Cemetery with crosses - legends lost but remembered

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KÜLOWThis 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 their last names:

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

  • KOSTELKA, Lubomír 3/31/1927, Přerov, Czechoslovakia - 11/28/2018, Prague, Czechoslovakia

Veteran Czech theater, film and TV actor Lubomír Kostelka died of a heart attack in a Prague hospital on November 28, 2018. He was 91. Kostelka was born in Přerov, Czechoslovakia on March 31, 1927, He was one of the most popular Czech actors of the 20th century, although he was seen mostly in minor and TV roles. Kostelka had only one major role, that one in Pavel Juráček's “Případ pro začínajícího kata” (1969) and he was very proud of it. For children, however, for many years he was mainly known as grandfather Lubin in ‘The Magic Kindergarten’, and his role in the TV series ‘Ranc U Zelené sedmy’ (1998-2005) was also significant. Kostelka appeared in two Euro-westerns: “Massacre at Marble City” (1964) as the bartender and “The Claim at Deaf Creek” (1972) as Bill Rogers).


  • BERTOLUCCI, Bernardo - 3/16/1941, Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy - 11/26/2018, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Bernardo Bertolucci, whose epic “The Last Emperor” won nine Oscars and who influenced generations of filmmakers with other groundbreaking works such as “The Conformist” and “Last Tango in Paris,” in which he explored politics and sexuality through personal storytelling and audacious camera work, has died. He was 77. Bertolucci died at his home in Rome at 7 a.m. November 26, 2018. He had been suffering from cancer. Born March 16, 1941, into a wealthy family in the northern Italian city of Parma, Bertolucci was a prodigious talent from a young age. The son of well-known poet and writer Attilio Bertolucci, he himself won an award for poetry at age 21, then decided to become a filmmaker. He was co-writer of the main story for “Once Upon a Time in the West” which celebrates its 50th Anniversary in December.


  • KUUSLA, Matti - 8/7/1933, Helsinki, Finland - 11/22/2018, Espoo, Finland

Finnish film and TV actor Matti Kuusla died in Espoo, Finland. He was 83. He was well known to the general public, especially for his television work, but he also paired with actors Arvo and Irja Kuusla and had a colorful movie career. With Pasanen, Kuusla and Pentti Nevaluoma he formed the humorous Bluff Brothers band, which was seen in Veikko Itkonen's revival film, Mullin malli (1961) and later on Spide's TV shows. For television Kuusla had been working since 1958. He appeared as Konna in the Finnish Wild North film “Villi Pohjola” (1955).


  • CARROLL, Anne - 6/?/1940, U.K. - 11/15/2018, London, England, U.K.

British actress and director Anne Carroll died in London on November 15, 2018. She was 78. Born in the U.K. in June of 1940 she received an MBE in the 2011 New Year Honours, "for services to community theatre in Barnes", as she had run the youth theatre group, Barnes Theatre Company in Barnes, London for two decades. Carroll is the founder of the OSO Arts Centre (Old Sorting Office) arts venue in Barnes. Carroll appeared as Isobel James in the British western oriented TV series “Bootle Saddles” (1984).


  • BLUTHAL, John - 3/28/1929, Jezierzany, Galicia, Poland - 11/15/2018, New South Wales, Australia

Veteran actor John Bluthal died in Australia on November 15, 2018. He was 89. Born in Poland Bluthal emigrated to Australia at the age of 9 and studied drama at the University of Melbourne. Over 6 decades he worked in the UK, Australia and the US frequently in character and comedic roles on both stage and screen. His many films included three Carry On films, A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Casino Royale, Doctor in Trouble, Superman III, The Fifth Element, Labyrinth, Hail Caesar! and two of the Pink Panther films. His lone Euro-western was “A Talen for Loving” 1969 where he portrayed the character Martinelli


  • HOPPE, Rolf - 12/6/1930, Ellrich, Thuringia, Germany - 11/14/2018, Dresden, Saxony Germany

