.Westerns...All'Italiana!

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Toma Dimitriu

[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.]

Toma Dimitriu was born in Tamaoani, Frumusita, Galati, Romania on April 27, 1908. He was a theater and film actor who graduated from Conservatory of Dramatic Art in 1932.In 1952, he plays his first role in the movies “Mitrea Cocor”. He would go on to appear in twenty-five films between 1952 and 1981. Films like “The Poseidon Explosion” (1973), “The Devil's Ravine” (1957) and “Razboiul domnitelor” (1970).

Toma also acted on the stage of the theater ''National'' in Bucharest.

He died on April 27, 1984, in Bucharest, Romania a week after turning 76.

Toma appeared in twenty-five films between 1952 and 1981.

Toma Dimitriu appeared in one Euro-western as Grey Elk in “Blutsbrüder” (Blood Brothers) in 1975.

DIMITRIU, Toma [4/27/1908, Tamaoani, Frumusita, Galati, Romania – 4/27/1984, Romania] – theater, film actor, awarded The Order of Cultural Merit [1942], Emeritus Artist of the Romanian People's Republic [1953], Order of Labor 3rd Class [1964, Order of Cultural Merit Third Class [1967]

Blood Brothers – 1975 (Grey Elk)

Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director ~ Radivoje Dukic

Radivoje Lola Đukić was born on April 3, 1923, in Smederevo, Serbia. He was a Serbian and Yugoslav television, theater and film director and comedian.

He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and film direction at the High Film School in Belgrade.

First, he worked as an editor of the Children's and Drama program, as well as the Entertainment program of Radio Belgrade. He is the founder of the Humorist Theater (Pozorište na Terazije), and at Television Belgrade since its inception, he has worked as an assistant director for production, chief and responsible editor of the cultural and artistic program (until 1963). He dedicated most of his activities at Television Belgrade to comedy programs.

He directed several feature films. In addition, he filmed documentaries, educational and puppet films, as well as writing songs and theater plays for children. He is the author of numerous comedies: “Zlatni Maidan”, “God Died in Vain”, “Man with Four Legs”, “I Have to Kill Peter”, “The Happiness Maker”, “One Love” and “Five Dead People”, “Steal, Steal, Steal”, and the musical “Kill or Kiss”.

As a comedy writer, Đukić is one of the most played domestic authors of the 1960s and 1970s on Yugoslav theater stages. He dedicated the largest part of his comedic creativity to the television medium. He is the author of about 200 serial comedy shows and TV comedies and satires, most of which he directed himself. He is the author of humorous memoirs published in the book " Sclerotic Memoirs".

He was married to actress Vera Đukić. Their son Andrija was also a director. His second wife was the journalist Jelena Jovanović, who after Lola's death did everything to ensure that his work would not be forgotten.

Dujic died on September 7, 1995. in Belgrade, Serbia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Radivoje Dukic directed one Euro-western, “Zlatna pracka” (The Golden Sling) in 1967.

DUKIC, Radivoje ‘Lola’ (Radivoje ‘Lola’ Ðukic) [4/3/1923, Smederevo, Serbia, Yugoslavia – 9/7/1995, Belgrade, Serbia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia] – director, author, writer, actor, married to professor of literature Jelena Jovanović (19??-19??), married to actress Vera Ilic-Djukic [1928-1968] (194?-1968), mother of director Andrija Ðukic [1948-2017].

