Michele Girardon, named “the most photogenic girl in
France” by age 20, appeared in 1965’s “Treasure of the Aztecs,” starring Lex
Barker and “I’ll Sell My Skin Dearly” (1968) starring Mike Marshall. Unfortunately,
she committed suicide in 1975 at age 36.
[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]
Donato Di Sepio aka Dony Baster was an Italian film and television actor. His parents and grandparents were actors. He appeared in fifteen films and TV series from 1964 until 1972 among which were six Spaghetti westerns. He resembles Luigi Pistilli only with a tougher mobster type look. He usually played minor character roles.
He was or is married as he has a daughter actress Sabrina Di Sepio born in 1961 who was a child actress who appeared in 1965’s “Juliet of the Spirits” and today serves as a Justice of the Peace in Rome.
Whatever happened to him is unknown as I can find no biographical information on him.
BASTER,
Dony (aka Donato Baster, Dony Batner) (Donato Di Sepio) [Italian]
– film, TV actor, married to ? father of child actress and Justice of the Peace
Sabrina Di Sepio [1961- ].
The
Last Gun – 1964 (Paquito) [as Dony Batner]
7
Magnificent Pistols for Timothy – 1965 (Stranton henchman)
Death
Sentence – 1967 (bartender)
Hate
for Hate – 1967 (Driscoll) [as Donato Baster]
The
Two Faces of the Dollar – 1967 (gold wagon shotgun guard)
Have
a Good Funeral – 1970 (barber)
Krung Srivilai played heroes in action movies. When Mitr
Chaibancha died in 1970, Thai producers were looking for new stars to replace
him. Krung Srivilai was one of them but also Nard Poowanai, Phairoj Jaising,
Yodchai Meksuwan. Krung Srivilai was different from 1960s muscular shape actors
as he was more slender. Krung Srivilai was born
in Bang Phli, Thailand on February 7, 1946. He played his first cinema
role in 1971. He made his first movie "ลูกยอ"
with Petchara. It was the last 16mm Thai movie. Krung is said to have played in
more than 400 movies and TV series. He even played in international HK Thai
productions such as "Big Boss 2"! Krung Srivilai became a politician
in 2007 joining the "Peua Thai" party
under the name of Natee Suthinphuak in 2010. He is married to Phanwipha
Srivilai since 1980 and is the father of actor Kamonwan Srivilai [1981- ] and
actress Sawakorn Sutinpuek [1988-].
Krung Sriwilai, birth name is Natee Suthinphuak. This name is unknown to no one, especially people aged 45-70 years of age, he is a popular hero of Thailand. His fervor has even set a single-day record for nine films, barely adapting to the dramatic role he has to play.
He is a descendant of a Samut Prakan farmer. Signed as bowler for the sports Thai Rath team. As a teenager with a gangster heart who before playing movie heroes had to hide from the hitters.
'Luk Yod' is the first movie in his acting career, where he took the name Krung Srivilai, his character's own name in the movie. Hundreds of parts followed. At his peak, he never played the villain, and in the roles that he played, there was no bullying and no rape of women, which was his personal choice.
He became an Asian star after starring alongside Hollywood star Greg Morris and Vietnamese actress Miss Thiem Tun Hang [Thuy Hang Tham] in “S.T.A.B.” aka “Thong” (1973), for Raymond Chow's Golden Harvest (HK). With the comedian 'Wheel Tok', the duo is very close. The city would call him 'Daddy' every time, and together they created a new drama in the movie. Super Luk Country is famous as a firework and is the origin of the Super Luk Country band that created a phenomenon to collect 10 baht per night ticket for hundreds of thousands.
As the years passed, only his great past remained. Krung stepped into the political arena, becoming an MP for Samut Prakan for the first time in 2007. Ready to announce himself as the bodyguard to protect 'Big Tu - 'Big Pom'.
Krung Sriwilai’s lone appearance in a Spaghetti western was La tigre venuta dal fiume Kwai (Tiger from the River Kwai) directed by Franco Lattanzi and starring Gordon Mitchell and George Eastman. Krung plays the role of Thai a secret agent from Thailand who goes to the United States on a mission to find out why a Mr. Stone died and bring his ashes and fortune, a jeweled elephant, back to his homeland.
