Remembering Cris Avram

Cristea Avram was born on August 28, 1931 in Bucharest, Romania. In 1958 he graduated from the "Theater and Cinematographic Art Institute" in Bucharest, and would go on to appear in several Romanian films during the early 1960s. When the French film "Tunelul" (1967) by Florin Piersic was made in Romania they used several Romanians for supporting actors in the film including Cristea. Actress Marina Vlady was impressed by Avram and convinced the Romanian authorities to allow him to return to France with her for a visit. Cristea never returned to Romania but became a supporting actor as Chris Avram in French and Italian films appearing in over 40 films during his career. Among them were supporting roles in three Euro-westerns: "A Man Called Django", "Thunder Over El Paso" (both 1971) and "California" (1977). Cristea Avram died of cancer on January 1, 1989 in Rome, Italy at the age of 58 of lung cancer. Today we remember Cris Avram on what would have been his 80^th birthday.