to Ethel Rubin (1952-19??), married to Jan Watson (1958-1972) father of one child, married to Rozann Levin.

The Desperados! – 1969

Spaghetti Western Screenwriter ~ José María Elorrieta

José María Elorrieta was a Spanish film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his prolific and versatile career in Spanish cinema, spanning multiple popular genres including fantasy comedies, adventure films, international co-productions such as Spaghetti Westerns, and later horror pictures. Born in Madrid on February 1, 1921, he initially studied law under family pressure before entering filmmaking, starting with the self-produced children's puppet film “La ciudad de los muñecos” in 1946 and building a body of work that adapted to evolving commercial trends and censorship constraints.

He directed and wrote numerous films across the 1950s and 1960s, ranging from folkloric dramas and religious stories to light-hearted fantasy comedies like “Mi adorable esclava” (1961) and “Una bruja sin escoba” (1967), the latter a time-travel comedy co-produced with the United States. His international projects included adventure and western titles such as “Los 7 de Pancho Villa” (1967), “El tesoro de Makuba” (1967), and “Apache Fury” (1964), often released under alternative credits like Joe De Lacy.

In the early 1970s, Elorrieta shifted toward more explicit horror, directing key entries in Spanish fantastic-terror cinema such as “Las amantes del diablo” (1971), “La llamada del vampire” (1972), and “El espectro del terror” (1973), contributing to the genre's growth as commercial viability improved. He died suddenly on February 22, 1974, in Madrid at age 53 while shooting the comedy “Las alegres vampiras de Vögel”, which was completed by another director. He was the father of actress Beatriz Elorrieta and director-composer Javier Elorrieta, passing his passion for cinema to the next generation.

Wrote and co-wrote Spaghetti westerns: “El hombre de la diligencia” (Apache Fury” with José Luis Navarro, “Fuerte perdido” (Massacre at Fort Grant) with José Navarro, “El secreto del captain O’Hara” (The Secret of Captain O’Hara) with Manuel Martinez Remis and Arturo Ruiz Castillo both in 1964, “Un dólar para Sartana” (Raise Your Hands Dead Man, You’re Under Arrest) with Sergio Bergonzelli, José Luis Navarro and Enrico Zuccarini in 1971 and “Si quieres vivir... dispara” (If You Shoot... You Live) in 1974.

ELORRIETA, José María (aka Joe De Lacy, Joseph De Lacy, Joseph de Lacy, J. Douglas, Elorrieta, J.M. Elorrieta, Jose M. Elorrieta, Jose Mª Elorrieta, José Mª Elorriet, José María Elorrieta, J.E. Lacy, Joe Lacy) (José María Elorrieta de Lacy) [2/1/1921, Madrid, Madrid, Spain – 2/22/1974, Madrid, Madrid, Spain] – producer, director, composer, married to father of director, writer, composer, actor, Javier Elorrieta (Javier Elorrieta Pérez de Diego) [1950- ], actress Beatriz Elorrieta, grandfather of actress Bárbara Elorrieta [1978- ].

Apache Fury – 1963 (co) [as Joe De Lacy]

Massacre at Fort Grant – 1964 (co) [as J. Douglas/Joseph E. Lacy]

The Secret of Captain O’Hara – 1964 (co)

Raise Your Hands Dead Man, You’re Under Arrest – 1971 (co)

If You Shoot... You Live – 1974

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Yaroslav Prokhorov

Yaroslav Prokhorov is a Spanish producer, director, writer, cinematographer, cameraman, film editor, musician, son of choir director Elena Prokhorova born in Ibiza, Balearic Islands in 1990.

Yaroslav Prokhorov was a cinematographer on two Euro-westerns: “Bienvenido a Casa” and “The Last Shot” both in 2017.

PROKHOROV, Yaroslov (aka Yaroslav Starovich) [1990, Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain - ] – producer, director, writer, cinematographer, cameraman, film editor, musician, son of choir director Elena Prokhorova,

Bienvenido a Casa - 2017

The Last Shot – 2017

Life after Esplugas City: What happened after the last shoot?

