Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Jorge Brito

[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.]

Jorge Brito is/was a Spanish stuntman and character actor. He appeared in only three films and one TV series between 1984 and 1987. He appeared in two Spaghetti westerns appearing in an uncredited role doing stunts in “Rustlers’ Rhapsody” and performing stunts in “Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold” both in 1984. I can find no other information on him.

BRITO, Jorge [Spanish] – stuntman, film actor.

Rustlers’ Rhapsody [also stunts]

Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold – 1984 [stunts]

Spaghetti Western locations Then and Now – “Shalako”

 This photo is from a scene in “Shalako” with Honor Blackman and Jack Hawkins which was filmed at Eniz, Almeria, Spain in 1968.

The same location today and little has changed.

European Western Comic Books – Avventure nel West

 

Western Adventures

This small comic book series consisted of only three issues published with articles by Leone Cimpellin. It was published in 1964 by DNP (Adventures in the West) with issue #1 released in January and finished with issue #3 in March of that year. I

 

Titles

01 (00.00.64) - “Lanceri del Bengala” (Bengal Lancers)

02 (00.00.64) - “Cilindro nero” (Black Cylinder)

03 (00.00.64) - "Sud carica" (Southern Charge)

Special Birthdays

Reinhard Koldehoff (actor) would have been 110 today but died in 1995.

Deryck Guyler (actor) would have been 110 today but died in 1999.

Agnès Spaak (actress) is 80 today.

Phil Pink (actor) is 75 today.

RIP Gabriella Andreini

 

Italian actress Gabriella Andreini died in Salerno, Italy on April 28, 2024 one week after her 86^th birthday. She was born Gabriella Baistrocchi on April 16, 1938 in Naples. She moved to Rome at a very young age to attend acting courses at the National Academy of Dramatic Art. After graduating, one of his first roles was with the Gassman-Randone company in Shakespeare's “Othello”. She also had the opportunity to work, with some frequency, in television prose: in 1957 in O'Neill's “Fermenti” directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, then in Turgenev's “A Month in the Countryside” and in several episodes of ‘Le inchieste del commissario Maigret’, directed originally by Mario Landi. She then appeared in around 30 films and TV series from 1957 to 1979 but never in a leading role. Gabriela also was a film dubber working mainly in cartoons and on Rai radio. Andreini appeared in two Spaghetti westerns as Nina in “Zorro the Rebel” in 1966 and as Miss Peabody in 1974’s “The Crazy Adventures of Len and Coby”.

From the WAI vault

 

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Constantin Brînzea

[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.]

Constantin Brînzea is/was a Romanian actor who appeared in twelve films between 1977 and 1984. In most of his films his character roles were uncredited so unless you know what he looked like you’d never be able to recognize him in his role.

Constantin appeared in only one Euro-western and that was as Quick Arrow in the 1978 film “Artista, dolarii si Ardelenii” (The Actress, the Dollars and the Transylvanians) directed by Mircea Veroiu.

BRINZEA, Constantin (aka Constantin Brânzea) (Constantin Brînzea) – film actor.

The Actress, the Dollars and the Transylvanians – 1978 (Quick Arrow)

Michael Coby & Paul Smith

 After the duo of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill had their big breakthrough at the beginning of the 1970s with the two western comedies “They Call Me Trinity and “Trinity is STILL My Name”, the film industry quickly began to copy the new successful concept. Shortly thereafter, a whole series of so-called doppelganger films were created, in which a sporty daredevil type was accompanied by a tall, powerful and bearded giant. These films were then marketed accordingly, so that there was a certain risk of confusion from them. Reason enough to take a closer look at Michael Coby and Paul Smith in particular.

[Courtesy Michael Ferguson]

Probably the best-known doppelganger duo were the USA-born Paul Smith and the Italian Michael Coby born Antonio Cantafora. This duo already had the greatest resemblance of all doppelganger duos from a purely visual point of view, but in addition, numerous stuntmen and supporting actors known from the Spencer/Hill films also provided additional risk of confusion. Paul Smith and Michael Coby starred together in a total of five films in 1974 and 1975. Like the original duo Spencer/Hill, they started with Western comedies “Carambola” and “The Crazy Adventures of Len and Coby”, but later transported their style into present day adventures. In Germany, the two were always called Toby (Coby) and Butch (Smith) in their films, but this was not the case in the originals.