The Golden Sling – 1967

Spaghetti Western Screenwriter ~ Mario Camus

Mario Camus García was born in Santander, Cantabria, Spain on April 20, 1935.Camus was a Spanish film director and screenwriter known for his literary adaptations and unflinching portrayals of rural poverty, social marginalization, and post-Franco Spanish society. He achieved his greatest acclaim with “Los santos inocentes” (The Holy Innocents) in 1984, a landmark adaptation of Miguel Delibes's novel that became one of Spain's most successful films of the democratic era, and “La colmena” (The Beehive) in 1982, which earned the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Camus initially studied law in Madrid on a basketball scholarship before switching to the Official Film School (IIEC, later EOC), where he graduated in 1962. He began his career in the late 1950s and early 1960s co-writing screenplays for Carlos Saura, including “Los golfos” (1960), and made his directorial debut with “Los farsantes” (1963). Over nearly five decades he directed nearly 30 feature films, often adapting major works of Spanish literature by authors such as Delibes, Camilo José Cela, Federico García Lorca, and Benito Pérez Galdós, while maintaining a focus on realistic ensemble dramas and the lives of ordinary Spaniards.

Camus's work frequently featured recurring actors like Alfredo Landa and Francisco Rabal, and his films earned international recognition, including a special mention from the Cannes jury for “The Holy Innocents” (which also shared the Best Actor prize between Landa and Rabal) and other honors such as Spain's National Cinematography Award (1985) and the Goya lifetime achievement award (2011). A private figure who lived most of his life in Santander, he continued directing until “La pradera de las estrellas” (2007) and remained one of the key figures in Spanish cinema's transition to democracy. He died in Santander on September 18, 2021, at the age of 86.

Mario Camus wrote the screenplay for only one Spaghetti western which he also directed, “La vuelta de El Coyote” (The Return of El Coyote) in 1968.

CAMUS, Mario (Mario Camus García) [4/20/1935, Santander, Cantabria, Spain – 9/17/2021, Santander, Cantabria, Spain] – director, writer.

The Return of El Coyote - 1968

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Aaran Green

Arran Green is a cinematographer based in the U.K. who has worked on a number of short films that have gone on to win awards including a Royal Television Society award for Camera Work. Arran has a background in documentary filmmaking as well as camera assisting on music promos and commercial content.

Aaran Green has been a cinematographer on two Euro-westerns: “Fear the Unknown Men” in 2017 and “The Rabbit’s Foot” in 2018.

GREEN, Aaran [12/19/19??, Dundee, Scotland, U.K. - ] – cinematographer, cameraman, visual effects.

Fear the Unknown Men – 2017

The Rabbit’s Foot – 2018

DIRECTOR ALEX COX ON ‘DEAD $OUL$’, IN THEATRES IN JULY!

Henry’s Western Round-up

By Henry Parke

April 28, 2026

Alex Cox is a gifted Western filmmaker and a Punk Rock legend! The Liverpudlian auteur first made a splash writing and directing 1984’s dark comedy delight, Repo Man for Monkees bassist-turned-producer Mike Nesmith. “(He) was pretty great actually. He was funny and he was quite low key, and had his opinions; strong opinions. He said at one point, ‘Don't think for one moment this is gonna be all full of punk rock.’” Alex also has strong opinions: when the film was finished, the soundtrack included songs by Fear, Black Flag, The Plugz, Suicidal Tendencies, The Circle Jerks, with a theme by Iggy Pop.

Alex went on to direct the biopic Sid and Nancy, about Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, then in 1987 made the first Punk Western, Straight To Hell, starring Joe Strummer of The Clash, and Courtney Love of Hole. He turned down offers to direct Three Amigos! RoboCop and The Running Man to make the wild biography Walker, starring Ed Harris as William Walker, the American mercenary who became President of Nicaragua.

His encyclopedic knowledge and keen insights into American and Spaghetti Westerns have enriched his commentaries on numerous Westerns, and in 2017, his audacious and thought-provoking Tombstone-Rashomon examined conflicting versions of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, as seen through the eyes of extraterrestrials making a documentary.

His newest film is a Western, Dead $oul$, which was named Readers’ Choice for Best Western Movie of the Year in the January/February 2026 Best of the West issue of True West Magazine. When I interviewed him for that piece in November of 2025, distribution in the United States had not been set, but I heard the good news from Alex yesterday that the prestigious Kino Lorber will be distributing, with a theatrical release in July, followed by streaming and discs.

