Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western director – Roy Ward Baker

Roy Ward Baker was born in Hornsey, London, England on December 19,196, where his father was a Billingsgate wholesale fish merchant. He was educated at a Lycée in Rouen, France, and at the City of London School.

Baker's first job, in 1933 aged 17, was in the mail room at the Columbia Gramophone Company. From 1934 to 1939, he worked for Gainsborough Pictures, a British film production company based in Islington, London. His first jobs were menial, and he progressed rapidly to location scouting and second unit directing. In 1938 he was appointed assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock's “The Lady Vanishes” (1938).

He served in the Army during the Second World War, joining the Army Kinematograph Service in 1943 as a production manager and director of documentaries. One of his superiors was novelist Eric Ambler, who gave Baker his first big break directing “The October Man” (1947), from an Ambler screenplay.

His next two films, “The Weaker Sex” (1948) and “Paper Orchid” (1949), were popular but were overshadowed by the success of “Morning Departure” (1950).

The latter drew international attention to Baker and Darryl F. Zanuck, production head of 20th Century Fox, invited him to Hollywood, although his first film for Fox – “I'll Never Forget You” (1951) – was made in the UK. Baker worked for three years at Fox where he directed Marilyn Monroe in “Don't Bother to Knock” (1952) and Robert Ryan in the 3D film noir “Inferno” (1953). He returned to the U.K. in 1953 and continued to work in films.

Baker was married to Muriel Bradford from 1940 to 1944. In 1948, he married Joan Dixon, with whom he had a son. They divorced in 1984.[3][8]

Baker died on 5 October 2010, aged 93.

Baker’s only Euro-western was “The Singer Not the Song” iu 1961.

BAKER, Roy Ward (aka Roy Baker, Roy Ward) (Roy Horace Ward Baker) [12/19/1916, Hornsey, London, England, U.K. - 10/5/2010, London, England, U.K.] – producer, production manager, director, assistant director, writer, actor, married to Muriel Bradford (1940-1944), married to Joan Dixon (1948-1987) father of Nicholas Baker [194?-    ].

The Singer Not the Song – 1961

Spaghetti Western screenwriter – Roberto Amoroso

Roberto Amoroso was born in Naples, Italy on January 7, 1911. He was an Italian producer, production manager, director, writer, cinematographer and film editor. Born to a merchant family as one of thirteen siblings, Amoroso grew up near the Sala Iride cinema, where he began his career in the silent film era as a pianist-accompanist, projection assistant, and designer of advertising posters. In the 1920s, he acquired his firsthand-cranked cine camera, fostering a lifelong passion for filmmaking and photography that led him to document everyday life in Naples.

During the 1930s, Amoroso worked as a photojournalist for Italian publications including La Gazzetta dello Sport, Il Littoriale, and Il Secolo XIX, while serving as a Naples correspondent for Fox Movietone News and Istituto Luce newsreels, producing vivid, non-propagandistic portrayals of the city that challenged fascist stereotypes. He established a photographic studio in Piazza del Plebiscito.

Amid World War II, from 1941 onward, Amoroso secretly filmed wartime events in Naples, including the pivotal Four Days of Naples uprising in 1943 against Nazi occupation, later handing his footage to Allied forces and securing a role as a cine operator with U.S. troops, which provided him essential film stock during shortages. In the post-war period, Amoroso founded the production company Sud Film in 1945 and transitioned to feature films, often handling multiple roles as screenwriter, cinematographer, and producer while shooting entirely on location to emphasize realism.

[His early successes in the neorealismo and tearjerker genres included Malaspina (1947), which he wrote and shot, officially directed by Armando Fizzarotti; Madunnella (1947); Nennella (1948); La figlia della madonna (1949); and Zappatore (1950), the latter introducing actor Gabriele Ferzetti.

He made his sole credited directorial effort with “Due soldi di felicità” (1954), a comedy-drama he also wrote and produced, though he influenced the creative direction of all his projects due to his hands-on problem-solving on set.

Amoroso's later productions extended into the 1960s and early 1970s, encompassing genres from drama, westerns, to spy thrillers, such as “Donatella” (1956), “La garçonnière” (1960), and “Secret Agent Super Dragon” (1966. His films, were frequently set and shot in Naples, highlighted local culture and social issues, cementing his legacy as a key figure in regional Italian cinema until his retirement.

Roberto Amoroso died in Naples on February 3, 1994, at the age of 83.

Amoroso co-wrote the screenplays for three Spaghetti westerns: “Deguello” in 1965 where he was credited as Ram, with Willy Regan (Sergio Garrone) and Joseph Warren (Giuseppe Vari), “El Rojo” in 1966 credited as Robert Lover with Bill Coleman (Leopoldo Savona), Mike Mitchell (Mario Casacci), Rate Furlan, Antonio Giambriccio, Roberto Gianviti, José-María Seone and “Kid il monello del West” (Bad Kids of the West) in 1973 with Mario Amendola and Bruno Corbucci

AMOROSO, Roberto (aka Robert Lover, Ram, Ramo, Aldo Ramo) [1/7/1911, Naples, Campania, Italy – 2/3/1994, Naples, Campania, Italy] – producer, production manager, director, writer, cinematographer, film editor, musician, founded Sud Film [1945].

Deguello – 1965 (co) [as Ram]

El Rojo – 1966 (co) [as Robert Lover]

Bad Kids of the West – 1973 (co)

Spaghetti Western cinematographer – Viktor Asmus

 

Viktor Nikolayevich Asmus was born on November 2, 1904, in St. Petersburg, Russia. He began working in cinema in 1930 after graduating from the camera department of (GTK) State Technical School of Cinematography. He participated in the creation of popular science films "In the Sands of Central Asia" (1943, together with G. Troyansky, State Pr. of the USSR, 1946), "The Law of Great Love" (1945), "White Fang" (1946, together with Troyansky and B. Volchek), "Animal Path" (1947, together with E. Ezov and A. Missyura), "The Gray Robber" (1956), "The Story of a Ring" (1948, together with E. Ezov; State Ave. of the USSR, 1950) and others.

Asmus died in the U.S.S.R. sometime in 1991 at the age of 87.

 Viktor’s only Euro-western was the previously mentioned “Belyy klyk” (White Fang) in 1946.

ASMUS, Viktor (aka V. Asmus) (Viktor Nikolayevich Asmus) [11/2/1904, St Petersburg, Russia – 1991 U.S.S.R.] – cinematographer, cameraman, actor, awarded Order of the Red Banner of Labour.

White Fang – 1946 (co)