Paul Lawrence Smith was born on June 24, 1936, in Everett, Massachusetts. His first film role was in 1960 in the film “Exodus”, which was shot in Israel. In 1967, he returned to Israel to serve as a volunteer in the Six-Day War. Smith remained in Israel, where he made a few films, became an Israeli citizen, adopted the Hebrew name Adam Eden, and met his second wife, Aviva ‘Eve’ Eden (2006-2012). In 1973, Paul had previously moved to Italy, where he shot the five Spencer/Hill lookalikes alongside Michael Coby. Four years later, in 1977, Smith returned to the U.S.A., where he made further films, including “Midnight Express” (1978), “Popeye” (1980), “Red Sonja” (1985) and “Maverick” (1994). His last appearance was in 1999 in the TV movie ‘D.R.E.A.M. Team’. In February 2006, Paul Smith returned to Israel. Since then, Paul Smith has been living in the small town of Ra'anana. He no longer made films but was a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences and as such is entitled to vote at the Oscars. In addition, he tried to spend more time with his family. He himself has a son Elliott from his first marriage, who still lives in the States. In addition, his wife Eve, also from her first marriage, had a daughter. Smith died on June 25, 2012. 

Michael Coby was born Antonio Cantafora on February 2, 1944, in Crotone, Calabria. After studying acting, he landed his first film role in 1967 in the Italian western “The Dirty Outlaws”. From then on, he could be seen again and again in Italo Westerns. Thanks to an outward resemblance to actor Terence Hill, he was hired in the mid-1970s for the Spencer/Hill lookalike films alongside Paul Smith. For these films he adopted the English-sounding pseudonym Michael Coby, which he abandoned in the mid-1980s. From then on, he reverted to his real name. While his doppelganger partner is drawn to the U.S.A. in his further career, Cantafora remained largely faithful to European film. It was only in 1983 that he was drawn to Brazil for a film “Gabriela, cravo e canela”. In 1987 he even filmed with the great Federico Fellini “Fellini's Intervista”, but the big breakthrough as an actor eluded him. "Simone e Matteo" - director Giuliano Carnimeo expressed this circumstance as follows: "He was a serious actor, a professional who, unfortunately, in his career did not have the luck that he should have deserved." His last appearance was in 2003 as a detective in Dario Argento's serial killer thriller “The Card Player”.

 

Who Are Those Singers & Musicians? ~ Lydia MacDonald

 

Lydia Macdonald was born Lydia De Domenico in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 5, 1923. She was a Scottish bilingual singer who contributed to various Italian film soundtracks from the 1950’s to the 1970’s.

Lydia was born to a Welsh-born mother and Italian father, Lydia went to Italy in 1939 on what was intended to be a family holiday, Obliged to remain in Italy and complete her education in Rome due to the outbreak of World War II she befriended several young leaders of the emerging Italian jazz scene, including Armando Trovajoli, Piero Umiliani and (especially) Piero Piccioni with whose Orchestra 013 she participated as principal vocalist. During Rome's liberation by the allies in 1944, she broadcast on both the British and American Forces networks. Returning home to Scotland immediately after the War she was soon spotted and auditioned by bandleader Ted Heath who recruited her as his first female vocalist and thereby one of the first female popular singers to perform before mass peacetime audiences between 1946 and 1949. After leaving the Heath band, exhausted by its very heavy touring schedule, she moved to Rome in 1950 where she reconnected with the musician friends she had made in the War years. Soon, as a bilingual singer and lyricist, she found herself in demand to contribute the blossoming Italian film industry, collaborating throughout the 1950s/60s and early 1970s with the leading composers and arrangers of the day, including Piero Piccioni, Ennio Morricone, Piero Umiliani, Armando Trovajoli and numerous others. This was notable for its cultural significance; by contrast with the rich flow of Italian immigrants to Scotland in the early and mid-20th Century, there was minimal migration the other way, so Lydia's move from Scotland to Italy to build a career is all the more notable for that. In the early 1970s, she returned to Edinburgh to retire where she remained until she passed away in Edinburgh on March 26, 1998 shortly after turning 75.

Mac DONALD, Lydia (aka Lidia Mac Donald, Lydia McDonald) (Lydia De Domenico) [3/5/1923, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. – 3/26/1998, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.] – songwriter, singer, member of Ted Heath’s orchestra.

