Monday, July 31, 2023

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Roderick Auguste

 [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.]

Roderick Auguste os probably an Americanized rendition of his real name of Roderik Auguste had one film credit according to the IMDB and that was as a townsman in 1966’s “Navajo Joe” starring Burt Reynolds. I can find no other information about him.

AUGUSTE, Roderick (aka Roderik Auguste) [German] – film actor.

Navajo Joe – 1966 (townsman)

New Blu-ray release “The Road to Fort Alamo”

 








The Road to Fort Alamo

(1964)

 

Director: Mario Bava

Starring: Ken Clark, Jany Clair, Michel Lemoine

 

Country: U.K.

Label: Malombra Films

4K

Limited edition

Languages: Italian, English

Subtitles: Italian, English

Extras: Interview with Lamberto Bava; interview with Luigi Cozzi, short documentary on Bava's westerns commentary track, original trailer.

Spaghetti Western Location – “Price of Power”

 In the 1969 film “Il prezzo del potere” (Price of Power) starring Giuliano Gemma and Van Johnson. The set for Flagstone which was built for Sergio Leone’s 1968 film “Once Upon a Time in the West” was used for the city of Dallas, Texas which was visited by U.S. President James Gafield (Johnson). The set was located in La Calahorra, Granada, Spain.

Since several of the buildings were constructed of brick and mortar a few remain today but part of the townsite is on private property and is a goat farm. Below is what was seen in 2022.




European Western Comics ~ L’Aquila dell’0ceano

 






L’Aquila dell’Oceano

This was a comic book series of horizontal issues presenting an adventurous saga starring Pietro Malfante and Melinda de Conti, written by Michele Bea and drawn jointly by Giovanni Scolari (#1/3) and Guido Zamperoni (#4/10). Covers were drawn by Guido Zamperoni (#4/10). Announced, but not released was, "The Secret of the Magic Mountain", the first episode of a new cycle of adventures. Since 1935 the publisher had been publishing the pocket book series of fiction A Thousand and a Day in Film, the booklet Musi e Casi and, in the first months of 1937, also the comic series Il Sommergabile Fantasma ans Dominatore.

L'Aquila dell’Oceano was published in 1937 with the first issue released in February of that year. The final issue of the series was released in April of the same year. It was published in Milan, Italy by CEN. Each issue contained 12 black and white pages with color covers.

 

Titles

01 (00.02.37) - “Il cavaliere nero” (The Black Knight)

02 (00.02.37) - “Uno contro mille” (One Against a Thousand)

03 (00.03.37) - “Lo scoglio del Diavolo" (The Devil’s Rock)

04 (00.03.37) - “L’ospite mascherato” (The Masked Guest)

05 (00.03.37) - "Strappato al patibolo" (Snatched from the Gallows)

06 (00.03.37) - “Sotto la bandiera nera” (Under the Black Flag)

07 (00.04.37) - “Il vendicatore” (The Advocate)

08 (00.04.37) - “La squadra ribelle” (The Rebel Squad)

09 (00.04.37) - “Alla baionetta!” (At the Bayonet!)

10 (00.04.37) - “Vittoria!” (Vittoria)

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Brigitte Auber

 [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.]

Brigitte Auber was born Marie-Claire Cahen de Labzac in Paris, France. She began her film career with a leading role in Jacques Becker's “Rendezvous” in July of 1949, and was known for roles in French films of the 1950s, including Julien Duvivier's romance “Under the Sky of Paris” (1951). Auber played the role of Danielle Foussard opposite Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock's “To Catch a Thief”, released in 1955.

In 1957 she was in a relationship with Alain Delon for a few months; they lived together in Paris. On the occasion of the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, she went with him to the French Riviera. In Cannes, Delon became friends with Jean-Claude Brialy and came into contact with the film industry, meeting his future agent George Beaume there, and was spotted by Henry Willson responsible for recruiting new talents on behalf of David O. Selznick.

Nearly a decade and a half later, Auber played the part of the elder Françoise in Claude de Givrays miniseries ‘Mauregard’ (1969). The young Françoise was played by another French Hitchcock actress, Claude Jade from Topaz. She also had a supporting role in “The Man in the Iron Mask”, the 1998 film adaptation of the novel The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas. Leonardo DiCaprio played Louis XIV of France and his twin, the Man in the Iron Mask, while Auber played the Queen mother's attendant.

Speaking to a reporter Lydia Lane in July 1954, Auber explained how she became an actress: “I started out to be a dancer, but at school I became so interested in dramatics I decided to became an actress instead. I still love to dance, it's my favourite exercise.”

Auber appeared in only one Euro-western as Huguette in 1949’s “Vengeance at Camargue”.

AUBER, Brigitte (Brigitte Cahen de Labzac) [4/27/1928, Paris, Ile-de-France, France –     ] – theater, film, TV actress.

Vengeance at Camargue – 1949 (Huguette)

We continue our search for locations for “Bad Man’s River”

 Colonel Fiero decides to charge the enemy and assembles his men. When he has the gates opened and shouts “Onward to victory!”. He’s blown out of the saddle.

This scene was filmed at at the Daganzo de Arriba, Spain.


For a more detailed view of this site and other Spaghetti Western locations please visit my friend Yoshi Yasuda’s location site: http://y-yasuda.net/film-location.htm  and Captain Douglas Film Locations http://www.western-locations-spain.com/


Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Georg Attlfellner

 [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.]

