Cemetery with crosses - legends lost but remembered

This page is our personal hall of fame. A reminder to us all that even though considered a B-genre, Spaghetti Westerns were full of great characters, played by great people. Many have passed away, and while we are young growing up re-watching all these classics, many more will probably leave us. May they be remembered. What follows, is a work-in-progress, a growing list of legends who have passed away...

Sorted by last name: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

FRESH GRAVES

• JASNY, Vojtěch - 11/30/1925, Kelc, Czechoslovakia, U.S.A. - 11/16/2019, Prague, Czechoslovakia

Czech director Vojtěch Jasný died in Prague on November 16, 2019. He was 93. From the 1950s, Jasny made some 50 movies in Czechoslovakia and later in the West when he emigrated after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. His most famous film, “All My Good Countrymen,” from 1968, about the brutal changes in the country under communism, was banned in his homeland. It won the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1969. He also won a Cannes special jury prize for his 1963 film, “The Cassandra Cat.” In the 1980s, Jasny settled in the United States, lecturing at Columbia University. He later returned home. He directed the 1965 Euro-western TV film “Magnetické vlny lécí”.

• BLUDAU, Oliver - 11/26/1971, Lennestadt, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany - 11/8/2019, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

German businessman and actor Oliver Bludau died November 8, 2019. He was 47. Born on November 26, 1971. He was the grandson of actress Maria Bladau and the son of actor Jochen Bludau and actress Irmgard Bludau. Oliver appeared on stage at the Elipse Karl-May Festival from 2011-2014. He played Old Shatterhand in “Winnetou 1” (2012), “The Oil Prince” (2013) and “Among Vultures” 2014. He appeared in 2011 as Engineer Leverent in “Halfbreed”. He was also the managing director during this same time. He then turned his attention to his position as managing director of the Berghoff Group.

• SAGNER, Martin - 8/11/1932, Podravski, Novigrad, Yugoslavia - 11/12/2019, Zagreb, Croatia

Martin Sagner a Croatian theater, television and film actor known not only in Croatia but also internationally died in Zagreb, Croatia on November 12, 2019. He was 87. Born in Podravski, Novigrad, Yugoslavia on August 11, 1932 Sagner first studied law before attending the Acting Academy in 1955. . He then started acting at the Croatian National Theater in Varaždin and then at the Comedy Theater in Zagreb. He appeared in 32 films and television series from 1961 to 2005. Later in life he entered politics and was the HDZ s representative in the first post-communist convocation of the Croatian Parliament (1990-1992), as well as in the second Croatian Parliament (1992-1995). Sagner appeared in only one Euro-western as Bonoja in 1965's "Old Surehand".

• BONGUSTO, Fred (Alfred Antonio Carlo Buongusto) 4/6/1935, Campobasso, Campobasso, Italy - 11/8/2019, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Pop composer, songwriter and musical performer Fred Bongusto died in Rome, Italy on November 9th he was 84. Bongusto was big in the 1960s and 70s and he had several international hits. He was also very popular in South America, especially Brazil, as well as in his homeland. He composed the soundtracks of many movies too including three Euro-westerns: “Adios Gringo”, Blood for a Silver Dollar” (both 1965) and “Day After Tomorrow” where his composition and singing of “I Have to Kill a Man” became a cult classic among Euro-western fans.”

• POWELL, Nik - 11/4/1950, Great Kingshill, Buckinghamshire, England, U.K. - 11/7/2019, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, U.K.

British music and film producer Nik Powell, who was among the Virgin Group co-founders with Richard Branson and became an influential force in U.K. cinema, producing more than 60 titles including Neil Jordan’s Oscar-winning “The Crying Game,” died Thursday at age 69. The cause of death was an unspecified form of cancer, Britain’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) – which Powell headed for more than a decade – said in a statement. He died in Oxford surrounded by his family. Born on November 4, 1950, in the small village of Great Kingshill, in Buckinghamshire, Powell started out running a record shop and was among the founding partners in 1972 of Virgin Records, which became one of the U.K.’s top recording labels before being sold to EMI 20 years later. Powell was a producer on the 2016 Euro-western “Btimstone” starring Guy Pearce and Dakota Fanning

• SALOB, Lorin Bennett - 5/25/1942, New York City, New York, U.S.A. - 10/23/2019, Staunton, Virginia, U.S.A.

Lorin Salob, an assistant director, production manager and Emmy-winning producer with credits including The Getaway, Charlie's Angels, Tron and A Woman Named Jackie, has died. He was 77. Salob died October 23 in Staunton, Virginia, after a long battle with cardiac ALS, said his wife, Joan. Salob also served as a vice president in TV production at such companies as Disney, TriStar, New World and All American Television, home of Baywatch. Born on May 25, 1942, in New York City, Salob started out on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and at documentarian David L. Wolper's company before becoming involved in National Geographic specials and the documentary series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. Lorin was the executive in charge of production operations for the Euro-western 1990 TV series ‘The New Zorro’ starring Duncan Regher.

• CONROY, Jack (Jack Conroy Sr.) - 19??, Clonad, Lois, Ireland - 11/3/2019, Naas, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland

Irish cinematographer Jack Conroy passed away from Alzheimer’s disease at his home in Naas, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland on November 3, 2019. Conroy leaves behind a considerable and highly rated body of work in the sphere of cinema and television, but he will be best remembered for his collaboration with Director Jim Sheridan and producer Noel Pearson on the hugely successful and highly acclaimed movies, ‘My Left Foot’ (1989) and ‘The Field’ (1990). Among the westerns he was a cinematographer on were “The Magnificent 7” TV series in 1998’; “The Last Outlaw” (TV) 1993; “The Cherokee Kid” (TV) 1996; “Blind Justice” (TV) 1994 and the Euro-western “Silent Tongue” 1993 starring River Phoenix.

• GRAF, Maurizio - 1941, Gorizia, Gorizia, Italy - 10/25/2019, Lugo, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Italian singer actor and performer Maurizio Graf passed away on Ocotber 26 in Lugo, Rome, Italy. He was 78. Graf was born in Gorizia, Italy in 1941 and was one of the most recognized voices of the Euro-western genre. He’s best remembered for his vocals on “A Pistol for Ringo” and “The Return of Ringo” (1965), but also for his song “Find a Man from” from 1968’s “Johnny Hamlet” (aka The Wild and the Dirty”. He also sang the main themes for “Killer Caliber .32” (1967), "Killer, Adios" (1967).

• STAIGER, Gerd - 11/30/1930, Germany – 6/19/2019, Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany

German director, theater, film actor Gerd Staiger died in Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. He was mainly engaged at the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam as an actor and director. Other tasks he had at the 1978 newly founded Potsdam Cabaret Obelisk, where he directed the opening program. In 1993 he worked as an actor in Shakespeare's Coriolan at the Salzburg Festival . He had over 65 film and TV roles and appeared in several DEFA and TV films among which were four Euro-westerns; as a watchman in “The Falcon’s Trail”; a bandit in “White Wolves” (1969); the Alcalde in televisions “Prairie Scout in Mexico” (1987); and a role in TV’s “Karl May”(1992). Gerd was married to the architect Kerstin Döring.