Blood for a Silver Dollar – 1965 [sings: “Give Me Back”]

Special Birthdays

Piero Zuffi (director) would have been 115 today but died in 2006.

Donatas Banionis (actor) would have been 100 today but died in 2014.

Kurt Böwe (actor) would have been 115 today but died in 2000.

Riccardo Pizzuti (actor) is 90 today.

Neil Summers (stunts, actor) is 80 today.

Penélope Cruz (actress) is 50 today.

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Félix Briones, Félix Briones Jr.

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Félix Briones, Félix Briones Jr.

[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.]

The Spanish actor and his son are not to be confused with the more famous father and son matadors of the same name. According to the Diccionario del cine Español Félix Briones Hernandez was born in Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain in 1895 and started his film career in 1945. His first credited role was in the 1948 film “Aventuras de don Juan de Mairena” in the role of El Rojo. He’d go on to appear in over 60 films ending with a role in the 1961 film “Fantasmas en la casa” as the sale owner.

His only appearance in a Euro-western was in the three-part film “Tres eran tres” (Three Were Three) in the segment “Una de indios” (One of the Indians) in an uncredited role.

BRIONES, Félix (Félix Briones Hernandez) [1895, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain – 19??, Spain] actor, married to ? father of actor Félix Briones hijo [19??-19??].

Three Were Three – 1954

Félix Briones hijo was the son of Félix Briones Hernandez. He appeared in only three films between 1954–1955. Whether he’s still living is unlikely but is unknown since there’s even less information available about him than his father.

Like his father his only appearance in a Euro-western was in the three-part film “Tres eran tres” (Three Were Three) in the segment “Una de indios” (One of the Indians) in an uncredited role.

BRIONES Félix hijo., [19??, Spain -19??, Spain] – film actor, son of actor Félix Briones [1895-19??].

Three Were Three – 1954

From the WAI! vault

 

50th Anniversary of the premier of “The Crazy Bunch”

 

Today marks the 50^th anniversary of the premier of “The Crazy Bunch” directed by Anthony Ascott and starring George Hilton and Cris Huerta. It tells the story of Tressette (George Hilton) who is out to recover $100,000 in gold stolen from Frisco Joe (Riccardo Garrone) on a wagon train to Yuma. The money has been taken by Frank Faina (Enzo Maggio) and the inept Poison (Tony Norton). Faina puts the money in a bank safety deposit box and hides himself and the key in an insane asylum. Tressette must get his hands on the key, but he and his partner Bambi (Cris Huerta) have a few tricks up their sleeve, such as a gun that fires when he whistles, a birthday cake stuffed with dynamite and best of all a huge club. With all this on their side you just know they will succeed in the end.

The film took in 88,280 lire and ranks 404^th on the list of most profitable Spaghetti westerns shown in Italy.

 

Di Tressette ce n’è uno, tutti gli altri son nessuno – Italian title

Continuavano a chiamarlo tressette… bussava solo a batoni – Italian title

Dicky Luft Em Sacramento – Brazilian title

Vestes skore kugler – Danish title

Villi Joukko – Finnish title

Kiero Dick ja lännen villi porukka – Finnish title

Dick Lufte in Sacramento – German title

Der Dicke, das Schlitzohr und drei Halleluja – German title

Vestens Villeste Gutter  - Norwegian title

Galningarna – Swedish title

The Crazy Bunch – English title

 

A 1974 Italian film production [Dania Film (Rome)]

Producers: Luciano Martino, Mino Loy

Director: Anthony Ascott (Giuliano Carnimeo)

Story: Tito Carpi (Fiorenzo Carpi)

Screenplay: Tito Carpi (Fiorenzo Carpi)

Cinematography: Emilio Foriscot, Federico Zanni [Eastmancolor, Techniscope]

Music: Alessandro Alessandroni

Running time: 95 minutes

Cast:

Tresette/Tricky Dicky - George Hilton (Jorge Acosta y Lara)

Bambi/ Paco - Cris Huerta (Crisanto Brieva)

Poison/Veleno/Twinkle Toes - Tony Norton (Antonio Monselesan)

Letto - Memmo Carotenuto (Guglielmo Carotenuto)

