RIP Lars Bloch

 Lars Bloch died in a Rome hospital after surgery on March 27, 2022. He was 83. Bloch was born in Hellerup, Denmark on August 6, 1938 and lived as a child in Rungsted and Charlottenlund, before he moved with his parents to Mariager (Jutland). After successfully completing his schooling in 1956, he visited Italy. After completing his military service in the Navy Bloch in the spring of 1959 returned to Italy and was quickly noticed due to his large, hulking, blond and mostly bearded appearance and was hired as an actor in films as a prototype of the Nordic villain. His first two films were directed by Lucio Fulci. Until the 1980s, he played in many films, including nearly ten spaghetti westerns mostly small roles; occasionally he was also in larger productions (as Carol Reed Michelangelo - as the founder of the Swiss Guards) or positive roles such as that of King Richard the Lionheart in “Long Live Robin Hood” (1971). In the 1970s, he worked several times together with Aristide Massaccesi, who cast him in “Eroi all'inferno” (under a pseudonym) in a rare lead role. After his acting career ended, Bloch was employed as a sales manager for DVD productions of Italian films for the Japanese market and was occasionally involved in the production of several feature films.

Lars appeared in nine Euro-westerns: Navajo Joe – 1966 (Swedish immigrant), A Stranger in Town – 1966 (Lieutenant Ted ‘George’ Harris/Stafford), Alleluia and Sartana, Sons of God - 1972 (Danish), On the Third Day Arrived the Crow – 1972 (Bill), The Return of Hallelujah – 1972 (Cain),Trinity & Sartana Those Sons of Bitches – 1972 (Clyde), Behold the Strange, Stimulating Smell of Dollars – 1973 (soldier), Shanghai Joe – 1973 (Wells Fargo client), Red Coat – 1974 (Andy O’Brien)