Sometimes a person has a certain look or is asked to fill in for a small role during a specific shot in a film. Georg Attlfellner seemed to fill that role. Georg was born in Schliersee, Bavaria, Germany on February 5, 1927. He went to work in the West German film industry in the prop department. In time he became a set designer and then a production designer. He worked in over 20 films from the late 1950s until the early 1990s. He was bitten by the acting bug and appeared in roles in theater, TV and small, usually uncredited roles, that he worked in behind the scenes. Such was the case in the Euro-western genre. He was a prop man on two German westerns: “Apaches Last Battle” (1963) starring Lex Barker and Pierre Brice where he also appeared on screen as a barber. He also worked as a prop man in 1972’s “The Cry of the Black Wolves”. After his last credited work as production manager on the 1987-1992 German TV series ‘SOKO München” (aka SOKO 5113).

The only further information I could find on Georg was a post on his Facebook page dated February 5, 2022.

ATTLFELLNER, Georg [2/5/1927, Schliersee, Bavaria, Germany -    ] – production designer, art director, theater, film TV actor.

Apaches Last Battle – 1963 (barber)

The Cry of the Black Wolves – 1972 prop

Who Are Those Singers & Musicians ~ Peter Graf

 

"Peter Graf (real name Peter Hedrich) owes his start to Christian Anders. In 1970 he wrote and produced the titles "In the Beginning Was Love" and "Dagmar". The single was released on "MCA" under the name Peter Graf. In 1971, Peter Graf's recording career continued with "Bellaphon". The B-side of the first Bellaphon single is interesting. It contains the soundtrack of the erotic western film "Django Nudo and the Lustful Girls of Porno Hill". The English title of the film is "Brand of Shame". The German version was supplemented by sex film producer Erwin C. Dietrich with additional scenes. According to the Internet Movie Database, the music for the German version was written by Peter Graf. On the single, however, "Raphael Britten" is given as the author.

What is certain is that Peter Graf alias Peter Hedrich wrote the music for "The Sex Adventures of the Three Musketeers" in 1971. In this film, he also played the lead role of the inexperienced D'Artagnan. Based on the information that Peter Graf wrote the music for the German version of "Brand of Shame", but on the record Raphael Britten is listed as the author's name, I suspect that Peter Gaf and Raphael Britten are one and the same person. Raphael Britten appears as an actor in several films by Erwin C. Dietrich.

As Peter Kent he joined a beat band called  "Six de Conduits" in the 1960s. This was followed by a few solo records under his real name Peter Hedrich, and then started his very successful solo career that lasted until about 1985, after which Peter Kent recorded countless records / CDs with his partner Luisa Fernandez, from whom he separated again around 1997.

After living for years in Ibiza, among other places, his main residence is now near Rosenheim.

GRAF, Peter (aka Raphael Britten Peter Kent, Steve Stunning) (Peter Hedrich) [9/9/1948, Herten, Recklinghausen, Germany -     ] – producer, writer, composer, singer, actor.

Nude Django – 1968 [sings “Django”, “The Lustful Girls of Porno Hill”]

Friday, July 28, 2023

Spaghetti Western Trivia ~ “Duck You Sucker” missing scene

 

Another deleted scene from this part of the film had Villega visiting some sick man in a rebel safe house when he gets arrested by Colonel Reza's soldiers, who take him to Reza who then tortures Villega in what was said to be very violent scene. While this is going on, John and Juan go to the same man Villega was visiting when he got arrested where they find out what happened and Juan goes back to caves to warn others, while John goes to try and find Villega. This is originally where the scene where John sees Villega in the truck with Reza when his soldiers kill other revolutionaries took place, and right after that one next scene was him going back to the caves where he and Juan find all the other revolutionaries and his children dead. This is another deleted scene that was also shown on lobby cards and stills.



Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Sarah Atkinson

 [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.]

Sarah Atkinson was born in Bishop's Stortford, England on December 21, 1944. She made her debut as an actress in the British TV series ‘Mogul’ (1967). Atkinson made over 15 films and television appearances until her last appearance in ‘Love Actually as Billy’s Video Vixen in 2003. Her only Euro-western appearance was in “The Hunting Party” (1971), playing the role of a red-haired prostitute.

ATKINSON, Sarah [12/21/1944, Bishop's Stortford, England, U.K. –

     ] – theater, film, TV actress, married to Richard Glass (1976-19??).

The Hunting Party – 1972 (redhead)

New German Blu-ray release “Bucks größtes Abenteuer”

 








“Bucks größtes Abenteuer”

(Buck at the Edge of Hraven)

(1991)

 

Director: Tonino Ricci

Starring: John Savage, David Hess, Jennifer Youngs

 

Country: Germany

Label:  Magic Movie (Tonpool Medien)

Blu-ray

Discs: 1

Languages: DD 2.0 Italian, English, German

ASIN: ‎B0C92LMN2F

50th anniversary of the premier of “Three Supermen in the West”

 

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the premier of “… e cosi divennero i 3 supermen del West” (Three Supermen of the West” directed by Italo Martinenghi, George Martin and starring Martin, Sal Borgese and Frank Brana. The story finds out three super heroes in Rome, where the eminent scientist Aristide Panzarotti (Gigi Bonos), has discovered how to make a time machine and to the test it out, he traveled back in time and witnessed the destruction of Pompeii. The FBI, interested in the machine, sends an agent, Sal (Sal Borgese) who is aided by his friends Brad (Frank Brana) and George (George Martin). The three enter the villa Panzarotti and with the machine go back in time and witness the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Normandy landing, they then arrive in Kansas in 1867. Here they are robbed of the vehicle by the bandit Navajo Joe (Pedro Sanches). They find him at the local saloon but are captured by his henchmen and held captive in their lair. They are helped to escape by the undertaker Oliver (Julio Tabernero) and Yolanda (Ágata Lys), the daughter of a Protestant pastor mystic. They manage to start the time machine and arrive safely back in Rome, but before separating, they attend the destruction of the machine, the cause of so many messes.

