Little Known Spaghetti Western actors ~ Damiano Damiani

[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.]

Damiano Damiani is usually associated with the Spaghetti westerns as a director and writer, but he also appeared as a character actor.

Damiani was born in Pasiano, Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Udine, Italy on July 23, 1922. He studied at the Accademia di Brera in Milan and before his career as a screenwriter, Damiani was first a comic cartoonist in association with the "Group of Venice". Focused on the comic Asso di Picche (1945–1949) the comic featured a masked vigilante who fights crime all over the globe and is in charge of the crime stopping organization, "Band of Panthers". He also worked at this time in photonovels doing westerns in 1949. He did a dozen or so titles with Franco Fabrizi as "Lone Wolf"

Damiani made his début as a writer in 1947 with the documentary “La banda d'Affari”. After a few years as a screenwriter, he directed his first feature film in 1960, “Il rossetto”.

In 1973 Damiani débuted as an actor, playing Giovanni Amendola in Florestano Vancini's “The Assassination of Matteotti”. He was known to cult horror film fans for directing “Amityville II: The Possession” in 1982 for Dino De Laurentiis

Before his real acting debut, he made a cameo appearance in the Spaghetti western “Quién sabe?” (A Bullet for the General) in 1966 as a journalist a film he also directed

Damiano Damiani died on March 7, 2013, at his home in Rome, from respiratory failure; he was 90 years old.

DAMIANI, Damiano [7/23/1922, Pasiano, Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Udine, Italy - 3/7/2013, Rome, Lazio, Italy (respiratory failure)] director, screenwriter, actor, married to Rosa Zetti [19??-2008] (1945–2008) father of Cristina Damiani [1951-    ], Sibilla Damiani [1955-    ], Francesco Damiani [1959-    ].

A Bullet for the General – 1966 (Journalist with General Elias)

[Thanks to Michael Ferguson for some additional information.]