Based on a novel by 19th century Russian author Nikolai Gogol, Dead $oul$ stars Alex Cox as Strindler, an at-first innocuous-seeming Englishman travelling from town to town in 1890 Arizona. He’s willing to pay cash for the names and descriptions of dead Mexicans, but for reasons he will not reveal. Not surprisingly, chaos ensues as locals fear what use he might make of that information.

Our discussion began as soon as Alex was able to convince his dog, Ben, to share a bit of the chair with him.

Henry Parke: I enjoyed Dead Souls very much. I love your ability to tell a story in a humorous fashion without getting too jokey and undermining the drama, the reality of it. It's a visually beautiful film, wonderful location work. I really like your performance in it.

Alex Cox: Oh, thank you. It's beautifully photographed too. It has two D.P.s (directors of photography), and they both do a great job.

Henry Parke: A wonderful job. You've had cameos in your films before, but was this your first lead?

Alex Cox: No, I played the main guy, or the co-lead, in a film with Miguel Sandoval called Three Businessmen (1998). But I think that's the only time I've been the lead in anything; other than that I was a supporting actor.

Henry Parke: With Three Businessmen, were you directing?

Alex Cox: Yeah, I was directing. It was super low budget, but the conceit of the film was that we go all the way around the world in a single night looking for dinner, never find it.

Henry Parke: Normally as the writer/director, you have a lot of the responsibility on your shoulders anyhow. How did you like having the responsibility of also carrying the whole story yourself?

Alex Cox: Well, luckily, I had a very good producer. Merrit Crocker was the overall producer of the film, and so he took a lot of the burden off the director. I originally wanted to do this with Gianni Garko.

Henry Parke: Yes, star of the Sartana Westerns. I saw that he co-wrote it with you.

Alex Cox: Yes. I wrote the script and I wanted him to play Strindler. But Gianni is I think 91 years old. It probably would've been too much. He would've needed more than three weeks to pull the film off. He probably would've wanted five or six.

Strindler wonders if the hangiing man

belongs on his list

Henry Parke: My goodness! Did you shoot this whole film in three weeks?

Alex Cox: Yes. One week in Spain, two weeks in Mescal, in Southern Arizona.

Henry Parke: Your character, Strindler is so mysterious, so oblique and menacing without being directly threatening.

Alex Cox: The protagonist of the book Dead Souls, he's doing what Strindler's doing, he's compiling a list, but he's considerably younger and more charming and gay, in the old-fashioned sense of the word. The protagonist in the book, he's quite different in his approach to things and his appearance.

Henry Parke: Why did you decide to shoot part in Tabernas and Mini Hollywood, and part in Mescal?

Alex Cox: I originally wanted to shoot it all in Spain in three weeks; to shoot, in addition to Mini Hollywood’s El Paso location, in either Rancho Leone or Fort Bravo, but they were all full. There was this enormous quantity of production at the end of last year in Spain. There was a Dutch Western, German Western, a French one all being big shot in Almeria around about the same time. So we were very lucky to be able to get access to the El Paso location, because that was built as El Paso for Leone's film For a Few Dollars More. So we were able to revisit it in its original incarnation.

Henry Parke: Was it a special feeling to be on those Leone sets?

Alex Cox: Oh, it's such a great set! It's a really beautiful set. And it was built for A Few Dollars More, so there's the enormous bank that Indio (Gian Maria Volonte) robs, and there's the two hotels facing each other, so Eastwood can stay in one, and Van Cleef can stay in the other. It's a very purpose-built location and a real pleasure to work in. And it's dominated by this mountain of (Cerro) Alfaro. All western towns in Almeria (are) facing this incredible-looking triangular mountain.

Henry Parke: Did you shoot on film or electronically?