 

“… e cosi divennero i 3 supermen del West – Italian title

Los tres superhombres en el Oeste - Spanish title

Oi superman xanahtypoun – Greek title

3 superman sti hora tou Trinita – Greek title

Three Supermen in the West – English title

 

A 1973 Italian, Spanish co-production [Ciescolo Rofilm (Rome), Transcontinental

      (Madrid)]

Producer: Italo Martinenghi

Directors: Italo Martinenghi, George Martin

Story: Italo Martinenghi, Anthony Blond (Anthony Blod), George Martin

Screenplay: Italo Martinenghi, Anthony Blond (Anthony Blod), George Martin

Cinematography: Jaime Deu Casas [Kodakcolor, widescreen]

Music: Robert Pregadio

     Song: “Supermen, Supermen” sung by Bob Deramont (Ernesto Brancucci)

Running time: 95 minutes

 

Cast:

George – George Martin (Francisco Celeiro)

Sal – Sal Borgese (Salvatore Borgese)

Brad – Frank Braña (Francisco Pérez)

Crystal Eye/Jack Patch – Chris Huerta (Crisanto Brieva)

Sheriff Canticchia – Fred Harrison (Fernando Bilbao)

Deputy - Claudio Yabes (Gianclaudio Jabes)

Navajo Joe – Pedro Sanchez (Ignazio Spalla)

FBI Director – Fernando Sancho (Fernando Les)

Reverend – Antonio Casas (Antonio Barros)

Yolanda/Agata – Ágata Lys (Margarita Sansegundo)

Oliver – Juan Taberner (Julio Perez Tabernero)

Navajo Joe henchman – Luis Barboo

Professor Aristide Panzarotti – Gigi Bonos (Luigi Bonos)

Domingo – Fabian Conde (Domingo García)

Buffalo Bill – José Canalejas

American – Vittorio Fanfoni

Banker – Victor Israel (Josep Vilanova)

Saloon owner – Barta Barry (Bernabé Barri)

With: Angelo Santaniello, Jean Claudio (Claude Martin) Luigi Antonio Guerra



Thursday, July 27, 2023

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Tommy Atkins

 [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.]

Tommy Atkins was a British actor, stuntman and has only two film credits listed on the IMDb. He’s not to be confused with American character actor Tom Atkins. His only Euro-western was as a rider in 1965’s “Carry on Cowboy”.

ATKINS, Tommy (aka Tom Atkins) (Thomas Atkins) [British] – film actor.

Carry on Cowboy – 1965 (rider)

New Blu-ray release “Drei Gegen Sacramento”

 









Drei Gegen Sacramento

(Gunfight at Red Sands)

(1963)

 

Director: Ricardo Blasco

Starring: Richard Harrison, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Sara Lexana, Daniel Martin

 

Country: Germany

Label: Explosive Media

New 2K HD master

Aspect ratio: 1.66:1

Resolution: 1080p

Audio: German, English, Italian

Running time 95 minutes

Subtitles: German, English, Italian (TBC)

Extras: trailer; gallery

ASIN: B0BZHG8KX4

Available: July 27, 2023

The Terence Hill Story

 

Die Terence Hill Story – German title

The Terence Hill Story – English title

 

A 2019 German documentary [Estrenada ()]

Producer:

Director:

Story:

Photography: Ralf Schweinböck, Steve Kfoury

Music: various

Running time: 58 minutes

 

Cast:

Terence Hill (Mario Girotti), Jess Hill (Jesse Girotti), Bud Spencer (Carlo Pedersoli), Dr. Anita Maass, Ulf Lüdeke, Dunja Rajter, Matthias Wendlandt, Marcus Zölch, Giuseppe Pedersoli, Thomas Danneberg, Dennis Heyse, Eric Heyse, Guido De Angelis, Maurizio De Angelis, Sal Borgese


A documentary on the occasion of the 80th birthday of Terence Hill, honorary citizen of the town of Lommatzsch, where he spent his childhood.

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

RIP Michele Kalamera

 


"I was chosen by Clint Eastwood himself, after he saw my audition for "The Outlaw Josey Wales," it was 1976, he enthusiastically said that he had finally found his Italian voice, and I have never left him since". So said Michele Kalamera, actor and voice actor of long experience who died yesterday, Tuesday 25 July, at the age of 84. Born Michelino Calamera in Conegliano, Venero, Treviso, Italy on February 12, 1939. Michele was won of the premier Italian voice actors and dubbers for Clint Eastwood and many other international stars. During his long career, Kalamera was also the Italian voice for, such actors as Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Donald Sutherland, Robert Redford, Roy Schreider, F. Murray Abraham, Christopher Plummer, Burt Reynolds, Christopher Lee, Jack Palance, David Bowie, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow and Anthony Hopkins. A total of over 5,000 film and TV stars, 5,000 co-stars, 5,000 key characters in TV series, countless cameos.

Michele Kalamera’s Euro-western films: voice actor, dubber.

