Luigi
Pistilli was born on July 19, 1929 in Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy. Pistilli studied acting at Milan's Piccolo
Teatro, graduating in 1955. He never completely severed his ties with the
theater and often returned to appear in plays directed by Giorgio Strehler.
Pistilli made his feature film debut with an uncredited role in Dark Passage
(1947).
He appeared
in seven Euro-westerns such as Groggy in “For a Few Dollars More” (1965), “The
Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966) (as the priest brother of Eli Wallach's
character Tuco). He played the murderous Alberto in the Mario Bava giallo “Twitch
of the Death Nerve” in 1971. Luigi had a regular role on the popular Italian
television Mafia drama “The Octopus”. He also appeared as Walcott in
"Death Rides a Horse".
In 1972 he
appeared in the giallo film “Your Vice Is a Locked Room” and “Only I Have the
Key” playing an alcoholic.
Pistilli
committed suicide in his Milan home just before he was to appear in the final
performance of Terence Rattigan's Tosca on April 21, 1996. The show had been
harshly panned by critics and audiences and ultimately contributed to throw
Pistilli into a deep depression. However, according to his suicide note,
Pistilli had suffered a deep state of despair after making some bitter public
comments regarding the recent termination of a four-year off-stage relationship
with singer/actress Milva. In his note he apologized to her for the spiteful
statements released in the published interview.
Today we
remember one of the most memorable actors of the genre on what would have been
his 85th birthday.
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