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

• PROIETTI, Gigi (Luigi Proietti) - 11/2/1940, Rome, Lazio, Italy - 11/2/2020, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Italian director, musician, actor, comedian, voice dubber Gigi Proietti died in Rome on his birthday November 2, 2020 from heart failure. Born in Rome in 1940 he studied law before embarking on a long and highly successful career in theater, film, TV and music in the early 1960s. Gigi was also known for his dubbing work, being the Italian voice of actors such as Roberto De Niro and Sean Connery. He also had a long association with Rome’s Globe Theater as artistic director of the summer Shakespearean festival. Proietti’s European western career included being the Italian voice of Robert Mark in “Kill or Die” (1966), Massimo Serato in “The Magnificent Texan”, Craig Hill in “15 Scaffolds for a Killer”, Gino Pernice in “The Hellbenders”, Benito Stefanelli in “Day of Anger” and Luigi Pistilli in “Death Rides a Horse” all in 1967.

• CONNERY. Sean (Thomas Sean Connery) - 8/25/1930, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. - 10/31/2020, The Bahamas

Scottish actor Sean Connery died in his sleep during the night of October 30/31 in the Bahamas. He was 90. Connery rocketed to fame as James Bond and became one of the franchise’s most popular and enduring international stars. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000 and marked his 90th birthday in August. His death was confirmed by his family, according to the BBC, which notes that the actor died in his sleep while in the Bahamas. It’s believed he had been unwell for some time. His last acting role had been in Stephen Norrington’s “The League of Extraordinary Gentleman” (2003). “He revolutionized the world with his gritty and witty portrayal of the sexy and charismatic secret agent. He is undoubtedly largely responsible for the success of the film series and we shall be forever grateful to him,” said the producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. Connery appeared in one Euro-western as the star of “Shalako” (1968) with Brigitte Bardot.

• GHINI, Romano - 7/2/1934, Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy - 10/25/2020, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Romano Ghini, Italian actor and voice dubber died on October 25th in Rome, he was 86. Born on July 2, 1934 in Parma, Italy. He graduated from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in 1960 and worked steadily throughout the decade. He was also an announcer for Rai but at the time his contract forbade him to work as a voice actor, so he chose the pseudonym Stefano Borghesi an worked as a film dubber for the next 24-years. He then again worked steadily in front of the camera between 1994-2012. He was the Italian voice of Chris Avram in 1977’s “California” starring Giuliano Gemma.

• DEI, Gianni - 12/21/1940, Bologna, Emila-Romagna, Italy - 10/19/2020, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Italian actor and singer Gianni Dei died on October 19, 2020 in Italy. He was born on December 21, 1940 in Bologna. After graduation from high school he moved to Rome to become an actor. He was given a role in Mario Camerini’s “Via Margutta”. He then when on to appear in 43 films, mostly comedy, thriller, police and musical ‘B’ films. He also had a singing career from 1988 to 1994 where he released five LPs. He appeared in one Euro-western playing Steven Vermont in “The Sheriff Won’t Shoot”(1965).

• CERRUTI, Alfredo 6/28/1942, Naples, Campania, Italy - 10/18/2020, Milan, Lombardy, Italy

Italian record producer, actor and television writer Alfredo Cerruti, died in Naples, Italy on October 18, 2020, Cerruti was born in Naples on June 28, 1942. He had a charismatic personality and was Mina's boyfriend in the mid-1970s, his unmistakable voice of those TV sketches and founder of “Squallor”, a demented rock group that released 35 albums, with explicit titles such as for the Euro-western “Arrapaho” (1984), which had been censored by the Italian radio stations.

• RONCZEWSKI, Ryszard - 6/27/1930, Puszkarnia, Wilesakie, Poland - 10/17/2020, Sopot, Poland

Ryszard Ronczewski, a longtime actor of the Wybrzeże Theater, died in Sopot, Poland on October 17, 2020. A theater and film actor Ronczewski contracted coronavirus. He was 90 years old. Ronczewski was born on June 27, 1930 in Puszkarnia near Vilnius. He was a graduate of the PWST in Łódź. In the years 1956-57 he was an actor of the Nowy Theater in Łódź, and from 1957 to 1960 an actor of the Warsaw Operetta. In 1960-69 and 1970-74 he worked as the artistic director of Estrada Sopot. In the 1960s, together with Alina and Jerzy Afanasjew and Janusz Hajdun, he created the Afanasjeff Family Circus, which – next to STS and Bim-Bom – was one of the most interesting avant-garde student theaters in post-war Poland. Ronczewski appeared in several dozen films, incl. in: “Teutonic Knights”, “Pharonie”, “Satan of the Seventh Class”, “About Two Who Stole the Moon”, “Bad Luck” and “Wolf’s Echoes”. In his one Euro-western he portrayed a shaman in the 1993 TV series “Alaska Kid”.