Two RRRingos from Texas – 1967 [Italian voice of unknown actor]

Beyond the Law – 1968 [Italian voice of Gordon Mitchell]

Shotgun – 1968 [Italian voice of Mimmo Palmara]

Sonora – 1968 [Italian voice of George Martin]

Zorro the Fox – 1968 [Italian voice of Giacomo Rossi Stuart]

Cemetery Without Crosses – 1969 [Italian voice of Robert Hossein]

El Puro – 1969 [Italian voice of Robert Woods]

Four Came to Kill Sartana – 1969 [Italian voice of Benito Pacifico]

God Will Forgive My Pistol – 1969 [Italian voice Wayde Preston]

I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death – 1969 [Italian voice of Gianni Garko]

Sartana and His Shadow of Death – 1969 [Italian voice of Benito Pacifico]

Zorro the Lawman – 1969 [Italian voice of Fabio Testi]

Amen - 1970 [Italian voice of Robert Woods]

Apocalypse Joe – 1970 [Italian voice of Anthony Steffen]

Ballad of Death Valley – 1970 [Italian voice of William Berger]

Dead Men Ride – 1971 [Italian voice of Fabio Testi]

Vengeance Trail – 1971 [Italian voice of Ivan Rassimov]

Trinity and Sartana are Coming – 1972 [Italian voice of Harry Baird]

Fasthand is Still My Name – 1973 [Italian voice of Sergio Ciani]

Hallelujah to Vera Cruz - 1973 [Italian voice of Riccardo Salvino]

Here We Go Again, Eh Providence – 1973 [Italian voice of Manuel Gallardo]

The Grand Duel – 1973 [Italian voice of Horst Frank]

White Fang – 1973 [Italian voice of John Steiner]

Blood River – 1974 [Italian voice of Fabio Testi]

Challenge to White Fang – 1974 [Italian voice of John Steiner]

The Four of the Apocalypse – 1975 [Italian voice of Fabio Testi]

Red Coat – 1975 [Italian voice of Fabio Testi]

Return of Shanghai Joe – 1975 [Italian voice of Klaus Kinski]

White Fang to the Rescue – 1975 [Italian voice of Henry Silva]

China 9, Liberty 37 – 1978 [Italian voice of Fabio Testi]

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Jenny Atkins

[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.]

Jennifer ‘Jenny’ Atkins was born Jennifer Rivas in Australia in 1949. She was a model a producer, and a film and TV actress. At one time she was married to actor Ty Hardin [1930-2017]. She appeared in only one Spaghetti western as a circus girl in 1971’s “Drummer of Vengeance” which starred Hardin. The couple apparently met during the filming and married in 1971. Like most of Hardin’s eight marriages it didn’t last long, and the couple divorced in 1974. Jenny then married plastic surgeon Steven Zax [1930-2017] (1978-1982).

After her marriage to Zax she disappears off the radar and my guess is she moved back to Australia as I can find no other mention of her.

ATKINS, Jenny (Jennifer Rivas) [1949, Australia -     ] – model, producer, film, TV actress, married to Ty Hardin (Orison Whipple Hungerford II) [1930-2017] (1971-1974), married to Dr. Steven Zax [1938-2017] (1978-1982).

Jenny Atkins' westerns - actress:

You’re Jinxed Friend, You’ve Met Sacramento – 1970 (Maggie Thompson)

Drummer of Vengeance – 1971 (circus girl)

New French book Blueberry, une légende de la bande dessinée

 









Blueberry, une légende de la bande dessinée

(Blueberry, a comic book legend)

 

Country France

Publisher: Le Monde

Language: French

Pages: 116

Available: June 29, 2023

 

In celebration of Blueberry’s 60th anniversary.

Le Monde presents the special issue Blueberry, charismatic anti-hero creation of two legendary authors of comics, Jean-Michel

Charlier and Jean Giraud. A passport to the great epic of the West.


Who Are Those Guys ~Joaquin de Almeida

 

Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida was born in São Sebastião da Pedreira, Lisbon, Portugal on March 15, 1957, the son of João Baptista de Almeida and Maria Sara Portugal two pharmacists and the sixth of eight kids, Joaquim showed signs at an early age that his future lay not in the family business. At the age of eighteen, after attending a theater course at the Lisbon Conservatory (School of Theatre and Cinema) for two years, he left Portugal to continue his studies after the Conservatory was temporarily closed following the 1974 democratic revolution. He spent a year in Vienna, moving again, in 1976, to New York City where he studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, a school for the performing arts. During this time he worked as a bartender. After doing some theater and small roles in Soap Operas, he finally landed his first role in a film "The Soldier" in 1981. The following year he had his first important role in "Honorary Consul", working next to Richard Gere, Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins. But it was his third film "Good Morning Babylon", directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, that opened the Cannes Film Festival in 1987, that propelled him to an international career. Being fluent in six languages has helped him to work everywhere in the world. He hasn't stopped since then. He has been in more than 90 films and television shows acting with actors and directors like Harrison Ford, Gene Hackman, Kim Basinger, Antonio Banderas, Robert Rodriguez, Steven Soderberg, Benicio del Toro and Kiefer Sutherland among others. It was while playing the main villain in season 3 of the popular series "24", that he discovered the pleasure of living on the beach and he moved to Santa Monica where he lives today. He spends long periods in Portugal where he has a house in Sintra to be with his son Louren and his daughter Ana. Joaquim de Almeida became an American citizen in 2005 and kept his Portuguese nationality. He has been the recipient of many awards: Best Actor - Cairo Film Festival 1991, Golden Globe Best Actor Portugal 1995,1997,2001, SAG Awards- Best ensemble 2005, Portuguese Foreign Press-Personality of the year 1995, Career Award in Festival Cinema de Badajoz 2004, Career Award Festival Iberoamericano de Huelva 2009, Career Award Festival de Cine de Punta del Este 2003, Gold Medal City of Sintra 2008, Gold Medal City of Setubal 2006 and the Order of Infante by the President of Portugal.