Carlo Stryker - Nello Pazzafini (Giovanni Pazzafini)

‘Pimple Nose’ Stryker – Sergio Smacchi

Marmalade Stryker – Pietro Torrisi

Pink Eye Stryker - Artemio Antonini

Bald Stryker brother - Puccio Ceccarelli (Pietro Ceccarelli)

Stryker brother – Aldo Cecconi

Frisco Joe/Tutti Frutti - Riccardo Garrone

Pete Brambilla – Franco Narducci (Francesco Narducci)

Bank director - Renato Baldini

Bank cashier - Alfonso Giganti

Smith - Valentino Simeoni

Mrs. Smith – Maria De Sista

Drakeman - Dante Maggio

Hank - Riccardo Petrazzi

Grizzly – Aldo Pediinotti

Goldilocks - Veriano Ginesi (Voriano Ginesi)

Hook - Freddy Unger (Goffredo Unger)

Slim Proportions/Frank Faina/Frank the High-Handed Fairy - Enzo Maggio (Vincenzo

     Maggio)

Asylum director - Umberto D’Orsi

Asylum director’s assistant - Gino Pagnani (Luigi Fusconi)

Doctor - Furio Meniconi

Asylum servant – Dante Cleri

Sheriff - Renzo Pevarello

Cactus River horseman – Giglio Giglo (Pio Giglio)

Camp card players – Ettore Arena, Oscar Giustini, Fortunato Arena

Asylum murderers - Sergio Ukmar, Ottorino Polentini

Man trying to leave Strikers Ranch – Giulio Mauroni

'Statue of Liberty' - Ennio Colajanni

With: Oscar Giustini, Nicola Pistoia

Italian Cowboys

 

Italian Cowboys – Universal title

 

A 2019 Italian television mini-series [Quadrio srl. (Milan), Pop Cult (Bologna)]

Producer: Carola Cavalli, Giusi Santoro

Director: Giulio Filippo Giunti

Story: Giulio Filippo Giunti, Giorgia Boldrini

Teleplay: Giulio Filippo Giunti, Giorgia Boldrini

Photography: Andrea Dal Pian [color]

Music: Riccardo Nanni

Running time: 8 episodes x 26 minutes

 

Cast:

Sonny – Sandro Passarini

Pedro – Andrea Pedrielli

Clint – Diego Passarini

Carlos – Daniele Fortini

James Powell – Aldo Bregoli

Apache Kid – Andrea Fornasari

El Gato – Lorenzo Pinton

Mitchell – Paolo Rossi

Henry – Tiziano Marchetti

Amber – Ambra Fiorini

With: Giulio Filippo Giunti, Cesare Guiduzzi, Massimiliano Ubaldi, Marco Stefanelli, Lorenzo Trittera, Roberto Sgarbi, Umberto De Luca, Roberto Bebo Fillipini, Ludovico Della Martira, Margherita D’Alberti, Omar Bompani, Pierluigi Vignocchi, Eva Czerkaska, Victoria Pasini, Grazia Bendini, Arianna Totti, Andrew John McKenzie, Marco Manni, Graziano Pasini, Mirco Baschieri, Chiara Lambertini, Matteo Valdirosa, Luca Bullini

Disappointed by a series of rejections received from film producers to whom he had sent the script of a dramatic film, Giulio has an epiphany: he will change the story, he will make it a typical western film, a story of men, horses and revenge; he will produce it himself, and Cesare will be his guide in the world of Western riding and the Country lifestyle, which will take him around Italy to look for actors for his film. You have to find the right cast, people who know how to ride, throw the lasso, or do evolutions in the saddle, perform country dances for choreography... and then find the costumes, the equipment, the sets...

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcPfFHCBBc8

Spaghetti Western Locations for “Face to Face”

We continue our search for locations for “Face to Face”. Returning to camp the men go through what they’ve stolen from the passengers. Cattle Annie walks in and asks Beau how many people he killed today. He looks at her and says,  “None… so far”. She then tells him he’s not the only man in the world and that she learned today that when certain men want a girl they just take her whether she like it or not. Marta bows her head and walks away. Vance, realizing what happened gets up from the table and follows her.

This scene was filmed in Hoyo de Manzanares, Spain near where the town of “Golden City” which was used in “Fistful of Dollars” was filmed.

