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

• DAMON, Mark (Alan Herskovitz) - 4/22/1933, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. - 5/12/2024, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

American producer and actor Mark Damon died in Los Angeles on May 12th he was 91. Damon, who was born Alan Herskovitz in Chicago on April 22, 1933, won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer for his starring role in 1960’s “House of Usher” for director Roger Corman, who died May 9th at 98, then went on to appear in numerous Spaghetti Westerns and other B-movies shot in Europe, from “Johnny Yuma” to Mario Bava’s “Black Sabbath.” Among the firms Damon led as an international sales agent were PSO, Vision International, MDP Worldwide and Foresight Unlimited. He is survived by his wife, Maggie Markov Damon; son Jonathan; daughter Alexis Damon Ribaut and son-in-law Mathieu Ribaut. Damon was a star of ten Spaghetti westerns: “Death at Owell Rocks” as Harry Boyd/Jeffries; “Johnny Yuma” as Jonathan Tomadaro Jefferson Gonzales/Johnny Yuma; “Ringo and His Golden Pistol” as Johnny Oro/Johnny Ringo) all in 1966; “Kill and Pray” as George Bellow Ferguson; “A Train for Durango” as Brown/Samuel Lee Barrett/Elias MacPherson both in 1967; “Dead Men Don’t Count” as Johnny Dannon Dalton and “Go for Broke” as Johnny Sweet/West both in 1968; “Pistol Packin' Preacher” as Slim in 1971; “The Great Treasure Hunt” as Dean Madison and “They Called Him Veritas” as Verità/Veritas/Verity both in 1972.

• RATZ, Günter - 5/30/1935, Berlin, Germany - 5/1/2024, Dresden-Omsewitz, Saxony, Germany

East German director, writer, animator Günter Rätz died on May 1, 2024, in Dresden-Omsewitz Saxony, Germany. He was a month shy of turning 89. Born in Berlin on May 30, 1935, he was the son of a bricklayer but abandoned the profession of his father and worked as a puppeteer, discovered animation for himself in 1954 and thus came to the DEFA Studio for Animated Films in Dresden as early as 1955. In 1958 he completed the first of his more than 60 animated films. Rätz was responsible for the feature films “The Flying Windmill” (1981) and his only Euro-western “The Trail to the Silver Sea” (1987–1989), a Western satire that was awarded the "Golden Sparrow" in Gera in February 1991. Subsequently, Rätz wanted to film the Karl May novel “Unter Geiern” (Among Vultures) under the title "The Spirit of Llano Estacado"; the scenario was completed in June 1988. Filming began in the spring of 1990; the dialogues are recorded, and a song by the proven composer Arndt Bause is also played. After about 600 meters had already been filmed, the end follows. The work is abandoned due to lack of funds; around 600,000 marks from the film's budget were used to "clear the debt" of the DEFA animation studio during the monetary union.

• HENGSTLER, Jörg (Jörg Hengstler-Modry) - 10/31/1956, Germany - 2024, Oberkrämer, Brandenburg, Germany

German voice actor and dubber died sometime this year but no specific date or place is known. Born in Germany on October 31, 1956, he was 67 years old. News of death was learned from an Instagram post by fellow dubber Peter Flechtner. Hengstler has1,295 credits on the German dubbing database Deutsche Synchronkartei. Jörg voiced several Euro-westerns including Juan Vallejo in 1968’s “Zorro the Fox”; the lieutenant in the animated “Lucky Luke” (1984); “The New Zorro” 1990-1993 TV series where he was the German voice of Nigel Terry, Roddy Piper, Vincenzo Nicoli; the “Lucky Luke” TV series in 1991 where he voiced Neil Summers and Steve Cormier and 1994’s “Troublemakers” where he voiced Summers once again. He was the German voice Brad Johnson in the 2008 TV film “Copperhead”, and the voice of Ronan Vibert in the 2012 TV mini-series “Hatfields and McCoys”.

• ANDREINI, Gabriela (Gabriella Baistrocchi) - 4/16/1938, Naples, Campania, Italy - 4/28/2024, Salerno, Naples, Campania, Italy

Italian actress Gabriella Andreini died in Salerno, Italy on April 28, 2024 one week after her 86th birthday. She was born Gabriella Baistrocchi on April 16, 1938 in Naples. She moved to Rome at a very young age to attend acting courses at the National Academy of Dramatic Art. After graduating, one of his first roles was with the Gassman-Randone company in Shakespeare's “Othello”. She also had the opportunity to work, with some frequency, in television prose: in 1957 in O'Neill's “Fermenti” directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, then in Turgenev's “A Month in the Countryside” and in several episodes of ‘Le inchieste del commissario Maigret’, directed originally by Mario Landi. She then appeared in around 30 films and TV series from 1957 to 1979 but never in a leading role. Gabriela also was a film dubber working mainly in cartoons and on Rai radio. Andreini appeared in two Spaghetti westerns as Nina in “Zorro the Rebel” in 1966 and as Miss Peabody in 1974’s “The Crazy Adventures of Len and Coby”.