Gordon Mitchell said Krung was difficult to work with on the film because he wasn’t skilled in how to pull his punches or kicks, therefore Gordon and Eastman felt the full blow of his martial arts skills. They were pretty well bruised by the time filming was finished and often had to hold there tempers and not punch back for real.
[Submitted by Michael Ferguson]
Aisge
October 8, 2023
"The camera has loved me", summarizes the man
who has been in front of it for 75 of his 91 years and who reviews in a
notebook each and every one of the films in which he has appeared: 126 as soon
as he notes the last one, “La Fortaleza” (The Fortress). These pages document
one of the most recognizable faces of Spanish cinema: his style on horseback in
the westerns, the days when he rubbed shoulders with Marcello Mastroianni and
Alberto Sordi and even a rogue shoot in which he became food for leeches. But he
says he is still waiting for that great role that has been denied. And he has a
plan for it, he reveals here.
The residents of the colony of los Carteros, in the Madrid neighborhood of Ventas, were the first spectators of Manuel Zarzo (born Manuel López Zarza, Madrid, 1932). His mother disguised the children of the neighborhood and made them interpret stories that she invented. The teacher also helped, although with another intention: "One day he told my father: you put the child as a clown, there is no one who can stand him," says the actor in the video documentary “MuchaVidaQueContar”. It is not surprising, then, that when he turned 16, the young Zarzo and his sister Pepi enrolled in a youth stage company, Los Chavalillos de España, with which he toured the country for three years. "A new world for a kid from a working-class neighborhood."
Then he discovered cinema. Or the cinema discovered him. The kids debuted in Madrid and in one of the functions the director Antonio del Amo noticed him playing "boy of the Rastro, half lame, who likes football" of “Día tras día” (Day After Day) (1951). It was his first film – 19 years old – and he continued to be amazed: "That was the wonder of the world." Del Amo then called him to do four more. And Carlos Saura, for his film premiere, “Los golfos” (1960). Zarzo says he has no favorite movies, but he keeps the scripts of “Los golfos” and “Día tras día”, and reviews them with love for the video.
The pages of the notebook where Zarzo writes down his feature films began to fill with titles, some certainly unusual. The time of co-productions arrived, "a luck for many Spanish actors and technicians". "It started another world for me," he says. He shot in France, in Italy, in the jungle of Cambodia... "I had a hard time there. I had to remove 17 leeches from my leg with a straw ..." In Angola he faced Ettore Scola in a film with an endless title: “Conseguirán nuestros héroes encontrar a su amigo misteriosamente desaparecido en África?” (Will Our Heroes Manage to Find Their Friend Who’s Mysteriously Disappeared in Africa?) (1968). The hero was Alberto Sordi and Zarzo, is in charge of helping him in his task of finding Nino Manfredi. Scola then took him to Italy to work with Marcello Mastroianni in “El demonio de los celos” (The Demon of Jealousy) (1970). The Italian language, he says, is spoken right away. "I didn't worry about English, and I don't forgive myself for that."
The experiences of his childhood in the colony of Ventas were very useful in the westerns: "I had learned to ride on a very nice donkey that my uncle Simon had". And with that base, in the ramblas of Almeria he managed to ride a horse "better than anyone". Zarzo's flexibility and agility, which allowed him to ride without a double, also saved his life in an event that has marked his biography and that his bones still remind him of daily. The actor, who was then 28 years old and had just buried a daughter within two months, ran into a fire on Carretas Street in Madrid with a fire in textile workshops on the fourth floor. Employees jumped from windows onto blankets trying to cushion the impact. Zarzo instinctively tried to grab one of the workers, who fell on his shoulder. "I ran out of breath and noticed my body explode," he describes. "I was in plaster for almost two months. They gave me a wonderful tribute, the whole acting industry was there."
To justify his professional longevity, the actor finds several explanations. One: "The camera has loved me and wanted me to be bad, good, son of his mother, bullfighter or priest. Photogenics is a mystery." Another, the teachings of the best. And quote: José Bódalo, José María Rodero, Fernando Rey, Adolfo Marsillach, José Luis López Vázquez, Paco Martínez Soria... "I haven't tried to copy any, because I haven't been able to, but I learned how to do things."
