Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director ~ William Hanna

William Denby Hanna was born in Melrose, New Mexico on July 14, 1910, and was an American animator, voice actor, and musician. Hanna and Joseph Barbera co-created Tom and Jerry and founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera, with Hanna providing the vocal effects for Tom and Jerry's title characters.

Hanna joined the Harman and Ising animation studio in 1930 and steadily gained skill and prominence while working on cartoons such as Captain and the Kids. In 1937, while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Hanna met Barbera and formed a working relationship. In 1957, they co-founded Hanna-Barbera, which became the most successful television animation studio in the business, creating or producing programs such as ‘The Flintstones’, ‘The Huckleberry Hound Show’, ‘The Jetsons’, ‘Scooby-Doo’, ‘The Smurfs’, and ‘Yogi Bear’. In 1967, Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $12 million but Hanna and Barbera remained heads of the company until 1991. At that time, the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, which in turn was merged with Time Warner in 1996; Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors.

William Hanna died in North Hollywood, California on March 22, 2001. He was 90.

William Hanna co-directed one animated Euro-western, “Les Dalton en cavale” (Lucky Luke: The Daltons on the Run) with Morris, Joe Barbera and Ray Patterson in 1982 and the 1983-1984, 1991 European western television series ‘Lucky Luke’ with Joseph Barbera, Philippe Landrot and Morris.

HANNA, William (aka Bill Hanna) (William Denby Hanna) [7/14/1910, Melrose, New Mexico, U.S.A. – 3/22/2001, North Hollywood, California, U.S.A. (esophageal cancer)] – producer, director, writer, animator, composer, songwriter, actor, singer, married to Violet Blanch Wogatzke [1913-2014] (1936-2001) father of David William Hanna [1939-    ], Bonnie Jean Hanna [1942-2000], co-founded Hanna-Barbera Studios [1957], inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame [1994].

Lucky Luke: The Daltons on the Run – 1982 (co) [as Bill Hanna]

Lucky Luke (TV) – 1983-1984, 1991 (co)

Spaghetti Western Screenwriter ~ Gianni Crea

Gianni Crea was an Italian director, assistant director, writer and actor. He was born in Siderno Calabria, Italy on January 4, 1938. He was an assistant director on one film in 1965, wrote seven screenplays between 1969 and 2006 but was best known as a director. He directed ten films between 1969 and 2000. His reputation comes from the five Spaghetti westerns he directed in the 1960s and 1970s.

Gianni Crea wrote three Spaghetti western screenplays: “Legge della violenza – tutti o nessuno” (The Law of Violence) with Alfonso Balcazar and Dean Craig in 1969, “Il magnifico west” (The Magnificent West), and “I sette del gruppo Selvaggio” (7 Devils on Horseback) both in 1972.

CREA, Gianni (aka Perry Dell) [1/4/1938, Siderno, Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy - 2010, Italy] – director, assistant director, writer, actor.

The Law of Violence – 1969 (co)

Fill My Grave with Gold – 1971 [as Perry Dell] [film was never completed]

The Magnificent West – 1972

7 Devils on Horseback – 1972

 

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Vladimir Malik

Vladimir Malik born in Horní Berkovice, Czechoslovakia on January 21, 1931, was a film director, artist, animator and executive producer. In 1982, he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, but from the age of seventeen he devoted himself to animated films. He is the director of the animated films “Automata” (1985), “Great Cleaning” (1986), the animated television series ‘Why...’ (1994-2000), ‘Tales of King Fiškus’ (1995-1996). In the years 1987-1992, he made a series of co-produced animated films about babies – “Baby in the Amusement Park” (1987), “Baby in the Bank”, “Baby in the Candy Store” (1988), “Baby in the Factory”, “Baby in the Cosmodrome” (1990), “Baby in the Mountains” (1992). He received a number of awards for his work and participated with them in film and television festivals at home and abroad. In 1994, Vladimír Malík founded a private production company - Studio Domček. He worked as a teacher in the Studio of Animated Creation at the Faculty of Film and Television of the VŠMU in Bratislava. He died in Prague on February 24, 2022, at the age of 91.

Vladimir Malik was a cinematographer on one Euro-western, “Úkryt cerného Billa” in 1964.

MALIK, Vladimír (aka V.  Malík, Vladimir Malik) [1/21/1931, Horní Berkovice, Czechoslovakia – 2/24/2022, Prague, Czech Republic] – director, writer, cinematographer, cameraman, animator, film editor, founded Studio Domček Productions.

Úkryt cerného Billa – 1964