From the WAI! vault

 

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Richard Dunne

[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.]

Richard Dunne was an American character actor born in Patterson, New Jersey on February 7, 1917. He was a long-time actor on the soap opera ‘Another World’ as Darryl Stevens from 1964-1995. When his role was not called for, he would take jobs in films in fact over 20 between 1970 and 1981. Most of his appearances were in crowd scenes as a party guest or a casino patron, train passenger etc.

Richard was married to musician, singer, actress Corinne Dunne (Corinne June Kleven) from1947 till his death on March 7, 1995, in Naples, Florida from cancer at the age of 78.

Richard Dunne appeared in two Euro-westerns: “Amico, stammi lontano almeno un palmo” (The Ballad of Ben and Charlie) as a gambler in 1971 and “Il ritorno di zanna bianca” (Challenge to White Fang) as a party guest in 1974.

DUNNE, Richard (aka Richard Dunn, Dick Dunne) (Richard Joseph Dunne) [2/7/1917, Pattterson, New Jersey, U.S.A. - 3/7/1995, Naples, Florida, U.S.A. (cancer)] – film actor, married to musician, singer, actress Corinne Dunne (Corinne June Kleven) [1924-2011] (1947-1995)-father of Karen Dunne.

The Ballad of Ben and Charlie – 1971 (gambler)

Challenge to White Fang – 1974 (party guest)

Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director ~ Piel Jutzi

 Piel Jutzi was a German film director, cinematographer, and screenwriter recognized for his contributions to proletarian and social-realist cinema during the Weimar Republic. Born in Altleiningen on July 22, 1896, he emerged as a proponent of the New Objectivity movement, employing documentary-style realism to portray the hardships of urban working-class life and social inequities. His seminal works include the 1929 silent film “Mother Krause's Journey to Happiness”, a stark depiction of poverty and addiction in Berlin's tenements, and the 1931 early sound adaptation “Berlin Alexanderplatz”, which captured the raw existential struggles of Alfred Döblin's novel protagonist amid post-World War I turmoil. These films established Jutzi as a voice for leftist social critique, blending narrative innovation with unflinching observation of proletarian conditions.

Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Jutzi—who had joined the Communist Party in 1928—joined the Nazi Party that March and remained in Germany, directing numerous short films aligned with Nazi ideology from 1933 to 1941 to sustain his career under the regime's constraints. This phase has drawn retrospective criticism for his political opportunism and accommodation of the authoritarian system. Despite this adaptation, his Weimar-era output endures as foundational to German cinema's exploration of socioeconomic realism, influencing later depictions of urban underclasses.

Piel Jutzi directed silent Euro-westerns: “Bull Arizona – der Wüstenadler” (Bull Arizona – the Desert Eagle) and “Bull Arizona – das Vermächtnis der Prärie” (Bull Arizona, the Legacy of the Prairie) both with Horst Krahe, “Die Rache der Banditen” all in 1919, “Feuerteudel” (The Fire Devil) and “Red Bull, der letzte Apache” (Red Bull, the Last Apache) both in 1920

JUTZI, Piel (Philipp Jutzi) [7/22/1896, Altleiningen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany – 5/1/1946, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany] – director, writer, cinematographer, film editor, film actor, married to actress Emmy Philippine (Emmy Philippine Zimmermann) [18??-19??] (1923-1946) father of Gisela Jutzi [1926-    ].

Bull Arizona – the Desert Eagle – 1919 (co)

Bull Arizona, the Legacy of the Prairie – 1919 (co)

Die Rache der Banditen - 1919

The Fire Devil - 1920

Red Bull, the Last Apache - 1920

Spaghetti Western Screenwriter ~ Gaetano Dell’Era

Gaetano Dell’Era is/was an Italian director, actor and writer. In 1963 he directed the film “Y la novia dijo...” and then became an actor appearing in five films between 1965 and 1974. He also wrote screenplays for two films one f which was the screenplay for one Spaghetti western, A”nche per Django le carogne hanno un Prezzo” (Django’s Cut Rate Corpses) with Luigi Batzella and Mario DeRosa in 1971.

I can find no biographical information on him.

Dell’ERA, Gaetano [Italian] – director, assistant director, writer, actor.

Django’s Cut Rate Corpses – 1971 (co)

 

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Reginald Morris

Reginald Herbert Morris was a British-born Canadian cinematographer known for his distinctive work on films including the holiday classic “A Christmas Story” (1983), the pioneering slasher “Black Christmas” (1974), and the popular comedy “Porky's” (1981). Born on July 4, 1918, in Ruislip, Middlesex, England, he built a decades-long career in cinematography that spanned from the 1950s through the early 1990s, contributing to both feature films and television productions primarily in Canada. He died on January 8, 2004, in Toronto, Ontario, after a lengthy battle with Parkinson's disease.

