Remembering Salvatore Baccaro

Salvatore Baccaro was born on May 6, 1944 in Roccamandolfi, Molise, Isernia, Italy. In the early 1970s while working as a florist in the vicinity of De Paolis Via Tiburtina in Rome's Pietralata he was discovered and then hired, for his unique look deformed, almost animalistic, characterized by hairy, heavy eyebrows, flat nose, huge fingered hands, which did not go unnoticed, to the point of extending to him the title of "ugliest man in the world".

 
However, it was his physique, combined with an undeniable charm and character of a docile and good-nature which unexpectedly, opened the doors to a career in the cinema. In fact, soon he became a typical character actor, much in demand by the Italian cinema for comedic roles or grotesque parts: in fact Baccaro participated in more than 60 films between the early 1970s and early 1980s, starring in several feature films in erotic comedies of the seventies and of the western genre. He appeared in many films of Franco and Ciccio, and Pierino. He also had some notable films, including Dario Argento's “Deep Red” (1975), where he plays a greengrocer. Salvatore appeared in nine Euro-westerns from “Blazing Guns” (1971) with Gianni Garko to “Seven Nuns in Kansas City” (1973) as Fatty’s henchman. He’s probably best remembered as Paco in 1972’s “Jesse and Lester, Two Brothers in a Place Called Trinity”.
 
The actor adopted the pseudonym of Boris Lugosi - a clear homage to Bela Lugosi where he first played the vampire Dracula in “Terror! Il castello delle donne maledette” (aka “The Castle of the damned women” (1973) with Tony Randall and as Sal Boris in ‘Nazi porn’ “La bestia in calore” (1977) by Luigi Batzella. The last film which he took part was “Dagobert” by Dino Risi 1984.
 
After his last film appearance he was not heard from for nearly two decades. In 2004, his brother Armando, in an interview with the television program Stracult, dedicated to the Italian trash cinema, revealed he had suffered from the deforming disease, acromegaly, and his death had remained totally obscured to the news and the public, which occurred on October, 3 1984 in Novara, Piedmont, Italy after suffering a heart attack.
 
Today we remember Salvatore Baccaro on what would have been his 70^th birthday.