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

• SALVIANI, Vincenzo - 19?? - Italy - 9/?/2022

Eugenio Ercolani posted on Facebook on September 28, 2022. “I came to find out today about the recent passing of producer-director-screenwriter Vincenzo Salviani. I had a chance to interview him years ago and stand in front of a force of nature. During the interview I had to ask him several times to repeat things because the operator and I were laughing.

Salviani was a producer, production director and screenwriter for Fernando Di Leo, Ruggero Deodato, Lucio Fulci, Vittorio De Sisti, Maurizio Lucidi, Silvio Amadio and many others.”

Salvani was a production secretary on 1971’s “Aquasanta Joe” (Holy Water Joe).

• ORAL, Tunc (Tuncer Akoral) - 3/15/1938, Istanbul, Turkey - 9/20/2022, Antalya, Turkey

Turkish actor Tunc Oral died in Antalya, Turkey on September 20, 2022. He was 84. Oral was born on March 15, 1938. His real name is Tuncer Akoral. He studied at the Institute of Journalism. He translated. He Won The First Place In The Cinema artist competition organized by Ses magazine in 1964. In the same year, he started to act in films as a film actor. He acted in the films “Ten Fearless Men” (1964), “Girls of Istanbul” (1964), “Ferhat ile Şirin” (1966), “Bloody Life” (1967), “Bağdat Yolu” (1968), “The Most Beautiful of Love” (1978), and “Night” (1972). In addition to acting, he founded Zümrüt Film in 1969 and produced the films “Kanlı Aşk” (1969) and “Ecel Teri” (1970). Tunç Oral, who has been away from the big screen for a long time, recently appeared in front of the camera with the television series ‘Such a Passing Time Ki’ (2010) and the feature film “My Halam Geldi” (2013). Tunc appeared in three Turkish westerns: “Cango – Korkusuz adam” (1967) as Tom; “Kanun kaçaklari: Zalo” (1970) and “Vur” (1972).

• ALFONSI, Lydia (Lidia Alfonsi) 4/28/1928, Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy - 9/21/2022, Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Italian actress Lydia Alfonsi died on September 21, 2022 she was 94. Born Lidia Alfonsi in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy on April 28, 1928. In 1946 she won in a national competition for amateur dramatics and was noticed by one of the judges, the director Anton Giulio Bragaglia, who immediately hired her for his stage company. Soon she was cast in leading roles in dramas and often in classical works, including many Greek tragedies. In 1957 she made her film debut, then in 1960 she started a professional and sentimental relationship (lasted until his death in a car accident in 1963) with television director Giacomo Vaccari, starring in several successful RAI TV-dramas directed by him. In the mid-1970s Alfonsi semi-retired, making sporadic appearances only in 1988 (with the TV movie ‘Una lepre con la faccia da bambina’), in 1990 (in “Gianni Amelio's Open Doors”) and in 1997 (in Roberto Benigni's “Life Is Beautiful”). Alfonsi appeared in one Spaghetti westerns 1967’s “Face to Face” as Belle de Winton.

• SILVA, Henry - 9/15/1928, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. - 9/14/2022, Woodland Hills, California, U.S.A.

American actor Henry Silva died at the actors home in Woodland Hills, California on September 14th 2022. One day before his 94th birthday. Born in Brooklyn, New York on September 15, 1928, Silva often played villains and had credits in hundreds of films including “Ocean’s Eleven” and “The Manchurian Candidate,” Silva was a member of Frank Sinatra’s ‘Rat Pack’ and appeared with Frank in 1960’sa Ocean’s 11’(1960) with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., where he was one of the 11 thieves, and 1962 Western “Sergeants 3.” In later years, he appeared in Burt Reynolds’ “Sharky’s Machine” (1981), with Chuck Norris “Code of Silence” (1985), the Steven Seagal movie “Above the Law” (1988), Warren Beatty’s “Dick Tracy” (1990) and Jim Jarmusch’s “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” (1999); Silva’s final screen appearance was a cameo in the “Ocean’s Eleven” remake in 2001. Henry appeared in three Euro-westerns: “The Hills Run Red” (1966) as Garcia Mendez, “White Fang to the Rescue” (1974) as Mr. Nelson with Maurizio Merli and 1984’s “Man Hunt” (1984) as Mr. Collins with Ethan Wayne.