Morris began his professional life in the 1950s as a cameraman on short films and documentaries before transitioning to camera operator roles on feature films and television series during the 1960s and 1970s. He emerged as a director of photography in the 1970s, frequently collaborating with director Bob Clark on projects that ranged from horror to broad comedy, helping to shape the visual identity of several influential and commercially successful works. His brother, Oswald Morris, was also a noted cinematographer.

Morris's contributions extended across genres, from family-oriented holiday films to cult horror and raunchy comedies, earning him recognition within the industry.

Reginald Morris was a cinematographer on one Euro-western, “Welcome to Blood City” in 1976.

MORRIS, Reginald (aka Reg. Morris, Reggie Morris, Reginald Morris, Reg Morris) (Reginald Herbert Morris) [7/4/1918, Ruislip, Middlesex, England, U.K. – 1/8/2004, Toronto, Ontario, Canad (Parkinson's disease)] – director, assistant director, cinematographer, cameraman, brother of cinematographer, cameraman Oswald Morris (Oswald Norman Morris) [1915–2014].

Welcome to Blood City – 1976

Voices of the Spaghetti Western “Revenge for Revenge”

As we know most of the Euro-westerns were co-productions from Italy, Spain, Germany and France which incorporated British and American actors to gain a worldwide audience. The films were shot silent and then dubbed into the various languages where they were sold for distribution. That means Italian, Spanish, German, French and English voice actors were hired to dub the films. Even actors from the countries where the film was to be shown were often dubbed by voice actors for various reasons such as the actors were already busy making another film, they wanted to be paid additional salaries for dubbing their voices, the actor’s voice didn’t fit the character they were playing, accidents to the actors and in some cases even death before the film could be dubbed.

I’ll list a Euro-western and the (I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German and (F) French, (E) English voices that I can find and once in a while a bio on a specific voice actor as in Europe.

 

Today we’ll cover “Revenge for Revenge”

[(I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German, (F) French, (E) English

Major Bower – John Ireland (I) Renato Turi

Chaliko/Shanko/Shariko – John Hamilton (I) Pino Locchi

Clara/Ann Bower – Loredana Nusciak (I) Benita Martini

Baker – Giuseppe Lauricella (I) Manlio Busoni

Sandy Baker – Conny Caracciolo (I) Vittoria Febbi

Sheriff – Remo Capitani (I) Corrado Gaipa

Who Are Those Singers & Musicians? ~ Ralf Wolter

 

Born in Berlin on November 26, 1926, Ralph Wolter Ralf Wolter was a child of an artist family. His father was a circus artist, the mother a musician. After attending an acting school, the Berlin Drama Academy and began as a cabaret artist. Theatre stations were stages in Berlin and Potsdam, later Munich. Wolter attended the Berlin Drama Academy. He then played at several theatres, such as the Theater am Kurfürstendamm and the Rheinische Landestheater Neuss. In 1951 he began his film career with the comedy “Die Frauen des Herrn S.”. In the 1950s, other films such as “Die Beine der Dolores” and “Das Wirtshaus im Spessart” followed.

Alongside “Winnetou” actor Pierre Brice, Wolter celebrated his greatest successes in the 1960s, including in the role of the quick-witted Sam Hawkens. Many viewers also associate Wolter with the cinema role of a second Karl May figure: the one of Haji Halef Omar Ben Haji Abbas Ibn Haji Dawuhd al Gossarah.

WOLTER, Ralf [11/26/1926, Berlin, Berlin, Germany – 10/14/2022, Munich Bavaria Germany] – theater, film, TV, voice actor, singer, son of humorist Frtiz Amsel (Erich Georg Friedrich Wolter) [1892-1969] musician Gertrud Erna Colberg [1893-1959], married to Edith Ackermann (1959-2022) father of Thomas Wolter, one other child.

Who Killed Johnny R.? - 1965 [sings: “The Ballad of Johnny Ringo”]

Special Birthdays

Theodora Ivens would have been (actress) would have been 120 today but died in 19??

Marian Collier (actress) would have been 95 today but died in 2021.

Tony Kendall (actor) – would have been 90 today but died in 2009.

Spaghetti Western Trivia – “Day of Anger”

 

In “Day of Anger”, Giuliano Gemma’s character Scott Mary's mule is called Sartana; the Gianni Garko named gunslinger character seen in other spaghetti western films and also played by George Hilton and other actors during the genre.