Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director ~ Jerry Hopper

Harold Hankins Hopper, known professionally as Jerry Hopper, was an American film and television director, active from the mid-1940s through the early 1970s. Jerry Hopper was born in Guthrie, Oklahoma on July 29, 1907. During World War II he became a combat photographer for the Army and was injured during the Battle of Leyte and received a Purple Heart. He started as an office assistant at Paramount Pictures before becoming a radio scriptwriter and an editor before moving to the directors' chair for several installments of their Musical Parade series (1946–48). Hopper went on to direct feature films, such as, “The Atomic City” (1952), “Pony Express” (1953), “Secret of the Incas” (1954), and “The Private War of Major Benson” (1955), the latter three with actor Charlton Heston. In 1958 he directed Brandon deWilde and Lee Marvin in “The Missouri Traveler”.

Hopper then moved primarily into episodic television, having directed ‘Colt .45’, ‘Bachelor Father’, ‘Wagon Train’, ‘Gunsmoke’, ‘The Addams Family’, ‘Burke's Law’, ‘Perry Mason’, ‘The Fugitive’, ‘Gilligan's Island’, and ‘Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea’, among many others.

Jerry Hopper died in San Clemente, California on December 17, 1988 from heart failure. He was 81.

Jerry Hopper directed one Spaghetti western, “La valle dei Comanche” (Madron) in 1970.

HOPPER, Jerry (aka Jerr Hopper) (Harold Hankins Hopper) [7/29/1907, Guthrie, Oklahoma, U.S.A. – 12/17/1988, San Clemente, California, U.S.A. (heart failure)] – director, film editor, cousin of actress, singer Glenda Farrell [1904–1971], married to actress Marsha Hunt [1917-2011] (1938-1945), married to Win Hopper (Winifred Joyce Robinson) [1926-2013] (1949-1963) father of writer, actor Jay Hopper (Christopher Michael Jay Hopper) [1950-    ], foreign policy writer Timothy  R. Hopper, Belinda Hopper [1951-    ], Jennifer Hopper [1955-    ], married to musician Dorothy Ellis [1911-1998] (1984-1988),

Madron – 1970

Spaghetti Western Screenplay ~ Peter David

Peter Allen David was born in Fort Meade Maryland on September 23. He often abbreviated it to PAD. David attended New York University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. He was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.

David's Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as ‘Babylon 5’, ‘Young Justice’, ‘Ben 10: Alien Force’ and Nickelodeon's ‘Space Cases’, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.

Peter David wrote the screenplays for two Euro-westerns: “Oblivion” in 1993 and its sequel “Backlash: Oblivion 2” in 1994.

DAVID, Peter (Peter Allen David) [9/23/1956, Ft. Meade, Maryland, U.S.A. – 5/25/2025, East Patchogue, New York, U.S.A.] – author, writer, married to Myra Kasman [1957-    ] (1977-1998) father of Guinevere David [197?-    ], Shana Danielle [1979-    ], Ariel Noel [1984-    ], married to Kathleen O'Shea (2001-2025) father of Caroline Helen David [2002-    ]

Oblivion – 1993

Backlash: Oblivion 2 – 1994

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Eloy Mella

Eloy Mella was a Spanish cameraman and cinematographer. He worked on more than 60 movies spanning the 1930s through the late 1960s, including the legendary “Bienvenido Mr. Marshall”. He began his career as a second operator during the 1940s and early 1950s, with repeated collaborations with directors such as Florián Rey, Antonio Román and Ladislao Vajda. In his formative years, he worked with directors of photography, such as Enzo Ricioni, Cecilio Paniagua and, above all, Enrique Guerner. From 1952 he began his work as a director of photography, which was characterized, fundamentally, by the functionalism of his images. This led him to work with directors such as Jesús Franco, Rafael J. Salvia, Pedro Lazaga and León Klimovsky. He has participated in co-productions, especially with Italy, of particular singularity in the 1970s, and which are part of the peplum and spaghetti-western, under the orders, among others, of Alberto de Martino, Carlo Campogaliani or Sergio Bergonzelli.

Eloy Mella was a cinematographer on two Spaghetti westerns: “El séptimo de caballeria” (Charge of the 7^th) in 964 and “La Colt è la mia legge” (The Colt is My Law) in 1965.

MELLA, Eloy (Eloy Mella Medina) [1910, Coruna, Spain – deceased] – cinematographer, cameraman.

Charge of the 7^th - 1964

The Colt is My Law - 1965