RIP Tiberio Murgia

Sardinian actor Tiberio Murgia died on Friday August 20 in a nursing home in Tolfa, Italy. He had been ill for the last several months and passed away yesterday from Alzheimer's. Murgia was born on February 5, 1929 in Oristano, Sardinia, Italy into a poor family. For twenty years he peddled the Italian Communist newspaper 'Unity' and became the secretary of the Young Communist League. He then went to Marcinelle, Belgium and worked in a coal mine that had hired thousands of Italians. After an explosion in the mine he returned to Italy and worked in Rome as a dishwasher in a restaurant called 'The King of Friends' where he was discovered by assistant director Mario Monicelli. Tiberio auditioned for a part and was given a role as a Sicilian in an Italian comedy “I soli ignoti” (1958). Murgia remained faithful to this stereotypical character in most of his films, TV and commercials for the next 40 years. Tiberio appeared in three Euro-westerns: “The Terror of Oklahoma” (1959), “Rick and John Conquerors of the West” (1967) and “Judge Roy Bean” (1971).