Alex Cox: No, on the electronic camera. When we were in Arizona, I said to the American DP (Chance Faulkner), “Use the same equipment exactly as the Spanish guy (Ignacio Aguilar) used, right?” And he goes, “Absolutely, chief!” And then of course he got a much better deal, for the same money; a much better camera, much better lenses. So really disobeying me, he shot with completely different (equipment). I think in the end it all merged and looks good.

Henry Parke: I think it looks great; it cuts together perfectly.

Alex Cox: Yeah, it's very nicely done. Chance Faulkner, the American DP also did the color grading.

Henry Parke: Do you storyboard?

Alex Cox: No. I would draw a storyboard for visual effects because it's useful to the real effects people, and to the camera department. But other than that, no. We just show up on set and figure it out, you know, have a rehearsal, then talk to the cinematographer and see how best to shoot it.

Henry Parke: Will you tell me approximately what your budget was?

Alex Cox: Very, very little money.

Henry Parke: I think people will be very impressed with what you accomplished in three weeks in two countries.

Alex Cox: Well, we had a couple of weeks off in between, which is just as well, to get reoriented.

But the location that we found is the western town called Mezcal, in Arizona. Great, great interiors, fully dressed.

Henry Parke: I've been to Mezcal for a couple of shoots; it's a very nice place. Maybe it was there and I missed it, but I think yours is the first new Western I've seen in five years without any drone shots.

Alex Cox: No; we had a drone shot in the last Western that I did, Tombstone-Rashomon: the beginning of the drone. At the very end, there's a drone shot where the camera pulled back and up away from the grave of the Clantons, and all of those who got shot, the two McClaurys and Billy Clinton. We drone up at the very end of the film to reveal the Western landscape. But no drones in Dead Souls. It's totally earthbound. I think that's right. I don't think we should do it.

Henry Parke: Is it the same Johnny Behan, Jesse Lee Pacheco, in both of these films?

Alex Cox: It is. And it's the third time he has played Johnny Behan. Because Geoff Marslett did a western called Quantum Cowboys. It's very cool, very worth watching. It's sort of a parallel universe type film, with a couple of cowboys ne’er do wells as the protagonists, and Jesse is their jailer.

Henry Parke: Your westerns have such a classic look to them. Is there something different in your approach?

Alex Cox: I don't really know. It just depends, because the Western can be shot in different ways. The Spaghetti Westerns were sort of rule breaking, and usually original. But at the same time, they did sell the great landscape. And that's the thing: gotta have the big landscape there.

Henry Parke: In the cemetery, I noticed a cross with Charles Buchinsky, Charles Bronson’s real name, of course recalling Leone’s cemetery in My Name is Nobody. Are there any other names I should have spotted?

Strindler looking for customers

Alex Cox: All the names in the cemetery, or almost all the names, are backers of the Kickstarter campaign. It could be that a Kickstarter backer was using that as his Nom de Kickstarter. I think we had, like 70 people sign up to have their name on a cross in the cemetery. The production designer in Spain built every one of those crosses. We planted them all, but we couldn't guarantee that everybody was gonna be seen on-screen. But everybody got a photo of their grave, to prove we did it.

Henry Parke: I've been a big fan of your work ever since Repo Man. There's always your distinct sense of humor in your films. I'm thinking of things like the speeded-up action as you walk through the cemetery, and the flashback of your childhood, which is animated.

Alex Cox: Isn't it great?

Henry Parke: I love it. But I was wondering, did you plan to do that with actors and decide to animate it? Or was it always planned that way?

Alex Cox: We were shooting it in front of a green screen, and the producer on-set said, do you want us to find a kid to play the part? I said, we'll deal with it later. I'll hire the kid later; it's all green screen. And then of course it was much simpler not to hire the kid, so I never did. Then I asked the guys who work at Tippett Studios (note: Phil Tippett shared a Special Effects Oscar for Jurassic Park), I said, do you guys want to do an animated Young Strindler? And they just said yes. So, he did.