German theater and film actor Rolf Hoppe died at his home in Dresden, Germany on November 16, 2018. He was 87 years-old. Born in Ellrich, Thuringia, Germany on Decebmer 6, 1930. Even as a teenager he played in a amateur theater group. After an acting education he came 1961 to Dresden. At the Staatstheater he played hundreds of roles - for him the artistic breakthrough. The actor became internationally known in 1981 through the film "Mephisto". In addition to Klaus Maria Brandauer, he played a Nazi general - demonic, brutal and seductive at the same time. The film received an Oscar. In the fairytale classic "Drei Haselnüsse für Cinderella", which has been on television for many years at Christmas, Hoppe plays the king. He became a regular in the DEFA westerns usually playing a villain or army officer. His roles included: The Falcon’s Trail – 1967 (Bashan), Fatal Error – 1969 (Allison), White Wolves – 1969 (James Bashan), Apaches – 1973 (Captain Brown/Burton), Kit & Co. – 1974 (Shorty), Ulzana – 1974 (Captain Burton), The Long Ride from School – 1983 (trapper).


  • GRUNWALD, Morten (Walter Morten Grunwald) - 12/9/1934, Odense, Denmark - 11/14/2018, Hellerup, Denmark

Danish actor Morten Grunwald has died in Hospice Sankt Lukas, in Hellerup, Denmark. He was 83. Grunwald was best known for the films about the Olsen Gang. But the theater was close also to him. Grunwald slept quietly Wednesday evening after a day's hospitalization at Sankt Lukas hospice. A long course of cancer had taken place before. Morten Grunwald had won a lot of prizes and participated in more than 50 films, but he was probably most famous for the 14 Olsen Gang films where with yellow socks, a goose's goose and the reply 'Skide goed Egon', Morten Grunwald made himself known to Danes as the ever-optimistic Benny in the Olsen Gang. The 14 'Olsen Gang' films were made for Grunwald from 1968 to 1998. Grunwald appeared as Chuck Cooper in the 1965 Danish TV western film "Wilde West".


  • GREENE, James (James Thomas Nolan) - 12/1/1926, Lawrence, Massachusetts, U.S.A. - 11/9/2018, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

James Greene, a character actor with an illustrious stage career perhaps best known for his four-year stint on TV’s “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,” died on November 9, 2018 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 91. Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts on December 1, 1926. He graduated from Emerson College in 1950 and made his Broadway debut in 1951 in Romeo and Juliet starring Olivia de Havilland. His films include Road to Perdition, Patch Adams, The Hustler, The Lincoln Conspiracy, The Missouri Breaks, and The Philadelphia Experiment II. His most recent television appearances were in “Parks and Recreation” as Councilman Milton, “Modern Family,” “Cold Case,” and “Las Vegas.” Frank appeared as Frank McLowery in the 1971 Euro-western ‘Doc’ starring Stacy Keach and Faye Dunaway.


  • LAI, Francis (Francis Albert Lai) - 4/26/1932, Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France - 11/7/2018, Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France

France’s Culture Ministry says French composer Francis Lai who won an Oscar for his iconic movie score in “Love Story,” has died. He was 86. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, who led nationwide tributes to Lai, who died on Wednesday, said he hopes to name “an emblematic place of our city” after the self-taught music legend who was born in the city in 1932. Lai started as an accordionist but quickly rose through the ranks as a composer, writing songs for singers including Edith Piaf and Yves Montand. Lai also composed “A Man and a Woman” for 1966’s Academy Award-winning movie of the same name. It featured the well-known musical jingle “Ddabadabada.” Lai’s success culminated with his 1970 Academy Award for the score of “Love Story,” one of the most enduring romantic movies of all time. Its main song “Where Do I Begin?” boasts household recognition even among those unfamiliar with the movie, thanks to popular vocal renditions by Andy Williams and Shirley Bassey. Lai composed three scores for Euro-westerns: "In the Dust of the Sun" (1971), "The Legend of Frenchie King" (1971), "Another Man, Another Chance" (1977).


  • de LUNA, Alvaro (Álvaro de Luna Blanco) - 4/10/1935, Madrid, Madrid, Spain - 11/2/2018, Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