Now Zarzo is the one who teaches lessons on the sets. Witnesses of them have been Mario and Hugo, two of his five children, the youngest, linked to cinema from the technical side as director of photography and machinist, respectively. "To be looking through the viewfinder of the camera and seeing that photogenic, that presence and that strength that my father has is very exciting," Mario explains in the video. "It's beastly to see him perform. How emotions flow, gestures, those curious things that my father has," Hugo adds.
"I've been a worker in this job and I've done it
with the greatest dignity in the world, even if the character wasn't anything
important." But Zarzo's balance sheet hides a point of bitterness about
which he is sincere: "I think that, in some ways, life has not been fair.
It hurts me that I didn't have the great role, the one that says: I can die
peacefully. I've lacked that, I'm still missing and I'm not going to have time,
at 91 years old. Although there is a possibility, I have had the script for a
year. He's a wonderful character, perfect to enjoy as an actor." Zarzo expands,
explaining the nuances of that dream role with which he would put "the
candle in the center of the cake". "Only the money is missing, but
I'm still playing EuroMillion just in case."
YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozo1QENChu4
[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]
Ivan Basta was born in Zabreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia on January 13, 1940. He was a film character actor. He appeared in 34 films beginning with a role as a gypsy in the 1961 film “Drakut il vendicatore” (Drakut the Avenger) directed by Luigi Capuano and starring Burt Nelson and Mario Petri. His last documented film appearance was in the 1969 action film “Zorro alla corte d’Inghilterra” (Zorro at the Court of England) directed by Franco Montemurro and starring Spyros Fokas and Dada Gallotti where he plays a guard in the hanging scene.
Basta started out in small roles in Italian films made in Yugoslavia and apparently moved to Italy in 1962 to pursue his career. There he achieved some success but only receiving small roles in crowd scenes and as gang members, etc.
Of the 34 films of record that he appeared in six were Spaghetti westerns where he usually played supporting roles as a henchman.
What happened to him after 1969 is unknown. Maybe he became disenchanted with how his career was going and returned to Croatia.
BASTA,
Ivan [1/13/1940, Zagreb, Yugoslavia -
] – film actor.
Blood
for a Silver Dollar – 1965 (sergeant)
Django
– 1965 (Rodriguez henchman)
7
Magnificent Pistols for Timothy – 1965 (Stranton henchman)
Ringo
and His Golden Pistol – 1966 (Perez henchman)
A
Rope for a Bastard – 1967 (Foster henchman)
Revenge
for Revenge – 1968 (Bower henchman)
As we know most of the Euro-westerns were co-productions from Italy, Spain, Germany and France which incorporated British and American actors to gain a worldwide audience. The films were shot silent and then dubbed into the various languages where they were sold for distribution. That means Italian, Spanish, German, French and English voice actors were hired to dub the films. Even actors from the countries where the film was to be shown were often dubbed by voice actors for various reasons such as the actors were already busy making another film, they wanted to be paid additional salaries for dubbing their voices, the actor’s voice didn’t fit the character they were playing, accidents to the actors and in some cases even death before the film could be dubbed.
I’ll list a Euro-western and the (I) Italian, (S)
Spanish, (G) German and (F) French, (E) English voices that I can find and once
in a while a bio on a specific voice actor as in Europe these actors are as
well-known as the actors they voiced.
Today we’ll cover “Shoot to Kill”
[(I) Italian, (S) Spanish, (G) German, (F) French, (E) English]
Jim James – Edmund Purdom (S) Paco Valladares
Lance Thompson – Frank Latimore (S) Félix Acaso
Pancho – Fernando Sancho (S) Luis María Lasala
Mary Thompson - María Silva (S) Ángela González
Thompson – Luis Induni (S) Salvador Arias
Kathrin – Laura Granados (S) María Romero
Colonel – Tomás Blanco (S) Benjamín Domingo
Luis María Lasala (19?? – 1992)
Little information can be found on the voice actor Luis
María Lasala. He was a film and television actor and a production manager as well
as a voice actor and Spanish dubber. He was sometimes credited as Luis Mª La
Sala. Luis died in Spain in October of 1992. Another overlooked and forgotten
contributor to Spanish cinema.
