RIP Mark Damon

 

American producer and actor Mark Damon died in Los Angeles on May 12^th he was 91. Damon, who was born Alan Herskovitz in Chicago on April 22, 1933, won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer for his starring role in 1960’s “House of Usher” for director Roger Corman, who died May 9th at 98, then went on to appear in numerous Spaghetti Westerns and other B-movies shot in Europe, from “Johnny Yuma” to Mario Bava’s “Black Sabbath.” Among the firms Damon led as an international sales agent were PSO, Vision International, MDP Worldwide and Foresight Unlimited. He is survived by his wife, Maggie Markov Damon; son Jonathan; daughter Alexis Damon Ribaut and son-in-law Mathieu Ribaut. Damon was a star of ten Spaghetti westerns: “Death at Owell Rocks” as Harry Boyd/Jeffries; “Johnny Yuma” as Jonathan Tomadaro Jefferson Gonzales/Johnny Yuma; “Ringo and His Golden Pistol” as Johnny Oro/Johnny Ringo) all in 1966; “Kill and Pray” as George Bellow Ferguson; “A Train for Durango” as Brown/Samuel Lee Barrett/Elias MacPherson both in 1967; “Dead Men Don’t Count” as Johnny Dannon Dalton and “Go for Broke” as Johnny Sweet/West both in 1968; “Pistol Packin' Preacher” as Slim in 1971; “The Great Treasure Hunt” as Dean Madison and “They Called Him Veritas” as Verità/Veritas/Verity both in 1972.