RIP Mark Forest

 American actor and opera singer Mark Forest died on January 7, 2022. He turned 89 the day before. Born Lorenzo Luis Degni in Huntington, New York on January 6, 1933, Forest was a member of Mae West’s troupe of musclemen in her Las Vegas stage show along with Mickey Hargitay, Gordon Mitchell and Dan Vadis. During this time he entered several bodybuilding competitions and won the title of “Mr. Muscle Beach” in Venice, California. After the phenomenal success of “Hercules” he became the second American actor to be recruited by Italian producers. Forest continued in the Peplum genre, but after 13 films he left the cinema for a career as a European opera singer. He began a third career as a California voice coach. He was to appear in the Spaghetti western “Spur the Devil Gently” (1964) but the film was never made.