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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

RIP - Giuliano Gemma


Sad news, Giuliano Gemma best known to all of us as Scott Mary in Day of Anger died recently on October 1.  Article from the Hollywood Reporter below.

The screen veteran worked with directors from Luchino Visconti to Woody Allen, but was known for his roles in spaghetti westerns.

ROME -- Giuliano Gemma, a versatile Italian veteran of more than 100 acting roles ranging from Luchino Visconti's 1963 classic The Leopard (Il gattopardo), to spaghetti westerns, to Woody Allen's To Rome With Love, died late Tuesday in an auto accident near Rome.

The Rome-born Gemma was 75, and still active in the industry, including many television roles in recent years. He was set to play one of the key parts in Miguel Cruz Carretero's period romantic drama Deauville, which just entered pre-production. His last silver screen role was in last year's To Rome With Love, where he had a small role as a hotel manager.

To Italians, he was best known for his roles in spaghetti westerns, which emerged from his portrayal of one of Antonio Garibaldi's generals in The Leopard. On the set he met fellow actor Terence Hill, who introduced him to the then burgeoning spaghetti western genre. He made more than a dozen of the popular cowboy films including For a few Extra Dollars, The Return of Ringo, and Blood for a Silver Dollar, usually using the stage name Montgomery Wood.

In recent years he became popular on the film festival circuit, as the subject of tributes and recipient of honorary awards in Karlovy Vary, Italy's Globi d"Oro (the country's version of the Golden Globes), the Capri-Hollywood Film Fest, the Nastri d'Agento (Silver Ribbons) awards, and the Giffoni Film Festival.

Italian newspapers reported Gemma was involved in a car accident in Cerveteri, a small town about 25 miles northwest of Rome. Gemma was the only fatality in the accident in which a man and his young son remain in critical condition. Details of the accident were not immediately known.
 
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/italian-actor-giuliano-gemma-dies-641710 
 
 
 

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Aaron. That picture is in my old press book of Day of Anger. I don't think it was even in the film. You know I had never heard of Gemma. When the poster was placed in the local theater promoting the soon release of the film, Lee Van Cleef's name was in big red letters with a few other actors in small letters at the bottom. And Lee had starred (first billing) in Big Gundown & Death Rides A Horse. When the film began & Gemma's name was FIRST I was very surprised to say the least. I had to check it out & did some digging & found that in Italy & Spain Gemma had first billing in all ads & was a huge star in Italy. Also Day of Anger was one of the biggest box office hits in Italy in the 1967/68. It was then that I understood why Lee had second billing as he did in For A Few Dollars More. Day of Anger was actually made for European audiences & Italy & Spain in particular. National General bought the rights to show the film in the U. S. & just focused on Lee Van Cleef because here Gemma was not known to most people.

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