• ROHRS, George R. - 4/29/1930, Oak Park, Illinois, U.S.A. - 8/30/2020, San Luis Obispo, California, U.S.A.

George Rohrs, a highly respected film editor, passed away unexpectedly on August 30, 2020 in San Luis Obispo, California at the age of ninety, of natural causes. Born in Oak Park Illinois on April 29, 1930, he moved with his parents and sister, Bonnie Stone, to Southern California when he was 14 years old. He served two years in the Army and studied for 2 years at UCLA. He did not finish his degree, instead he left school to pursue his life occupation in the film industry. His motion picture and television credits as a film editor are a long and distinguished list spanning over 30 years. He was film editor on 1971’s “Valdez is Coming” starring Burt Lancaster.

• NOLAN, Margaret - 10/29/1943, Norton Radstock, Somerset, England, U.K. - 10/5/2020, England, U.K.

British actress Margaret Noland died on October 5, 2020 which was confirmed by her son Oscar Deeks. She would have been 77 on October 29th. Nolan gained fame as the gold-painted model in the title sequence of the 1965 James Bond film “Goldfinger”. She was born in Somerset, England on October, 29, 1943 and grew up in London. She began her career as a glamour model and appeared in the Beatle’s film “A Hard Day’s Night” and Gerry and Pacemakers film “Ferry Cross the Mersey” as well two Euro-westerns: “Carry on Cowboy” as Miss Jones in 1965 and as a waitress in 1986’s “Sky Bandits”.

• BAZZONI, Camillo - 12/29/1934, Salsomaggiore Terme, Emilia-Romagna, Italy - 10/8/2020, Mori, Trentino, Italy

Italian director, writer, cinematographer Camilo Bazzoni died in Mori, Trentino, Italy on October 8, 2020. He was 85. Camillo he was the brother of director, assistant director, writer Luigi Bazzoni [1929-2012]. Born in Salsomaggiore Terme, Emilia-Romagna, Italy on December 29, 1934, he started his career as a camera operator and then cinematographer, for such directors as Lina Wertmuller, Franco Rossi and Massimo Torisi. After a series of documentaries and short films he debuted as a director with “Macaroni Combat”, “Suicide Commando”, and as Alex Burke his only Euro-western “A Long Ride a Hell” starring Steve Reeves.

• FEUERSTEIN, Herbert - 6/15/1937, Zell am See, Austria - 10/6/2020, Ecfstadt, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

German entertainer Herbert Feuerstein died in Erfstadt, Germany on October 6, 2020. He was 83. Born on June 15, 1937 in Zell am See, Austria, his career saw him go from a concert pianist in 1958 to the German editor-in-chief of Mad Magazine from 1971 – 1992, to TV gag writer and star on “Schmidtanders”. He appeared as the Apache photographer in the extended version of 2001’s Der Schuh des Manitu”.

• MUREAU, Miron (Mircea Mureau) - 11/8/1943, Bărcani, Covasna, Romania - 10/3/2020, Bucharest Romania

Romanian actor and stuntman Miron Murea died of complication from COVID-19 on October 3, 2020 in Bucharest, Romania. He was 76. Born as Mircea Mureau in Bărcani, Covasna, Romania on November 8, 1943 he appeared in over 30 films as an actor and stuntman and was part of director Sergiu Nicolaescu’s stunt team. Miron appeared in two Euro-westerns: “Blood Brothers” 1975 as a stuntman and as a cowboy in 1981’s “Sing Cowboy, Sing” both films starred Dean Reed.

• FIALA, Karel - 8/3/1925, Hrušov, Ostrava, Czechoslovakia - 10/3/2020, Vršovice, Prague, Czech Republic

Czech actor Karel Fiala, known as the star of the film “Lemonade Joe”, has died at the age of 95. Fiala spent the last years of his life at a hospital in Prague. The actor celebrated his greatest success in the 1950s on stage at the Musical Theater in Karlín. In 2013, Karel Fiala received the Thalia Award for lifetime contribution in the field of musicals. Fiala literally acquired his life role at the last minute. It was originally supposed to be played by Jiří Kodet, but his mother Jiřina Steimarová recommended to the director her colleague from the Karlín Theater, who was exactly the right type for the sleek and comically noble Lemonade Joe. Karel did not sing in the film, because the playbacks had already been shot with Karel Gott. But he would certainly have been able to handle the demanding singing parts, because his domain was operetta and musical. Karel Fiala was still very active even in his old age, he played tennis after the age of eighty-eight and enjoyed great family reunions. After 2000, he still played in the magnificent musical Count Monte Christo and said goodbye in 2010 again in Karlín in a new production of Lemonade Joe as his old father Kolalok.