• LEE, Margaret (Margaret Gwendolyn Box) 8/4/1943, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, U.K. – 4/24/2024, London, England, U.K.

British actress Margaret Lee died on April 24th according to an announcement by her son producer Roberto Malerba. Born Margaret Gwendolyn Box in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England on August 4, 1943, she was a popular leading lady in Italian films in the 1960s and 1970s. She is the mother of production manager/producer Roberto Malerba [1964- ] (from her marriage to Gino Malerba) and production manager/producer Damian Anderson [1973- ]. She was educated at the Italia Conti Theatre School in London, graduating in 1960. She moved to Rome shortly afterwards to pursue a career in films. Her film debut came in the sword and sandal adventure “Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules” (1962), where she played the female lead alongside Reg Lewis, but it was a string of popular comedies that initially made Lee a star in Italy. With a blonde, fluffy look modelled after Marilyn Monroe, Lee spent the first half of the 1960s appearing in numerous Italian comedies and parodies – several of which starred the popular comedic duo Franco and Ciccio. Few of these films received much, if any, distribution in English-speaking territories but they were highly successful in Italy and made Lee a well-known film actress. Lee appeared in three Spaghetti westerns: “The Two Sergeants of General Custer” in 1965 as Beth/Betty ‘The Lynx’ Smith; “Djurado” in 1966 as Mitzy. She was to appear in a 1964 western entitled “I Shot Johnny Ringo” but the film was never made and “Bano de sangre” (Blood Bath) in 1971 but it was never released.

• LAUFER, Josef - 8/11/1939, Sables d'Ollone, Vendée, France - 4/20/2024, Prague, Czech Republic

Czechoslovakian actor and singer Josef Laufer died in Prauge of cardiac arrect after four years in an induced coma following heart valve surgery in March 2020. Laufer was born Don José José Francisco Pérez Rodriguez de Montagnes de Laufer on August 11, 1939, in Sables d'Ollone, Vendée, France to a father of Jewish origin and native Spaniards. His parents met in Spain during the Civil War, where Dr. Maximilián Laufer worked as an interbrigadist in the lazareth. During his military service he began acting and directing amateur theater. After returning from the war, he made guest appearances at the ABC Theater and prepared for exams at the theater faculty, where he was recruited. In addition to acting, he also sang and recorded several records. Laufer appeared as the sheriff in the 1969 Czech TV movie ‘Starosta má starosti’.

• CANTAFORA, Antonio - 2/2/1944, Crotone, Calabria, Italy - 4/20/2024, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Italian actor Antonio Cantafora died in Rome on April 20th. He was 80. Born on February 2, 1944, in Crotone, Calabria, Italy he studied acting with the renowned Alessandro Fersen and made his debut on the big screen in 1967, but it was in the 1970s that he reached the peak of his fame, thanks to his uncanny resemblance to actor Terence Hill. As Michael Coby. He was paired with Paul L. Smith, he embodied the role of the "handsome" in a series of films inspired by the duo Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. But his career has not been limited to leading roles. Cantafora was also a character actor, working with some of the most important directors of Italian cinema, including Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattuada, Mauro Bolognini. Films such as Lattuada's "The Cicada", Fellini's "Interview" and Carlo Vanzina's "A Spasso nel Tempo" are testament to his versatility and talent for bringing a wide range of characters to life. Cantafora was also a prolific artist, with a passion for painting that he developed over the years. He has created hundreds of works of art, which have achieved success not only in Italy, but also abroad. Cantafora appeared in ten Spaghetti westerns: “The Dirty Outlaws” in 1967 as Bill Flannigan; “Joe Dakota” in 1967 as Tab; “And God Said to Cain” in 1969 as Dick Acombar; “Black Killer” in 1971 as Ramon O’Hara, “Shoot Joe, and Shoot Again” in 1971 as Jack’s henchman; “A Bounty Hunter for Trinity” in 1972 as a town council member; “Carambola” in 1973 as Coby/Toby/Trinity [as Michael Coby]; “The Crazy Adventures of Len and Coby” in 1974 as Toby [as Michael Coby]; “We Are No Angels” in 1975 as Angel) [as Michael Coby] and “Buck and the Magic Bracelet” in 1997 as Sergeant O'Connor.