Esplugues.digital

By Pau Riba

September 13, 2026 ·

The return of the western market for Sant Mateu leads us to talk about a book by Eduardo Conejero that follows the adventures of the actors and specialists of the town beyond Esplugues

For the Festa Major de Sant Mateu, the craft market reminds us that Esplugues had a village in the West. But when Esplugas City disappeared, what happened to the actors and specialists who worked there? Eduardo Conejero has followed these trajectories in De profesión: duros. Actors of delivery and specialists of another time, of which the content advanced us and showed the exclusive cover in the stall of Sant Jordi d’Esplugues.digital. Now that the market will return to the streets of the city, we recover the conversation to meet some of the men who gave life to that Espluguí West.

Let’s start at the beginning. Conejero came to this book by a path quite far from the westerns : Perros callejeros. While researching the film for his first book, published in 2024, he discovered that some of the supporting actors had been specialists in Esplugas City. The daughter of one of them, Raúl Aparici, showed him some photographs that fascinated him. He was surprised that they had made films from the West so close to his home.

From there he was looking for actors, specialists and family members. “I did a detective job to find them.” He was able to talk to two of the actors still alive and reconstructed other lives with the memories of the families. He also had the help of the cameraman Paco Marín Andreu and the unpublished writings of the head of specialists Alberto Gadea.

The book collects anecdotes from the village and follows the careers of those who worked there. Among the stories he has recovered, Conejero has a weakness for Andarín’s. He had been a bullfighter and took advantage of his skills to work in the cinema. "I knew how to drive all kinds of vehicles or treat horses very well," he explains. He devotes a short chapter to it, because he admits that the information he has been able to find is limited.

There were also occasions when the work behind the camera was combined with an appearance on the screen. Conejero remembers a councilman as a Confederate soldier or the Italian director Tessari dancing in a scene from El retorno de Ringo. "Well, a murderous dancer, huh? Be careful, be careful," he said during the conversation. “It was a movie from another time.”

The disappearance of the village did not put an end to the careers of those professionals. "They continued their careers and that's what I follow in the book," he explains. Conejero talks about Tarzan’s films in Vallvidrera, a Papiol that made Kathmandu and an Ebro delta turned into an African river. There were other roles and other shoots, often in very close landscapes. The book follows these trajectories for productions made in Catalonia between the sixties and eighties.

"It's the history of Catalan cinema," he defends. As calculated, 90% of the new book is about films made in Catalonia. And he especially presents the readers of Esplugues: "I feel that the people of Esplugues should know it". It is accompanied by a less solemn declaration: "The economic interest does not move me in the least, because otherwise I would dedicate myself to growing mussels, for example, which I would surely pay more attention to."

Those who want to discover this cinema, propose to start with El retorno de Ringo. He also recommends Arizona Pistolers and Los longos días de la venganza. "I'd first encourage them to watch these movies," he says.

Of profession: hard. Actores de reparto y specialists de otra época has not yet been published, but it can already be booked on the publisher’s website, in hardcover and for 25 euros. The publisher plans to publish it in February 2027, an indicative date that may vary depending on production and transport. Meanwhile, you can recover the complete interview with Eduardo Conejero that we recorded for Sant Jordi at the Esplugues.digital stall.

Spaghetti Western Locations for “Companeros”.

We continue our hunt for filming locations for “Companeros”. The scene shifts from the roulette wheel to a hotel room where John is lying in bed smoking a cigarette while the three oil men we saw earlier talking to professor Xantos are trying to hire him to eliminate Xantos. They the US government will have to release him soon and if he gets back to Mexico and wins the revolution they will lose their oil fields. They offer John $10,000 payable when the jobs done. They also give him some “loco weed” cigarettes in advance. Meanwhile the Swede can hear the conversation outside the hotel so he knows what is transpiring. John agrees to the deal. Just then one of John’s men abruptly enters the room and informs him the Swede has escaped from the hanging they had prepared.

This was filmed at a Madrid soundstage.

For a more detailed view of this site and other Spaghetti Western locations please visit my friend Yoshi Yasuda’s location site: http://y-yasuda.net/film-location.htm and Captain Douglas Film Locations http://www.western-locations-spain.com/