Hector Carmelo González Ferrantino was born on July 15,
1927, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He had an early vocation towards acting and
began his career in the theater and made his film debut in "El
baldío" directed Carlos Rinaldi in 1952. Until the early sixties he
appeared in over 15 films in his native land, with six in 1955 alone. With the
beginning of the 1960s he decided to move to Europe and in 1962 appeared in a
film directed by Juan Bosch called "Bahía de Palma", a comedy with
Arturo Fernandez, the Swedish Elke Sommer and the great comedian Cassen. Soon
Davila became a regular figure in European cinema through the heyday of
so-called genre films and the proliferation of co-productions. He starred in
"Marc Mato, agente S. 077” (1965) a typical spy movie and was paired with
Perla Cristal another Argentinian, repeating in this genre the following year
in "S 077 Operación relámpago”. Luis also participated in adventure films
like "Los tigres de Mompracén" (1970) based on the character Sandokan
created by Emilio Salgari and "El arquero de Sherwood" (1971),
thrillers such as “Rebus” (1969) with Laurence Harvey and Ann Margret, the
remarkable "A Quiet Place to Kill" (1970), directed by Umberto Lenzi
with Carroll Baker and Jean Sorel, war films such as "Suicide
Commandos" (1968) with Aldo Ray and "Eagles Over London" (1969)
directed by Enzo G. Castellari with among others, Van Johnson, Frederick
Strafford and Paco Rabal. Davila debuted in the Euro-western genre in “Relevo
para un pistolero” (1964) with Alex Nicol, one of the few films still filmed in
black and white and participated through 1972 in six more westerns, four of
them produced by the Balcazar brothers. In the late seventies and with his
career in decline, he returned to Argentina where he starred in several
television series but then was involved in a tragic accident in Chile that
caused serious mobility problems and forced him to retire from the world of
acting and live his last years almost forgotten. In 1998 he died of
cardioid-respiratory failure in the Sanitarium Santa Isabel de Buenos Aires
just prior to receiving an award given to him by the Association Podesta Actors
Argentina.
DAVILA, Luis (aka
Louis Dawson, Luis Devil, Héctor Carmelo González) (Héctor Carmelo
González Ferrantino) [7/15/1927,
Relevo para un pistolero - 1963 (Edwin/Christoper
Jackson)
The Man Who Came to Kill – 1965 (Slade/Slater Carroll)
The Man from Canyon City – 1965 (Red El Rayo/Ryan)
The Tavern of Sin – 1965 [Film was never made.]
Tomb for an Outlaw – 1965 (Frank)
Dynamite Jim – 1966 (‘Dynamite Jim’ Farrell)
Le radici della vendetta – 1967 [film was never made]
Death on
Mátalo! – 1970 (Phillip)
Pancho Villa - 1971 (McDermott)
The picture above of Luis Davila is from the 1970 Spaghetti Western, "Matalo!" Lou Castel is also in it as Ray, the Australian boy who knows nothing about guns but plenty about boomerangs. In the film, depending on which version you see, Davila's character is referred to as Phillip, Burt, Anglo, and even Vern. If you can find it on YouTube, I suggest you go check it out. Sounds fun.
ReplyDelete