Cemetery with crosses - legends lost but remembered

This page is our personal hall of faml'e. 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

• LADO, Aldo - 12/5/1934, Fiume, Italy - 11/25/2023, Italy

Italian film and television director and assistant director, screenwriter and author Aldo Lado died on November 25th. He was a week short of his 89th birthday. Born on December 5, 1934, in Fiume, Italy he came up through the film industry as an assistant director, notably to Bernardo Bertolucci on “The Conformist” (1970). After a series of experiences as an assistant director, Aldo Lado made his directorial debut in 1971 with the horror thriller “The Short Night of the Glass Dolls”, followed, the following year, by the thriller “Who Saw Her Die?” (1972). In 2015 he began his career as a writer by participating with several short stories ("The Giant and the Child", "Cold Case on Lake Maggiore") in some anthologies. Lado was an assistant director on "Hallelujah for Django", 1966, "Pecos Cleans Up" in 1967, “May God Forgive You... But I Won't” and was a screenwriter on “Lynching” both in 1968.

• LANDGARD, JANET (Janet Alice Landgard) - 12/2/1947, Pasadena, California, U.S.A. - 11/6/2023, Papago Springs, Colorado, U.S.A.

American actress Janet Alice Landgard died of brain cancer at her Papago Springs, Colorado home on November 6th. She was 75. Landgard was born in Pasadena, California on December 2, 1947, and worked for the William Adrian Modeling Agency. While still at Pasadena High, she made her onscreen debut in 1963 on ‘The Donna Reed Show’, playing a girl named Sabrina on a fifth-season episode. She also appeared on ABC’s ‘My Three Sons’ that year. She would go on to star with Burt Lancaster in the 1968 film “The Swimmer” written by Eleanor Perry and directed by Frank Perry. Landgard appeared in one Spaghetti western as Kate Mayfield in 1969’s “Land Raiders” with Telly Savalas and George Maharis.

• PIGNATELLI, Micaela (Micaela Pignatelli Cendali) - 3/11/1945, Naples, Campania, Italy - 10/30/2023, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Italian film, TV and dubbing actress Micaela Pignatelli died in Rome, Italy on Octboer 30th. She was 78. Born Micaela Pignatelli Cendali in Naples, Campania, Italy on March 11, 1945, she entered films in the early 1960s and appeared in over 40 films and TV appearances. She also dubbed Jamie Lee Curtin in “Halloween” and Daryl Hannah in “Wall Street” along with several others. She was married to was at one time married to actor Flavio Bucci [1947-2020] and was the mother of their two children. Micaela appeared in only one Spaghetti western as Margaret in 1968’s “Piluk, the Timid One” directed by Guido Celano with Edmund Purdon.

• FOCAS, Spiros (Spyridon Michael Androutsopoulos) - 8/17/1937, Patras, Achaea, West Greece, Greece - 11/10/2023, Eleusis, Greece

Greek actor Spiros Focás’ died in Eleusis, Greece on November 10th. He was 86. Focás born on August 17, 1937, in Patras, Greece and was one of Greece's most respected and well-known actors. He was discovered by legendary Italian director Luchino Visconti and cast in a lead role in the classic “Rocco and His Brothers” (1960). He went on to star in many Greek and Italian films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, working with such famous directors as Vincente Minnelli and Ferdinando Baldi. His work in Hollywood includes the hit films “The Jewel of the Nile” (1985) and “Rambo III” (1988). His most recent work includes the role of Uncle Telly in “3 Nights in Nisyros” (2009). Focas appeared in on Spaghetti western as Ken Dakota in 1968’s “Hate Thy Neighbor” and starred as Pedro Suarez/Zorro in the 1969 semi-western “Zorro in the Court of England”. He was scheduled to play the role of Pancho in an upcoming American western entitled “Showdown in Durango”.

• ERLER, Rainer (Horst Rainer Erler) - 8/26/1933, Munich, Bavaria, Germany - 11/8/2023, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

German director Rainer Erler died in his adopted home in Perth, Australia. He was 90. Born Horst Rainer Erler the writer, director and producer was born in Munich, Germany on August 26, 1933. Erler is credited as the best maker of Dutch science-fiction films for Kino and for Fearnsehn, an as the director of that science-thriller, in that brisk commercial, political a wetland theme with plenty of excitement. Rainer was married to the co-producer of his films, Renate Erler. He also has two children with her, daughter Tatjana, and son Tobias. Erler was assistant director on the 1953 German western “Johnny Saves Nebrador” which starred Hans Albers.

• YABBAROV, Anatoli (Anatoli Akhmdovitch Yabbarov) - 8/24/1937, Bakov, Russia, U.S.S.R. - 11/6/2023, Moscow, Russia

Russian theater and film actor Soviet Anatoly Yabbarov, known for the film "Gentlemen of Fortune", died at the age of 86. Anatoly Akhmdovitch Yabbarov was born on August 24, 1937. Since 1996 he has worked at the State Theatre of Film Actor. In the same year he received the title of Honored Artist of Russia. The actor also starred in the film adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment in 1969, the series Furtseva (2011). Anatoli appeared as Groboshchik in 1973’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”.

• CICOGNA, Marina - 5/29/1934, Rome, Lazio, Italy - 11/4/2023, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Italian photographer, film producer Marina Cicogni died in Rome on November 4, 2023. Cicogna grew up in Milan, Venice, and Cortina. She was the daughter of a banker, and her grandfather was Giuseppe Volpi, an influential figure in Italy's history; one of the country's richest men, he held many government posts and founded the Venice Film Festival. Cicogna attended Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, staying less than a year. While there, she befriended the daughter of Jack L. Warner; this connection facilitated Cicogna's introduction to other actors in Hollywood. She studied photography at another school in the United States, and took pictures of Hollywood friends, including Marilyn Monroe and Greta Garbo. At the age of 32, Cicogna decided to pursue a career in the film industry. Her mother bought a share in a film distribution company, and Cicogna suggested films for the business to purchase. She distributed the West German film Helga, which she described as the first time a birth was shown on screen. She publicized it by placing "ambulances at the exit of the film, saying that people would faint when they saw that". Marina and her brother Bino (Giuseppe Ascanio Cicogna Mozzoni) [1935-1971] were owners of San Marco Productions and produced several Spaghetti westerns including “Ace High” (1967), “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968) and “Boot Hill” (1969).

• WEPPER, Elmar - 4/16/1944, Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany - 10/30/2023, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

German voice actor and dubber Elmar Wepper died in Munich, Germany on October 30th from heart failure. He was 79. Wepper was a titan of the silver screen, with a career that spanned over six decades. He lit up living rooms across the globe with his portrayal of Inspector Harry Klein in the popular TV series ‘Der Kommissar’, which aired from 1969 to 1976. His performance as the dedicated and intelligent police inspector became an iconic benchmark in the annals of television history. Elmar was born in Augsburg on April 16, 1944, and grew up in Munich. He studied German language and literature and theatre studies. He was also known for dubbing Mel Gibson's voice since the 1980s. Wepper was the German voice of Paul Hover in 1969’s “The Leatherstocking Tales” (Adventures in Ontario), Alberto Dell’Acqua’s voice in “Trinity & Sartana Those Sons of Bitches” and Robert Woods’ voice on 1975’s “White Fang and the Hunter”.