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
- FREDERICKSON, Gray (Harry Gray Frederickson Jr.) - 7/21/1937, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.A. - 11/20/2022, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
Academy Award-winning Oklahoma City filmmaker Gray Frederickson died in his hometown of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on November 20, 2022. He was 85. The closest Frederickson got to a movie career as a youth was working as an usher at the Lakeside Theater in the 1950s. An alumnus of Casady School and the University of Oklahoma, Frederickson also attended the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. From there, he moved to Rome, where he launched his film career as producer of 1963’s “Nakita.” That led to more opportunities, such as joining Italian director Sergio Leone’s “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” as production manager. Frederickson forged a lasting friendship with that film’s star, Clint Eastwood. Frederickson moved his burgeoning career to Hollywood, and he made a key connection with fellow producer Albert S. Ruddy on the 1970 Robert Redford vehicle “Little Fauss and Big Halsy.” Two years later, he and Ruddy worked with studio legend Robert Evans to produce Coppola’s “The Godfather.” Gray won the best picture Oscar in 1975 for "The Godfather: Part II" and garnered a best picture nomination in 1980 for his work on "Apocalypse Now.”
- FIDENCO, Nico (Domenico Colarossi) - 1/24/1933, Rome, Lazio, Italy – 11/19/2022, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Italian composer, songwriter and singer Nico Fidenco died at the age of 89. Born Domenico Colarossi in Rome on January 24, 1933.The Italian composer, singer and songwriter had a long and prestigious career who gained considerable popularity from 1960 onwards, after the release of the song What A Sky (Italian Su Nel Cielo), included in the soundtrack of the movie by Francesco Maselli I Delfini and composed by Giovanni Fusco. With his angelic voice he made millions of lovers dream not only in Italy, but all over the world, singing dozens of songs in English as well. He scored 13 Euro-westerns and sang the main theme in two of them.
- SAYKO, Aleksandr (Aleksandr Pavlovich Sayko) - 7/5/1949, Russia, U.S.S.R. - 11/13/2022, Russia
Russian theater and film actor Aleksandr Sayko died in Russia on November 13, 2022. He was 73. Born in Russia on July 5, 1949 he graduated from GITIS where he attended classes from 1967-1970 he studied at the Studio at the CDT. In 1970 he was admitted to the Central Children's Theater where he worked for several Moscow theater groups and where he created the theater "Russian House" and was its artistic director. Sayko also appeared in 15 films from 1973 – 2013. He appeared in one Euro-western 1981’s “Mexico in Flames” with Franco Nero and Sydne Rome.
- ENGLISH, David (David Stuart English) - 3/4/1946, London, England, U.K. - 11/12/2022, England, U.K.
David English died in England on November 12, 2022. He was a British charity fundraiser, cricketer, actor, writer and former president of RSO Records. Born David Stuart English in London on March 4, 1946, he was appointed MBE in the 2003 Birthday Honours, and CBE in the 2010 Birthday Honours for services to cricket and charity. English founded the Bunbury Cricket Club, through which he raised £14m for charity. He was involved in the creation of the Bunbury Festival, a national under-15s cricket tournament that has helped the careers of over 1000 first-class cricketers, and over 125 international players. English was a journalist on the Daily Mail and then worked for Decca Records. At Decca he was press officer, handling publicity for artists including the Rolling Stones and Tom Jones. He became President of RSO Records, signing artists including the Bee Gees and Eric Clapton. English had a career in acting, appearing in the films A Bridge Too Far and Lisztomania. He wrote a series of children's books called Bunbury Tails and a spin off animated series called The Bunbury Tails. English appeared as Hamilton in the 1986 Euro-western “Sky Bandits”.