Joaquin appeared in two Euro-western films: as Padre Ramon in the TV western “Dollar for the Dead” in 1998 starring Emilo Estevez and co-starring in 1998’s “One Man’s Hero” as Cortina with Tom Berenger.

de ALMEIDA, Joaquim (aka Joaquim Almeida, Joaquim De Almeida, Joaquim DeAlmeida, Joachim de Almeida, Joaquím de Almeida, Joaquín de Almeida) (Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida) [3/15/1957, São Sebastião da Pedreira, Lisbon, Portugal -     ] – producer, film, TV actor, married to pianist Andrea Nemetz (1976-1978), married to dancer Anne Rogoshan (1979-19??), married to designer Maria Cecília Gonçalves (1992-20??) father of Lourenço Gonçalves Baptista de Almeida [1992-    ], father of Ana de Tavares Risques Baptista de Almeida [2002-    ].

Dollar for the Dead – 1998 (Padre Ramon)

One Man’s Hero – 1998 (Cortina)

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Odile Astie

 [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.]

Odile Danièle Astie was born in Paris, France on May 22, 1941. Odile took ballet lessons at a young age and after thirteen years and several prizes, she turned to acrobatics. She saw an ad in a French newspaper that as seeking someone to hurl themselves and their car into another vehicle parked alongside a precipice, she answered the ad and was hired because she was the candidate.

 She then joined the circus and became an acrobat and trapeze artist. This led to her becoming a double and stuntwoman in films beginning with work in 1964’s “La bonne soupe” starring Annie Giradot. In 1968 she appeared for the first time as an actress in “Mr. Freedon” starring Donald Pleasence. Nicknamed ‘Bibi’ she was sometimes credited as BiBi O’Deal and sometimes her last name was spelled Astier.

During the filming of Christian-Jaque's film “Le Saint prend l'affût” (1966), which took place on a portion of the Autoroute du Nord which was under construction. Unfortunately, the new coating was too slick. It would have been possible to cover the road with gravel to facilitate the skidding of the Renault Floride S convertible that stuntman Gil Delamar was to drive, but it would have been visible on screen. Time was pressing, Delamar nevertheless decided to continue the scene, with stuntmen Gaston Woignez and Odile Astie at his side. Around 5:30 p.m., the car, instead of sliding, ripped, an arm of the rear axle broke and threw the car which rolled over, ejecting the passengers and trapping Gil, killing him instantly. Odile was injured in the accident but recovered and continued her film career. She worked on dozens of films both in France and in the United States, sometimes appearing in small roles.

During her career she fractured her skull four times, broke her ribs multiple times, both arms and was badly burned.

Astie doubled for both Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale on “The Legend of Frenchie King” (1971). Her other Euro-western was a actress in 1971’s “In the Dust of the Sun” where she played a country woman.

True to form Odile Astie died on November 14, 1980, in Los Angeles while filming a stunt for the film “The Cannonball Run”.

ASTIE, Odile (aka Odile Astie 'Bibi', Odile Astier, Odile Astié, Odile Astre) (Odile Danièle Astié) [5/22/1941, Paris, Île-de-France, France – 11/14/1980, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. (accident)] – circus performer, stuntwoman, film actress.

In the Dust of the Sun – 1971 (country woman)

The Legend of Frenchie King – 1971 [stunts]

Italian Film Producers Go Western [archived newspaper article]

 

Ft. Worth Star Telegram

November 29, 1964

 

ROME (AP) – Out here South of the Arno, a man sits tall in the saddle, shoots from the hip and drinks vino straight.

     That’s the way it is in the movie badlands outside Rome, Amico Mio, because in Italy that’s where the West begins.

     It end in feature length films that may not be “High Noon” but are usually enough like workaday Hollywood westerns to be good boxoffice – at least for Non Americans.

     And for the astute cinema wranglers riding herd on Italian filmdom’s latest phenomenon – the easter western – a good financial return on their art is good enough for them

     To movie fans who grew up on Tom Mix, Buck Jones, Ken Maynard and William Boyd, it might seem like pure cinema sacrilege to have celluloid gunslingers with names like Mario Del Conte and Gianpaolo Francobilli. To get around that, the names are anglicized.

Unflagging Market

     But the Italians, Europeans, Asians and South Americans who see the Rome-made westerns don’t seem to mind. There seems to be an unflagging market for the horse opera and with westerns now just a minor part f Hollywood production, the Italians have jumped in to meet the demand.

     They see nothing laughable about it, either. If Americans can make movies about Michelangelo, they ask, why can’t Italians make films about cowboys?

     Italian actors have quickly learned the ways of the old West and can now sneer, drink from a dirty glass, fall off a horse, fan off a dozen shots from a six-shooter, and do the Montana walk like the best of them back in the states.

     Language is another thing. Reluctantly, the film makers have decided that it’s simply too much trouble to do original western dialogue in Italian (“Come on! mount up boys. Let’s head ‘em off at the pass” – In Italian “Forza! Saltate a cavallo. Blocchiamoli nella gola!”)

Filmed in English

     Instead the films are shot in English, no matter how broken. This makes it easier all around to dub them for the foreign language outlets everywhere.

     Turri Vasile, producer of “Massacro al Grande Canyon” and “Minnesota Clay,” explains the Italian rage for the range in terms of a decline in American production.

