Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director – Richard Balducci

Armando Pellegrino Ido Balducci was born in Paris, France on February 10, 1922. As a World War II correspondent until the Liberation, he joined Pierre Benard at France-Soir where Pierre Lazareff assigned him to the Shows section. He then became the press officer of the Olympia for ten years.

He was an actor in Jean-Luc Godard's “Breathless”. Then press officer again. He collaborated with many directors such as Luis Buñuel, Roger Vadim, Christian-Jaque, Luchino Visconti, Jean-Pierre Melville, Claude Lelouch, Terence Young, Jean-Luc Godard, Julien Duvivier, Jacques Demy, Agnès Varda, Philippe de Broca, François Truffaut, Jacques Deray, Claude Chabrol, Max Ophüls, Jacques Becker, André Cayatte, etc.

He owes his fame mainly to the creation of the film series “Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez” (1964-1982) with Louis de Funès, for which he had the original idea.

He moved on to directing under the alias Richard Balducci at the end of the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, he made a series of comedy films with often evocative titles. His last film dates from 1986. He then devoted himself to writing novels.

Balducci married the ski champion turned actress Gisèle Sandré on January 17, 1963, in Paris, in the presence of Johnny Hallyday, Dalida and Charles Aznavour. On July 15, 1969, he married the actress and former Miss France Karin Meier in Neuilly, France.

Balducci died on December 8, 2015, in Créteil, France at the age of 93.

Balducci’s only Spaghetti western was “Dans la poussière du soleil” (In the Dust of the Sun) in 1971.

BALDUCCI, Richard (aka Bruno Baldwin) (Armando Pellegrino Ido Balducci) [2/10/1922, Paris, ‘Île-de-France, France - 12/8/2015, Créteil, Val-De-Marne, France] – journalist, director, writer, married to actress Gisèle Sandré (Gisèle Simone Sandré) [1941-    ] (1963-196?), married to actress Karin Meier (1969-????).

In the Dust of the Sun – 1971

Spaghetti Western Screenwriter – Tony Anthony

Tony Anthony was born Anthony Pettito on October 16, 1937. He is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. Anthony worked for several years in Spaghetti Westerns (some with the co-production company Lupo-Anthony-Quintano Productions) appearing in 6 Euro-westerns. He produced and starred in two 3-Dimensional movies, both of which enjoyed a modest theatrical release. After making these two films, Anthony effectively retired from the movie industry (except for the occasional production work and authoring several books

As a screenwriter Anthony was involved with two of his Spaghetti westerns: “Lo straniero di silenzio” (The Silent Stranger) in 1968 with Vincenzo Cerami, Giancarlo Ferrando and Lloyd Battista, “Il pistolero cieco” (Blindman) in 1971 with Piero Anchisi, Lloyd Battista, Vincenzo Cerami and Ferdinando Baldi.

ANTHONY, Tony (aka Frank Pettito, Tony Pettito) (Anthony Petitto) [10/16/1937, Clarksburg, West Virginia, U.S.A. -     ] – producer, director, writer, songwriter, film actor, singer, brother of actor David Dreyer (David Emmett Petitto) [1942-2014].

The Silent Stranger – 1968 (co)

Blindman – 1971 (co)

Riders on the Storm – 1989 (co) [Film was never made.]

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer – Michael Ballhaus

Michael Ballhaus was born in Berlin, Germany on August 5, 1935. He was one of the world’s most important cinematographers. Before spending 25 years working primarily in the U.S.A., he established his reputation in Germany where he worked with, among others, auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder, helping “Young German Cinema” achieve new artistic freedom. At the lens alongside great American directors such as Martin Scorsese, he had a decisive effect on the lighting and look of U.S. moviemaking.

His body of work comprises some 130 films for theaters and television, including 15 films with Fassbinder and seven with Scorsese alone, alongside many other legendary directors, including Peter Lilienthal, Wolfgang Petersen, Volker Schlöndorff, John Sayles, Robert Redford, James L. Brooks, Paul Newman, Mike Nichols, and Francis Ford Coppola.

Michael Ballhaus died in Berlin on April 12, 2017, at the age of 81.

Ballhaus was the cinematographer on two Euro-westerns: “Whity” in 1971 and “Tschetan” (Chetan, Indian Boy) in 1972.

BALLHAUS, Michael (aka Michael Alexander) [8/5/1935, Berlin, Berlin, Germany - 4/12/2017, Berlin, Berlin, Germany] – producer, director, writer, cinematographer, cameraman, film editor, actor, married to producer, actress Helga Ballhaus (Helga Maria Betten) [1935-2006] (1958-2006) father of producer, assistant director, cameraman, Jan Sebastian Ballhaus, cinematographer, cameraman Florian Ballhaus [1965-    ], married to production designer, director, assistant director, writer, Sherry Hormann [1960-    ] (2011-2017)

Whity - 1971

Chetan, Indian Boy – 1972