Remembering Mariano Vidal Molina

Mariano Rodolfo Vidal Molina was born on October 23, 1925 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His first appearance was in the Argentinian film “El vampiro negro” in 1953. Molina appeared in 12 more films in Argentina before moving to Spain in 1963. Mariano picked up where he left off appearing in the Euro-western “Apache Fury” (1964). Molina would go on to appear in a total of 65 TV and film appearances until his last one in an episode of the TV series “Historias del otro lado” (1991). Molina acted under such pseudonyms as Vidale Molina, Mariano Vidal and Tom Griffith. In the 16 western films he made he used the names Vidal Molina and Mariano Vidal Molina. For whatever the reason Molina never rose to more then a supporting actor. He had the looks and the authoritarian demeanor to be a star and held his own in appearances with such actors as Anthony Steffen, Guy Madison, Robert Woods and Frank Latimore. His westerns would be considered ‘B’ films such as “Ballad of a Bounty Hunter” (1966), “Five Giants from Texas” (1966) “Gentleman Killer” (1967), “White Comanche” (1968), “Reverend Colt”. He retired from the screen in 1991 for whatever reason and passed away on February 20, 1996 in Madrid, Spain. Today we remember Mariano Vidal Molina’s 85th birthday.