     Hollywood now concentrates on TV westerns and the so called “big” westerns. The budget westerns that are bread and butter for distributors abroad have disappeared, starting a European do-it-yourself trend that also has them shooting it up on the plains of Spain and Yugoslavia.

     Right outside Rome there’s a whole western town, complete with saloon, bank, and barbershop – and with plenty of hitching post in the piazza.

     Wherever the location, the lead usually goes to an American actor Cameron Mitchell, Guy Madison, and Rod Cameron have starred in recent productions.

Italian Directors

     Italians direct the films but along with most of the secondary players assume American sounding pseudonyms. One Rome press agent went so far as to say his company’s current moneymaker was not an Italian western. “We consider it an American film produced in Italy.” He said.

     Ads for the movie ballyhoo it as “The exceptional American western that is triumphing in all Italy.”

     With titles repeating words like West, Texas, dollars and sheriff, the illusion is nearly complete. The action will do the rest.

     “A western is a formula, not history,” says director Sergio Corbucci “You have to satisfy the public’s concept of the thing. There aren’t many American westerns that show what America was really like then.

Studied old Westerns

     Corbucci has just finished his first western and is the first to put his own name on the product. That’s the only thing that’s worrying him now that “Minnesota Clay” is about to be released. “Chemically, it is excellent,” he observes, “It has all the ingredients. I did my studying by running off old wsterns.”

     Most of the 35 films that he has directed to date have been comic or Roman-spectacular. “A western is a lot more fun than a comedy, and though it’s pretty tiring – with horses that don’t fall right and guns that don’t go off – it’s easier than historical Roman films, with those mass scenes of 3,000 people.”

     The fashion for westerns may soon fade. Italians already show signs of catching James Bond fever. The transition may be marked one day by something called “007 Rides Again.”

[A typical Hollywood Western? But the scene for “Minnesota Clay” is being shot on location near Madrid, Spain, with Italian Sergio Corbucci as director and Spanish actress Ethel Rojo as the female star. The male star is American Cameron Mitchell, and the language is English, if a bit fractured.]   


Voices of the Spaghetti Western - “In a Colt’s Shadow”

 As we know most of the Euro-westerns were co-productions from Italy, Spain, Germany and France which incorporated British and American actors to gain a worldwide audience. The films were shot silent and then dubbed into the various languages where they were sold for distribution. That means Italian, Spanish, German, French and English voice actors were hired to dub the films. Even actors from the countries where the film was to be shown were often dubbed by voice actors for various reasons such as the actors were already busy making another film, they wanted to be paid additional salaries for dubbing their voices, the actor’s voice didn’t fit the character they were playing, accidents to the actors and in some cases even death before the film could be dubbed.

I’ll list a Euro-western and the (I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German and (F) French, (E) English voices that I can find and once in a while a bio on a specific voice actor as in Europe these actors are as well-known as the actors they voiced.








Today we’ll cover “In a Colt’s Shadow”

[(I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German, (F) French, (E) English]

Steve Blaine - Stephen Forsyth (I) Giuseppe Rinaldi, (S) Manuel Cano, (G) Thomas Eckelmann

Duke Buchanan - Conrado Sanmartin (I) Emilio Cigoli, (S) Arsenio Corsellas, (G) Arnold Marquis

Susan - Anne Sherman (I) Vittoria Febbi, (S) Rosa Guiñón

Jackson - Franco Ressel (I) Bruno Persa, (S) Rogelio Herrnandez, (G) Harry Wüstenhagen

Sheriff - José Calvo (I) Giorgio Capecchi, (S) Rafael Luis Calvo, (G) ?

Burns - Franco Lantieri (I) Pino Locchi, (S) ?, (G) Gerd Matienzen,

Buck - Graham Sooty (I) Eugenio Galadini, (S) Jesús Puche, (G) ?








Rogelio Herrnandez  (1930 – 2011)

Rogelio Hernández Gaspar was born in Barcelona, Spain on December 25, 1930. He was a Spanish actor and dubbing director, dean in the Barcelona sector, where he began in the trade in 1953, alternating dubbing and acting.

One of his first major roles was as the voice of Jeffrey Hunter in John Ford's classic “The Searchers” dubbed in Madrid, at the time Rogelio lived there. In 1960 he settled permanently in Barcelona, where he began an extensive career as a dubbing actor that would last almost half a century.

In the 1960s Rogelio would be the ideal and the most requested to dub actors of the stature like Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Michael Caine or Jack Lemmon, actors that Rogelio would continue to dub during the following decades, especially the first three. He would also double actors such as Errol Flynn, Cary Grant and Montgomery Clift.

In the 1970s and 1980s, in addition to dubbing Caine, Brando and Newman, he lent his voice to secondary actors, such as Bruce Dern, Roy Scheider, James Caan or Robert Duvall. Highlights his dubbing of Peter Sellers, the comic inspector Clouseau in the saga “The Pink Panther”.

In 1981 he began to dub Jack Nicholson in the film noir thriller directed by Bob Rafelson “The Postman Always Calls Twice,” thus becoming another of his regular actors until his retirement.

He was also the Spanish voice of the notorious serial killer "Scorpion," played by Andrew Robinson in Don Siegel's 1971 thriller “Dirty Harry” and starring Clint Eastwood.

