RIP Renato Terra

Italian actor Renato Terra Caizzi died on November 28, 2010 in Rome, Italy. He was 88. Born in Naples, Italy on July 26, 1922 to a poor family, he attended the Experimental Center of Cinematography in Rome. Shortening his name to Renato Terra he found work as a character actor in more than one-hundred films during the 1950s to 1970s. He participated in seven Euro-westerns such as “Massacre at the Grand Canyon” using the alias Ryan Earthpick and, “$3.00 of Lead” both 1964 “The Man from Canyon City” (1965), “Savage Gringo”, “Kill or be Killed” and “$7.00 to Kill” all (1966) and “Kill and Pray” (1967). During the filming of one of these westerns he fell from a horse and broke his nose badly enough to disfigure his face. Renato was convinced that the accident had ruined his so far successful acting career. Undeterred he continued acting and appeared with some of the biggest names in Italian cinema such as Toto and director Franco Zeffirelli in the TV series “Jesus of Nazareth” (1977). He retired from acting in 1977 to devote his life to his other great passion, poetry of which he published a book ‘Che Strano Paese’.