Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Amerigo Anton

 [These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

Amerigo Anton was born Camillo Tanio Boccia on April 4, 1912. He was an Italian film director and screenwriter active between the 1950s and the early 1970s. From 1960 onwards, he was regularly credited as Amerigo Anton. Born in Potenza, Basilicata, he started as a dancer and choreographer in Rome in the 1930s, later moving on to act in regional, dialectal stage plays. He had a small role in “Variety Lights” (1951) by Alberto Lattuada and Federico Fellini, his first performance as a film actor. Known for his work as a film director, he directed 20 low-budget films in his career. He is best known for his work in the adventure film genre, particularly peplum, in the early 1960s with films such as “Caesar the Conqueror” (1962), “Samson Against the Pirates” (1963) and “Hercules of the Desert” (1964). In 1965 he directed the spy adventure “Agente X 1-7 operación Océano”.

His films, generally rated as B or Z movies, always met negative reception and Boccia was often mocked in the Cinecittà environment, earning the nickname of the "Italian Ed Wood" after his death. However, he has been re-evaluated in recent years, since his works, albeit rather poor, are considered "not at all the kind of cinematic disasters", and he’s appreciated for his creativity in order to solve complicated situations, due to the low budget he had to work with. He was also labeled as the "Italian Roger Corman" for his ability to make a movie in a short time with low financial resources.

His only Spaghetti western was in a cameo role in 1966’s “Kill or Be Killed” starring Rod Dana.

Boccia died on August 1, 1982, in Rome, Italy. He was 69 years old.

ANTON, Amerigo (aka Amerifo Anton, Amerigo Antón) (Camillo Tanio Boccia) [4/4/1912, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy – 8/1/1982, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – director, writer, film editor, theater, film actor.

Kill or be Killed – 1966