The list of actors who regularly lent his voice is very long: Marlon Brando, Michael Caine, Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, Gene Wilder, Bruce Dern, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Peter O'Toole, Cary Grant, James Caan, Robert Duvall, John Cassavetes, Montgomery Clift, John Cleese, Tony Curtis, James Cromwell, Vittorio Gassman, Burt Reynolds, Giuliano Gemma, Giancarlo Giannini, Jack Lemmon, Richard Harris, Klaus Kinski, Martin Landau, Oliver Reed, Peter Sellers, Roy Scheider, George Segal, Harry Dean Stanton and Don Stroud,

On February 1, 1986Hernández was honored in Barcelona at the ceremony of the Golden Lecterns of La gran Noche del doblaje, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2007, after serious vision problems, Rogelio retired from dubbing after working in the dubbing of more than 1500 films. He died in Barcelona on December 31, 2011, at the age of 81, as a result of kidney cancer.

His wife, Rosa Guiñón and his daughter Rosa María Hernández are also dedicated to dubbing.


Monday, July 24, 2023

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Giacomo Assandri

 [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.]

Giacomo Assandri was an Italian actor from Genoa, Ligurian, Italy who appeared in nine films between 1975 and 1983. His only Euro-western was in an unnamed role in 1977’s “White Fang and the Kid” starring Tony Kendall and Gordon Mitchell.

Assandri was married and had a daughter named Giulia. A hospitality house called Casa di Accoglienza in Genoa, offering assistance to the poor who do not qualify for government assistance was named in his memory on May 24, 2015. In the article it mentions his daughter Giulia received a certificate in the naming of the facility named in honor of her late father.

ASSANDRI, Giacomo [19??, Genoa, Liguria, Italy - deceased] – film, TV actor.

White Fang and the Kid – 1977

Spaghetti Western Locations Then and Now – “Beyond the Law”

 The stage station as seen in 1968’s “Beyond the Law” was filmed in the Owl Rambla in Tabernas, Spain.

Here’s the same location as it exists in 2023.




European Western Comics ~ Aquila Bianca

 








Aquila Bianca

Aguila Bianca is the sexy heroine of the Giurleo house, she is the princess of the tribes of Castori and Soomawes. She lives her adventures with her trusty Ervo Lip and the white hunter Rugby. Texts were by Gian Giacomo Dalmasso, drawings by Enzo Magni (Ingam) and by Carlo Savi (from issue 24). The publisher creates a distinctive caricature for each character. Covers were drawn by Nestore Corti

The comic book series was published weekly in 1949 with issue #1 being released on March 16th and ending with issue 29 on September 29th. It was published in Milan, Italy by ARC under the direction of Pasquale Giurleo and each issue contained 8 black & white pages with color covers.

Titles

01 (16.03.49) - “Il figlio dei castori” (The Son of the Beavers)

02 (23.03.49) - “Urlo nella foresta” (Scream in the Forest)

03 (30.03.49) - “Il mistero della cascata” (They Mystery of the Waterfall)

04 (06.04.49) - “I padroni del fuoco” (The Masters of Fire)

05 (21.04.49) - “La carica dei bisonti” (The Charge of the Buffalo)

06 (28.04.49) - “La via di ritorno” (The Way Back)

07 (05.05.49) - “Sul sentiero di guerra” (On the Warpath)

08 (12.05.49) - “L’arrivo dei visi pallidi” (The Arrival of the Pale Faces)

09 (19.05.49) - “Trofeo di scalpi” (Trophy of Scalps)

10 (26.05.49) - “La danza del fuoco” (The Dance of Fire)

11 (02.06.49) - “Il segreto dello stregone” (The Sorcerer’s Secret)

12 (09.06.49) - “Il clan dei ribelli” (The Rebel Clan)

13 (16.06.49) - “La valanga di pietra” (The Stone Avalanche)

14 (23.06.49) - “La morte del vecchio Castoro” (The Death of Old Beaver)

15 (30.06.49) - “Il caribou d’argento” (The Silver Caribou)

16 (07.07.49) - “Il miraggio dell’oro” (The Gold Mirage)

17 (14.07.49) - “I padroni della Valle Nera” (The Masters of Black Valley)

18 (21.07.49) - “Rocce Insanguinate” (Vloody Rocks)

19 (28.07.49) - “La sorgente avvelenata” (The Poisoned Spring)

20 (04.08.49) - “Il trionfo di Uklavara” (The Triumph of Uklavara)

21 (11.08.49) - “Una donna fra gli orsi” (A Woman Among Bears)

22 (18.08.49) - “La prova del fuoco” (Trial by Fire)

23 (25.08.49) - “Il valico aperto” (The Open Pass)

24 (01.09.49) - “La morte misteriosa” (The Mysterious Death)

25 (08.09.49) - “Una partita a poker” (A Game of Poker)

26 (15.09.49) - “Il ritorno di Mente Astuta” (The Return of Cunning Mind)

27 (22.09.49) - “Il supplizio di Ervo” (The Torture of Ervo)

28 (29.09.49) - “Il salto dalla roccia” (The Leap from the Rock)

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~Aleksandra Asmaye

 [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.]

Aleksandra Asmaye was born in Kaliningrad, Russia, U.S.S.R. as Aleksandra Evgenievna Ivanes on July 2, 1957. She was a theater and film actress. As a child she was taught dancing and later studied violin at a music school. In 1978 she graduated from the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinema. She began her film career in 1980 with an appearance as Tamara in the Russian film “Ekipazh”. She derived her stage name Aleksandra Yakovleva from the surname of her grandfather.

In 1993 she left the cinema and until 1997 and began her career in politics. She was named chairman of the committee on culture and tourism of the city of Kaliningrad.