Prolific film, TV, stage actor Álvaro de Luna died of liver cancer today November 2, 2018. He was 83. Born in Madrid on April 10, 1935, he studied medicine and he was aroused for a desire to become an actor.. He started as a voice dubber, which gave him the opportunity to work in Hollywood. He dubbed tapes of westerns in productions by the Italian Dino de Laurentiis and action scenes for Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis in the Spartacus, by Stanley Kubrick (1960), and for Anthony Quinn in the Barabbas, by Richard Fleischer (1962). After five years as a professional in this field outside of Spain (France, North Africa, Yugoslavia and Italy), De Luna devoted himself entirely to interpreting, especially on television and Spanish cinemas. In the decade of the 1960 he acted in films like Objetivo: Las estrellas (1963); The Mask of Scaramouche (1963), Aventuras del Oeste (1965), by Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent; Las que tienen que sevir (1967); Gunmen of the Rio Grande (1965) and Navajo Joe (1966). In the seventies and eighties his film career became more discontinuous, with collaborations with Mariano Ozores or Jaime de Armiñán, among others. However, popularity came first through television: the Curro Jiménez series captivated Spanish homes with those noble bandits that hid the Serranía de Ronda in Spain occupied by the French. His career also came to the theater, where he highlights his role in the adaptation of The Son of the Bride with Tina Sáinz.


  • GILDAS, Philippe (Philippe Lepretre) - 11/12/1935, Auray, Morbihan, France - 10/28/2018, Paris, Île-de-France, France

The French journalist and host Philippe Gildas has died at the age of 82, it was announced Sunday morning October 28, 2018 by his former sidekick, Antoine de Caunes. He died during the night of Saturday to Sunday following a bout with cancer. According to Europe 1, where he worked for a long time, he had been hospitalized for seven weeks in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. A man of radio and television, he was one of the first to mix journalism and entertainment in France, notably at the helm of Canal +'s flagship program "Nulle Part Ailleurs". Philippe Leprêtre was born November 12, 1935 in Auray in Morbihan. At the end of the 1950s, he was a student of classics at the Sorbonne, he understood that he was not made for professors and turned to journalism on the advice of Jean Yanne. Born Philippe Lepretre in Aury, Morbihan, France on November 12, 1935. He quickly chose a pseudonym one night when he was forced to take to the airwaves to plug a hole. It would be Gildas, the first name of his eldest son. He created the morning drive, a slice of information that accompanied the listener while awakening on his way to work, and would be one of the pillars, to RTL and Europe 1. In 1969. Gildas was a producer on the 1990-1993 Euro-western TV series ‘The New Zorro’ starring Duncan Regher.


  • LIVANOVA, Marina - 5/30/1952, Gorky, Russia, U.S.S.S.R. - 10/28/2018, Moscow, Russia

Marina Livanova died in Moscow, Russia on Sunday, October, 28, 2018. She was 66. She was born on May 30, 1952 in Gorky, Russia, U.S.S.R. and graduated from the faculty of history and English of the GGPI named after Gorky, in 1978 - the acting faculty of the Higher Theater School named after BV Shchukin with a red diploma. She first worked at the Leningrad State Academic Comedy Theater at the invitation of Pyotr Naumovich Fomenko, and then at the Arkady Raikin Theater. She then came to television in 1986, and in 1997 she was recognized as one of the the Best Leading Ladies in Russia. Marina Livanova became the founder and the first host of Radio Rendezvous. Livanova appeared as Fifi/Coco in the Euro-western TV series ‘The Alaska Kid’ (1993)


  • Del PAPA, Piero (Pierluigi Del Papa) - 8/25/1938, Pisa, Tuscany Italy - 10/27/2018, Pisa, Tuscany, Italy

Pierluigi Del Papa was born in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy on August 25, 1938, he was a former Olympic boxer, Italian light heavyweight champion [1962-1964], European Italian light heavyweight champion [1966-1967, 1970-1971]. After his sports career was over he acted in a two-part movie along with Bud Spencer in 'Lo chiamavano Bulldozer', and in 'Bomber'. Del Papa in 'Lo chiamavano Bulldozer' interpreted the role of the barber Osvaldo. He appeared in only one Euro-western as a gunfighter in “Man Called Amen” (1968). Piero died in Pisa today October 27, 2018. He was 80 years-old.


  • KARACHENTSOV, Nikolay (Nicolai Petrovich Karachentsov) -10/27/1944, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R. - 10/26/2018, Moscow, Russia

Russian theater, film, TV actor Nikolai Karachentsov died in Moscow on Friday October 26, 2018, one day before his 74th birthday, his son Alexei Karachentsov told TASS. Karachentsov was one of the most popular Russian actors. He acted in tens of films, such as "Elder Son," "Dog in the Manger," "White Dew," "The Trust That Went Bust" and "A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines.".


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