Monday, August 22, 2011

Remembering Tony Kendall

Luciano Stella was born on August 22, 1936 in Rome, Italy. He was a model and seen in many of the Fumetti photo comics before becoming an actor. At the suggestion of Vittorio De Sica he changed his name to Tony Kendall and made his film debut in "Femminie tre volte" (1957) and then under Tony Kendall in "Brennus, Enemy of Rome" (1963). Kendall is best remembered for his films with Brad Harris [1933- ], first in two German westerns ""Pirates of the Mississippi" (1963) and "Black Eagle of Santa Fe" (1965). The two would re-team later in a series of action films called Kommisar X as New York Police Captain Tom Rowland and then in three "Fantastic Super Men" films. Kendall appeared in eight Euro-westerns. Beside the two mentioned above he also appeared in "Hate is My God" (1969), "Brother Outlaw", "Django Defies Sartana", Gunman of 100 Crosses" (all 1971), "Twilight Avengers" (1972) and "White Fang and the Kid" (1977). Tony also appeared in Giallo and Horror films. His last film appearance was in the 2007 film "Voce del verbo amore". Tony, Brad Harris and Gianfranco Parolini appeared at a Kommisar X reunion on September 25, 2009. This was only months before Tony’s death from cancer on November 28, 2009. Today we remember Tony Kendall on what would have been his 75th birthday.

1 comment:

  1. For some strange reason, Tony Kendall just became one of my favorite Western actors. Is it just me or does almost every Spaghetti Western fan like him?

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