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/

Special Birthdays

Dominique Boschero (actress) is 90 today.

Spaghetti Western Trivia - Margaret Lee’s unmade “Blood Bath”

I mentioned in the Margaret Lee obituary on April 24^th a western she was to appear in that was never produced. Film historian and researcher Michael Ferguson e-mailed me this interesting information on what became of the project.

“For years I kept a close watch for "Blood Bath" and waiting for it to turn up in ads or on video. Producer Espartaco Santoni made and starred in two films the following year with similar titles both of which probably came out of the western's presales (which would have had to have been honored). Too bad the original sales brochure hasn't survived.”

On further reflection "Blood Bath" actually got made BUT not as a western. One of the two films mentioned above was “Blood Bath of Elizabeth Bathory” (aka “The Legend of Blood Castle” in 1973 starring Lucia Bosè and Espartaco Santoni and the other was “The Violent Blood Bath” (1974) starring Fernando Rey and Marisa Mell.

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ António Briguiela

[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.]

António Briguiela was most likely a Spanish actor who appeared in only one film and that was in the role of Pancho in 1980’s “Chicano”.

No other biographical information is available that I can find.

BRIGUIELA, António [Spanish] – film actor.

Chicano – 1980 (Pancho)

Two new Spanish, Japanese Blu-ray / DVD releases

 

“…Y Dios dijo a Cain”

(And God Said to Cain)

(1969)

 

Director: Antonio Margheriti

Starring: Klaus Kinski, Marcella Michelangeli, Peter Carsten

 

Country: Spain

Label: Mon Inter

Aspect ratio: 16:9, 2.35:1

Languages: Spanish, English

Subtitles: Spanish, English

Running time: 97 minutes

ASIN: ‎B0D11Q57T3

Available: April 26, 2024

“真昼の用心棒 Mahiruno Yojinbo”

(Massacre Time)

(1966)

 

Director: Lucio Fulci

Starring: Franco Nero, Geroge Hilton, Nino Castelnuovo

 

Country: Japan

Label: Eizō bunka-sha

Blu-ray/DVD combo and separately Blu-ray

Available: April 26, 2024

Special Birthdays

Marianne Hoppe (actress) would have been 115 today but died in 2002.

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Nicolau Breyner

[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.]

Nicolau Breyner was born João Nicolau de Melo Breyner Moreira Lopes on July 30, 1940, in Serpa, Portugal. He spent over 55 years in his career as an actor, producer, director and one of the most popular figures of national fiction. He is the cousin of the writer Sophia de Mello Breyner Andersen [1919-2004]

After his childhood in Serpa, he came to Lisbon with his family, having attended the Camões High School and the Faculty of Law. He soon gave up Law, eventually graduating in Theatre at the National Conservatory. He made his acting debut in the play “Leonor Telles”, by Marcelino Mesquita, at Teatro da Trindade. Soon after, it became popular in comedy, both in the revue and on television, demonstrated in programs such as ‘Nicholas in Wonderland’, ‘I Show Nico’ and ‘Euronic’. Recently he appeared on “Esta Noite Choveu Prata” (Tonight it Rained Silver) by Pedro Bloch, produced by Sérgio de Azevedo.

Breyner appeared in over 40 films from 1961-2012. Besides being an actor and receiving three Golden Globe Awards he was a co-author of the first Portuguese soap opera, ‘Vila Faia’ “Beech Village”.

Breyner was married to Mafalda Maria de Alpoim Vieira Barbosa [1947-    ] (19??-19??). He then married actress Sofia Sá da Bandeira (Sofia de Freitas Branco de Sá da Bandeira) [1963-    ] (1996-2001). He fathered two daughters Mariana Fidalgo Ramos de Melo Breyner Lopes [1986-    ], Constanca Fidalgo Ramos de Melo Breyner Lopes [1991-    ] with writer Cláudia Fidalgo. He then married producer, actress Mafalda Bessa (Mafalda Gomes de Amorim Bessa) [1968-    ] (2006-2016).

In 1995 he unsuccessfully ran for political office for the office of Mayor of Serpa

Nicolau was awarded Grand-Officer of the Order of Merit [2005], Grand-Officer of the Order of Prince Henry [2016].

 He died at home in Lisbon, Portugal of "natural causes" on March 14, 2016, of a heart attack.

