James Kenyon (cinematographer) would have been 175 today but died in 1925.
Lesley Selander (director) would have been 125
today but died in 1979.
Monday, May 26, 2025
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Little Known Western actors ~ Max Cort
[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.]
Thanks for information from Abel Haro, Max Cort is an alias used by Juan Cortés who was a Spanish character actor who appeared in over 85 films and TV series from 1941 to 1974. I can find no biographical information on the man. He must have been born sometime in the early 1920s and by the quick termination of his career I’m guessing he died sometime in the mid-1970s. He was also billed as Clyde Ceryll a few times.
It amazes me how many of these actors who had either long careers or appeared in many films and some major titles are basically unknown entities. Cortés for example appeared in 19 Euro westerns with such hits as “Bullets Don’t Argue”, “A Fistful of Dollars”, “Adios Gringo”, “A Few Dollars for Django” and “For a Few Bullets More”. Although his roles may have been small his career was long.
We can add him to the long list of forgotten or ignored actors who made the genre what it was and now is forgotten.
For a complete list of Juan Cortes' westerns see my previous post on him on June 16, 2021.
CORTES, Juan (aka Clyde Ceryll, Max Cort, Juan Cortés, Juan Cortez) (Juan Cortés) [192?, Spain - ] – film, TV actor.
Veinte mil dolares un cadaver ($20,000 for Every Corpse) – 1969 (railroad representative)
RIDE AND KILL
Ride and Kill
Cavalca e uccidi (Ride and Kill) (Italian title),
Brandy (Spanish title)
El sheriff de Losatumba (Spanish title)
‘Brandy, The Sheriff of Losatumba’ (Spanish title)
El Sheriff de los Atumba (Spanish title)
En voor een whisky meer (For a Few Whisky More) (Belgium
title)
Et pour un whisky de plus (And For a Whisky More) (Belgium,
French title)
Cavalga E Mata (Brazilian title)
Ride and Kill (Canadian English title)
Pour un whisky de plus (For a Few Whisky More) (Canadian French
title)
Pour un Whisky de Plus (For One More Whiskey) (French
title)
Gesetz der Bravados (Law of Bravados) (German title)
Οι δολοφόνοι του Τέξας Oi dolofonoi tou Texas (The
Killers of Texas), Μπραντυ Ο Σερι8Φης (Brandy The Sheriff) (Greek title)
Jedz i zabijaj! (Polish title)
Ride and Kill (UK USA title)
A 1964 Italian, Spanish coproduction [PEA (Produzioni Europee Associate) [Alberto Grimaldi] (Rome), Copercine Cooperativa Cinematográfica & Fenix Films-Fénix Cooperativa Cinematográfica [Eduardo Manzanos] (Madrid)
Distributors PEA (04/30/64, Italy), Tolerius Films (09/09/64, Spain)
Producers: Alberto Grimaldi, Eduardo Manzanos &
Rafael Marina
Director J. L. Boraw / José Luis Borau; 2nd Unit D: Mario Caiano; Ass D: Juan J. Arambillet & Carlos Aured
Novel: El Sheriff de Losatumba (The Sheriff of Tombstone) by Jose Mallorqui
Figueroa (1958)
Screenplay: Joe Baker (José Luis Borau)
Ch: Edmund H. North, D.D. Beauchamp & Felix Jackson,
from “Destry” (1954)
Cinematography: Manuel Merino (Spanish) & Aldo Greci
(Italian) [Eastmancolor - Totalscope 2,35:1]; Camera Operator Javier Pérez; Assistant
Cameraman: José A. Martín; 2nd Unit Photography: Henry Stewart, Mario Sbrenna;
2nd Unit Cam Operator Ramón Sempere; 2nd Unit Photographic Assistant Francisco
Alcocer
Film Editor Mercedes Alonso (Spanish) & Daniele
Alabiso & Enzo Alabiso (Italian)
Music Riz Ortolani
Running time: 88m (US tv), 86m (Fr vhs), 82m (Sp), 70m (Ger vhs)
Cast:
Alex Nicol (Robert “Brandy”), Margaret Grayson / Maite Blasco [María Teresa Blasco Ranera] (Eva Delannoy), Antonio Casas [Antonio Casas Barros] (Sheriff Clymer), George Rigaud / Jorge Rigaud [Pedro Jorge Rigato Delissetche] (David “Beau” Pritchard), Luis Induni / Albert Lockwood? [Luis Radici Induni] (Steve Donnelly/Tunell), Robert Hundar [Claudio Undari] (Roy Moody), Lawrence Palmer / Renzo Palmer (Pastor Andrews), Natalia Silva (Alice Garrido/McCormick/McCornick), John Mac Douglas / Giuseppe Addobbati (Judge Stauffer), Pauline Baards / Paola Barbara (Mrs. Stauffer), Antonio Gradoli / Anthony Gradwell (Lustus Underhill, banker), José Canalejas (Chirilo, Moody’s lieutenant), Mark Johnson (Chico, sheriff’s assistant), Miguel del S. Castillo & Juan Lizárraga (Ranchers at meeting), Giovanni Petti /Giovanni Petrucci (Lewitt, city councilman), Héctor Quiroga (Murray, rancher), Alfonso Rojas (Hamlin, saloon owner), José Villasante (Patrick, rancher), Victor Rojas Bayo (Rancher spokesman at meeting), Alfonso de la Vega (Blond town spokesman at meeting), Elena Santonja (Mrs. Murray), Wilfredo Casado (Saloon bartender), Rafael Hernández (Council clerk), Pedro Fenollar (Saloon patron), Manuel Ayuso (Mayor), Francisco Braña (Wagon driver), Antonio Orengo (Rancher), Jorge del Moral, Rafael Bejarano (Cowboy #2), Antonio Zamora (Councilmen), Vicente Cárdenas.