In May 2019, Yakovleva announced that she has been battling stage IV breast cancer for the last two years. At some point of battling the illness, she was unable to speak and walk. The cancer later metastasized to her brain, but she was in stable condition and the tumor stopped growing. In January 2022, it has been announced that she was recovering from brain surgery. On April 1, 2022, Yakovleva died at the age of 64 in Saint Petersburg, five years after she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Asmaye was married three times and had a daughter named Elizaveta Kukhareshina born in 1977 and a son named Kondraty Yakovlev born in 1980.

In her only Euro-western she played the role of Ms. Diana Little in “A Man from Boulevard Capucines” in 1987. Here she put her dance training to good use performing a dance for tlocal townsfolk.

ASMAYE, Aleksandra (aka Aleksandra Evgenievna Yakovleva) (Aleksandra Evgenievna Ivanes) [7/2/1957, Kaliningrad, Russia, U.S.S.R. – 4/1/2022, St. Petersburg, Russia (breast cancer)] – theater, film actress, politician, married to journalist Aleksandr Nevzorovy (Alexander Glebovich Nevzorov) [1958-    ], married to actor Valeri Kukhareshin (Valery Aleksandrovich Kukhareshin) [1957-    ] (197?-198?) mother of  Elizaveta Kukhareshina. [1977-    ], Kondraty Yakovlev [1980-  ], married to sports figure Kalyu Aasmyae (198?-    ).

A Man from Boulevard Capucines – 1987 (Ms. Diana Little)

New Beverly Cinema “Fistful of Dollars” / “For a Few Dollars More” July 25-27, 2023, 7:30 p.m. / 9:35 p.m.

 


JULY 25, 2023

 

7:30 pm

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (IB TECH PRINT)

Vibrant I.B. Technicolor 35mm Print!

 

9:35 pm

FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (IB TECH PRINT)

Vibrant I.B. Technicolor 35mm Print!

 

JULY 26, 2023

 

7:30 pm

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (IB TECH PRINT)

Vibrant I.B. Technicolor 35mm Print!

 

9:35 pm

FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (IB TECH PRINT)

Vibrant I.B. Technicolor 35mm Print!

 

JULY 27, 2023

 

7:30 pm

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (IB TECH PRINT)

Vibrant I.B. Technicolor 35mm Print!

 

9:35 pm

FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (IB TECH PRINT)

Vibrant I.B. Technicolor 35mm Print!



Who Are Those Singer & Musicians? ~ Karel Gott

 

Karel Gott was born on July 14, 1939, in Pilsen, Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia. He was a Czech pop singer and was thought to be the most successful male singer in the former Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. Often dubbed the “Golden Voice of Prague” and the “Sinatra of the East,” he was voted the country's best male singer in the annual Český slavík over forty times, most recently in 2017.

He recorded 100 albums and 100 compilation albums and sold an estimated 50–100 million records worldwide, 23 million of them in the German-speaking market, and about 15 million in Czechoslovakia and its successor states (the Czech Republic and Slovakia).

In 1968, he competed in the Eurovision Song Contest with his song "Tausend Fenster".

Gott had two daughters (Dominika [1975- ] and Lucie [1987- ] from different former relationships. He married his last wife, Ivana Macháčková  in January 2008 in Las Vegas, and they had two daughters, Charlotte [2006- ] and Nelly [2008- ].

On 12 September 2019 it was announced that Gott was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). He died on October 1, 2019 from the disease at a Prague hospital at the age of 80.

GOTT, Karel [7/14/1939, Pilsen, Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia – 10/1/2019, Plzeň, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (leukemia)] – composer, singer, actor, father of Dominika Gott with [1975-    ], Lucie Gott with [1987-    ], married to Ivana Gottová (Ivana Machackova) [1976-    ] (2008-2019) father of Charlotte Ella Gott [2006-    ], Nelly Sofie Gott [2008-    ].

Karel Gott: Zdvorilý Woody – 1963 [sings: “Zdvořilý Woody”]

Lemonade Joe – 1964 [sings: “Oh Ye Gods, What a Dime Drink” sung by Karel Gott]

The Spaghetti Western Podcast Season 5, Episode 13 #113

 


 Join me today at 12 p.m. PST for another Spaghetti Western Podcast Today we’ll be talking about in our History of the Spaghetti Western segment “The Magnificent Brutes of the West”, in our “Whatever became of…? segment we’ll talk about Stephen Boyd and our “Who are Those guys?” will feature José Bódalo. The film of the week is “A Taste for Killing” I’ll talk about a couple of CDs/LPs for the above films and have an autograph.  I have something different for the poster of the week and We’ll wrap things up with the News of the week So you’re invited to join this session at noon PST today. I hope to see you then.

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Aslan

 [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.]

Aslan is a South African stuntman. According to the IMDb his two South African westerns are his only film credits. No other information is available.

ASLAN (Aslan Steel) [South African] - stuntman

Guns of Honor (TV) – 1993 [stunts]

Trigger Fast (TV) – 1994 [stunts]

 

We continue our search for locations for “Bad Man’s River”

 In the room where they are being held captive the men discuss their differences and their lots in life when suddenly the rebel fortress is attacked by Mexican soldiers. Fiero tries to escape in an automobile but finds himself trapped in the fort by cannon fire.


This was filmed at at the Daganzo de Arriba, Spain.


For a more detailed view of this site and other Spaghetti Western locations please visit my friend Yoshi Yasuda’s location site: http://y-yasuda.net/film-location.htm  and Captain Douglas Film Locations http://www.western-locations-spain.com/