Henry Parke: Let me ask you about the current state of Western films? Have you seen anything lately that you liked, or didn't like?

Alex Cox: There aren't that many. I know there's been some more just come out that I haven't seen yet. But it's interesting that there's a Western Film Festival in Almeria, where we shot this movie. They have the (classic) films that they have every year; and they have films in competition. But a lot of them, maybe they've got 10 films in competition, but only two of them are really westerns, and the others are contemporary revenge stories. You can kind of scrunch up your eyes and say, well okay, we'll call it a Western, it's in the Western Spirit, you know? But actual Western films set in that period of time, those locations, are comparatively few. Although they still get made.

The heroine of the piece, portrayed by Amariah Dionne

Henry Parke: Did you see Kevin Costner’s Horizon: Chapter One?

Alex Cox: No, I didn't. Was it good?

Henry Parke: It was very good as long as you went in understanding that it was the first third or quarter of a story and not a whole plot. I was just watching a video of you speaking about Sergio Corbucci.

Alex Cox: Oh, <laugh>, where I denounced him being mean to actors.

Henry Parke: Yes. I’ve gotta say, I was feeling sorry for poor Sergio, 'cause he's certainly one of my favorite Spaghetti Western directors. But you seem terribly disillusioned with him.

Alex Cox: Me too. But then, that's really mean to play those kinds of tricks on your actors, to show up late to the set and blame it on a flat tire, you know? I mean, that's like bullshit <laugh>, disrespectful of the crew and of the cast, don't you think?

Henry Parke: Oh, absolutely. It's the sort of trickery, it reminded me a little of stuff that Hitchcock supposedly did, but I don't think he was ever late a day in his life.

Alex Cox: And also John Ford was horribly mean to some of his actors, abused them physically. But it was those wacky days.

Henry Parke: What are you up to next? Do you have another project?

Alex Cox: My next project is I have to make like 750 DVDs and Blurays and mail them out to the Kickstarter backers.

Link to Henry’s Western Round-up

https://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2026/04/director-alex-cox-on-dead-souls-in.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawReTQVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF2NEgwRExzMVN4eWcwRzNOc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHgjoq8lRQ7sM6U8vuoh39aDwiR4ekLhvQlb3H0qJjjtJjr0C2QbChcdZ_P8a_aem_2SOlDOW2S-53ykeVfUcqsQ

Who Are Those Singers & Musicians? ~ Ornella Vanconi

Ornella Vanoni was born in Milan, Italy on September 22, 1934. She was an Italian singer and songwriter. With a career spanning almost seventy years, she was one of Italy's longest-standing musical artists. During her long career, she released about 121 works between LPs, EPs and greatest hits albums, and sold over 65 million records, being considered one of the most popular performers of Italian pop music.

Vanoni started her artistic career in 1960 as a theatre actress. She mostly performed in Bertolt Brecht works, under the direction of Giorgio Strehler at his Piccolo Teatro in her native city of Milan.

Vanoni scored two major hits in 1963 with "Senza fine" and "Che cosa c'è", both written for her by Gino Paoli. In 1964, she won the Festival of Neapolitan song with "Tu si na cosa grande".

Vanoni died of a heart attack at her home in Milan on November 21, 2025, at the age of 91.

Ornella sang the song “Abbracciami Forte” as a contestant in the 1966 Euro-western musical “A Fistful of Songs”.

VANCONI, Ornella [9/2/1934, Milan, Lombardy, Italy – 11/21/2025, Milan, Lombardy, Italy (heart attack)] – actress, singer, married to actor Lucio Minunni (Lucio Ardenzi) [1922-2002] (1960–1972), mother of Cristiano Ardenzi [1962- ].

A Fistful of Songs – 1966 [sings: “Abbracciami Forte”]

You tube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lmd78O2zhs&list=RD5lmd78O2zhs&start_radio=1