[Ex: Compton Cameo [Tony Tenser & Michael Klinger] (06/65, UK), Austria-Filmverleih (06/03/65, Ger), (10/23/68, Fr), Rank Organization (69’s, Bel), Compton Group (70’s, Aus and NZ), France-Film [J.A. DeSèv & Georges Arpin] (Can-Fr, 73), Paramount TV (06/03/74, US and Can), Palace Video Productions (84, Greece), Videocine (89, FR, vhs), Budget Video, (90’s, US, vhs), BGV (90’s, Fr, vhs), SK Video Film [Josef Koschier] (90’s, GER, vhs), SWV-Something Weird Video [Mike Vraney] (2002, US, vhs), ESI (04/10/02, Fr, dvd), Pidax [Edgar Maurer & Timo Schröder] (08/18/23, Ger, dvd/bluray)]
Synopsis: 1880. Tombstone. Brandy, the town drunk, has been appointed by corrupt officials to replace the local sheriff, after he was killed by their hired gunman.
[Filmed at Golden City, Hoyo de Manzanares, Madrid,
Spain, in late 1963]
RIDE AND KILL was Spanish director/scripter José Luis Borau’s first feature following several shorts. It appears to have had two significant influences both American, that he borrowed from.
It was perhaps Borau rather than pulp writer Jose Mallorqui (EL COYOTE) who came with using several plot devices from William Marshall’s “Destry” (1954, Universal-International), aka ‘Honor y Venganza’ (Sp), which was Marshall’s own remake/sequel to “Destry Rides Again” (1939, US, Universal). In both “Destry” and RIDE AND KILL one of the lead characters is called ‘Brandy’, and the just murdered Sheriff is replaced by the Town drunk, as a joke. The new Sheriff then swears to give up drinking and sets to work cleaning up the town. This was Borau’s only western. Pity!
At some point
co-producer Eduardo Manzanos must have purchased the 1958 novel “The Sheriff of
Losatumba” (sic) by Jose Mallorqui and started things in motion. In May of
1963, Dave Diamond, of the Samuel Bischoff-Diamond Corporation (Hw), arrived in
Spain with a copy of a script entitled “Brandy”, by Gertrude Nare ‘George’ Fox
(1890-1967), and was looking for interested partners. He must have contacted
Manzanos and struck a deal. Due to the usual Italian and Spanish production
rules, Ms. Fox as a nonmember couldn't receive credit. It was her only known work. Or, perhaps
Diamond left empty-handed. Instead, he went home and produced Burt Topper’s
“The Strangler” (04/64, US, Allied Artists), with Victor Buono (BOOT HILL).
RIDE AND KILL was Alex Nicol’s ninth western, and the third in Europe, following SAVAGE GUNS (07/62) and GUNFIGHTERS OF CASA GRANDE (04/64). He had first arrived in Europe for the war movie “5 Branded Women” (1960). Nicol next was in the obscure BIRTH OF A GUNFIGHTER (10/64). Following that he returned to directing and turned-out episodes of “The Legend of Jesse James”, “Daniel Boone” (both 1966, US) and “Wild, Wild West” (1967-68, US), before starring in A*P*E aka Super Ape / 킹콩의 대역습 / King Kong eui daeyeokseup (US/South Korea, 07/76).
RIDE AND KILL was producer Alberto Grimaldi’s fifth western, made between SONS OF VENGEANCE (12/63) and THE MAN OF THE CURSED VALLEY (05/64).
American teen
actor Mark Johnson, who played the young ‘deputy’, was an army brat and grew up
in Madrid. He later returned to Hollywood and became a successful producer,
with such titles as Terence Hill’s “Don Camillo” (It/US, 1984), “The Natural”
(1985, US), “Galaxy Quest” (1999, US), “The Alamo” (2004, US), “The Chronicles
of Narnia” (2005-10, US) and the upcoming “The Magnificent Seven: The Series
(2025, US), amongst others.
By Michael Ferguson
Who Are Those Singers & Musicians? Teddy Reno
Ferruccio Merk Ricordi aka Teddy Reno was born in Trieste, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy on July 11, 1926. Reno made his debut on Radio Trieste during the Anglo-American administration of the city, launching the song "Eterno ritornello (Te vojo ben)". He later he was a singer for the orchestra of Teddy Foster, with whom he toured across Europe and North Africa. In 1948, he founded one of Italy's first record companies, CGD (i.e. Compagnia Generale del Disco), which he later sold to Ladislao Sugar, a publisher of Hungarian origin and future owner of the Sugar Group. He enjoyed a great degree of success as a singer in the 1950s. In the 1960s. He then focused his career on discovering and producing new talents, mainly through the Festival degli sconosciuti (Festival of the Unknowns) which he created in 1961. Some of Reno's discoveries at the Festival include The Rokes, Dino and Rita Pavone, whom he married in 1968. He’s the father of father of singer-songwriter George Merk (Giorgio Merk Ricordi).
Reno was also active as a film and stage actor and a television and radio presenter
Reno sings “Rita sei tutti noi” with Rita Pavone in her 1967 Spaghetti western musical film “Little Rita of the West”.
RENO, Teddy (Ferruccio Merk Ricordi)
[7/11/1926, Trieste, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy - ] – singer, songwriter, actor, married to
Vania Protti (19??-19??) father of Franco Ricordi, married to Rita Pavone
(1968- ) father of Alessandro Merk
Ricordi [1969- ], Giorgio Merk
Ricordi.
Litte Rita of the West – 1967 [sings: “Rita sei tutti
noi” (co)]
Saturday, May 24, 2025
RIP Éric Legrand
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