Breyner appeared in the Euro-western Bonanca & C.a (1969) as Adão.

BREYNER, Nicolau (João Nicolau de Melo Breyner Moreira Lopes) [7/30/1940, Serpa, Portugal - 3/14/2016, Lisbon, Portugal (heart attack)] – producer, production manager, director, writer, theater, film, TV actor, married to Mafalda Maria de Alpoim Vieira Barbosa [1947-    ] (19??-19??), married to actress Sofia Sá da Bandeira (Sofia de Freitas Branco de Sá da Bandeira) [1963-    ] (1996-2001), father of Mariana Fidalgo Ramos de Melo Breyner Lopes [1986-    ], Constanca Fidalgo Ramos de Melo Breyner Lopes [1991-    ] with Cláudia Fidalgo Ramos,  married to producer, actress Mafalda Gomes (Mafalda Gomes de Amorim Bessa) [1968-    ] (2006-2016), awarded Grand-Officer of the Order of Merit [2005], Grand-Officer of the Order of Prince Henry [2016].

Bonança & C.a - 1969 (Adão)

New German Blu-ray, DVD release of “Django - Unbarmherzig wie die Sonne”

“Django - Unbarmherzig wie die Sonne”

(Death Sentence)

(1968)

 

Director: Mario Lanfranchi

Starring: Robin Clarke, Richard Conte, Enrico Maria Salerno, Adolf Celi

 

Country: Germany

Label: Explosive Media

New 2K master

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Languages: German, English

Subtitles: German, English

Running time: 99 minutes

Extras: audio commentary with Mario Lanfranchi; interview featurette with the director; trailer; gallery

ASIN: ‎B0CTC1JQ1V

Available: April 25, 2024

Starosta má starosti

Starosta má starosti – Czechoslovakian title

[The Mayor is Worried – English translated title]

 

A 1989 Czechoslovakian television production [Ceskoslovenská Televize (Prague)]

Producer: ?

Director: Jitka Němcová

Story: Luboš Johanis

Teleplay: Luboš Johanis

Photography: Jan Matiášek

Music: Jaroslav Uhlíř

Running time: 31 minutes

 

Cast:

Sheriff - Josef Laufer

Shirley - Miroslava Pleštilová

Louis Jones - Ondřej Havelka

Judge - Svatopluk Beneš

Frank Finley - Karel Greif

Billy Denis - Josef Bek

Daisy - Gabriela Osvaldová

James O’Brien - Karel Šíp

Tom Brady - Jaroslav Uhlíř

With: Václav Vydra, the youngest, Petr Meissel, Jan Fiala, Hana Bažantová

 

The mayor of a small western town tries to intimidate a journalist who comes across a case of corruption by using medieval judicial law, which he intends to use as a judicial precedent, which American law allows.

Special Birthdays

Stjepan Hrgović (actor) would have been 80 today but died in 2021.

Martin Koolhoven is 55 today.

RIP Margaret Lee

 

British actress Margaret Lee died on April 24^th according to an announcement by her son producer Roberto Malerba. Born Margaret Gwendolyn Box in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England on August 4, 1943, she was a popular leading lady in Italian films in the 1960s and 1970s. She is the mother of production manager/producer Roberto Malerba [1964- ] (from her marriage to Gino Malerba) and production manager/producer Damian Anderson [1973- ]. She was educated at the Italia Conti Theatre School in London, graduating in 1960. She moved to Rome shortly afterwards to pursue a career in films. Her film debut came in the sword and sandal adventure “Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules” (1962), where she played the female lead alongside Reg Lewis, but it was a string of popular comedies that initially made Lee a star in Italy. With a blonde, fluffy look modelled after Marilyn Monroe, Lee spent the first half of the 1960s appearing in numerous Italian comedies and parodies – several of which starred the popular comedic duo Franco and Ciccio. Few of these films received much, if any, distribution in English-speaking territories but they were highly successful in Italy and made Lee a well-known film actress. Lee appeared in three Spaghetti westerns: “The Two Sergeants of General Custer” in 1965 as Beth/Betty ‘The Lynx’ Smith; “Djurado” in 1966 as Mitzy. She was to appear in a 1964 western entitled “I Shot Johnny Ringo” but the film was never made and “Bano de sangre” (Blood Bath) in 1971 but it was never released.