• KAZAKOS, Kostas - 5/29/1935 Pyrgos, Ilia, Greece - 9/13/2022, Athens, Greece

Kostas Kazakos, a prominent Greek actor, director, and politician, died on September 13, 2022 in Athens. He was 87. Kazakos, born on May 29 1935, in Pyrgos, Ilia, studied at the Drama School of “Theatro Technis” under the supervision of Carolos Koun. He made his stage debut in 1957 and then collaborated with many stage groups. His breakthrough came in 1967, when he was offered the lead in the film “Κοντσέρτο για πολυβόλα” (1967), opposite famous actress Tzeni Karezi. He married Karezi and the couple stayed together for 24 years until her death in 1992 at the age of 60. Together they acted in a number of movies, had a son, and were well-loved and respected actors. The couple married in 1968, just one year after the Greek junta imposed a military dictatorship. Kazakos and Karezi took a stance against the junta at a time when actors, politicians, and artists who expressed leftist political beliefs or created artwork that went against the extremely socially conservative dogma of the dictatorship could be exiled, tortured, or worse. The couple was imprisoned in 1973, just one year before the fall of the junta, after putting on a play called “Our Giant Circus”, which satirized the dictatorship. Five years after Karezi’s death, Kazakos married the actress Jenny Jolia in 1997 and had 3 children. The couple also had a daughter who died in June 1999, when she was 8 months years old. After Karezi’s death, he continued his stage activity; he won raves for his work in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”. In the 2007 Greek legislative election, he was elected to the Greek Parliament as a candidate of the Communist Party of Greece. He was reelected in 2009. Seb lists Kostas in two Greek adventure films with western trappings: Bullets Don’t Come Back – 1967 (Tsacos); Love and Blood – 1968 (Ektoras Argouzis). By the way Love and Blood’s (Agapi kai aima) score by composer Kostas Kapnisis is fantastic and very much like a Spaghetti western. It’s available on CD.

• GING, Jack (Jack Lee Ging) - 11/30/1931, Alva, Oklahoma, U.S.A. - 9/10/2022, Palm Springs, California, U.S.A.

American actor Jack Ging died at his Palm Springs, California home on September 10, 2022. He was 90. Born October 30, 1931, in Alva, Oklahoma. Ging enjoyed a rather fruitful career as a television actor from the late 1950s to the early 1990s before retiring in California with his wife "Apache" in 1994. During that time, he worked in over 100 productions, mostly for television, including many of the western genre television shows produced in the 1960s. His success as a supporting character transferred to the big screen and he became a minor player in the boom of Hollywood westerns in the late 1960s and early 1970s, usually in supporting roles opposite Clint Eastwood. He was seen as Marshal Ace Hayes in 1968’s “Hang ‘Em High”, as Morgan Allen in 1973’s “Hight Plains Drifter. His only Euro-western appearance was an uncredited role as the preacher in “Another Man, Another Chance” (1977) starring James Caan and Genevieve Bujold.

• Queen Elizabeth II - 4/21/1926, Mayfair, London, England, U.K. - Balmoral Castle, Scotland, U.K.

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on April 21 1926. She was Queen of the United Kingdom and of 14 other sovereign countries from February 6, 1952, until her death. Her reign of 70 years and seven months is the longest of any British monarch.

Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII, making Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, and their marriage lasted 73 years until his death in April 2021. They had four children together: Charles, King of the United Kingdom; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

When her father died in February 1952, Elizabeth—then 25 years old—became queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (known today as Sri Lanka), as well as Head of the Commonwealth. Elizabeth reigned as a constitutional monarch through major political changes such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, devolution in the United Kingdom, the decolonisation of Africa, and the United Kingdom's accession to the European Communities and withdrawal from the European Union. The number of her realms varied over time as territories have gained independence and some realms have become republics. Her many historic visits and meetings include state visits to China in 1986, Russia in 1994, the Republic of Ireland in 2011, and visits to or from five popes.

Significant events include Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 and the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, Diamond, and Platinum jubilees in 1977, 2002, 2012, and 2022, respectively. Elizabeth was the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch, the oldest and longest-serving incumbent head of state, and the second-longest verifiable reigning sovereign monarch in world history. She faced occasional republican sentiment and media criticism of her family, particularly after the breakdowns of her children's marriages, her annus horribilis in 1992, and the death of her former daughter-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. However, support for the monarchy in the United Kingdom remained consistently high, as did her personal popularity. Elizabeth died on 8 September 2022.

Queen Elizabeth II appeared as herself in archival footage in the 1999 British, Canadian western "Grey Eagle".