RIP Brandy

 

Brandy was the stage name of Ildebrando José Rodríguez Rossetti and one of the greatest stuntmen in Spanish film history has died in Spain on August 22nd. he was 85. He was born in 1940 and worked in a French circus as an acrobat and specialized being shot from a cannon. He toured North American with the circus in the mid-1960s and then moved to Spain where he made his screen debut in “Circus World” (1964) with John Wayne, Rita Hayworth and Claudia Cardinale. He would go on to appear in some sixty plus co-productions.

Brandy doubled Alain Delon in “Zorro”, Michael York in the Musketeer films by Richard Lester. Also, Terence Hill in “March or Die” and Herbert Lom in “Murders in the Rue Morgue”. Many other uncredited roles as a stuntman as a member of the José Luis Chinchilla stunt team. Now Brandy’s son has carries on the tradition of stuntman and actor.

Brandy performed stunts in nine Spaghetti westerns that I know of: “Cannons for Cordoba” (1970), “Man in the Wilderness” and  “Pancho Villa both in 1971, “Massacre at Fort Holman” and “It Can Be Done Amigo” both in 1972, “Karate, Fists and Beans” (1973), “The Stranger and the Gunfighter (1974), “The Genius” and  “Zorro” both in 1975.