From the WAI vault

 

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Constantin Brînzea

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

Constantin Brînzea is/was a Romanian actor who appeared in twelve films between 1977 and 1984. In most of his films his character roles were uncredited so unless you know what he looked like you’d never be able to recognize him in his role.

Constantin appeared in only one Euro-western and that was as Quick Arrow in the 1978 film “Artista, dolarii si Ardelenii” (The Actress, the Dollars and the Transylvanians) directed by Mircea Veroiu.

BRINZEA, Constantin (aka Constantin Brânzea) (Constantin Brînzea) – film actor.

The Actress, the Dollars and the Transylvanians – 1978 (Quick Arrow)

Michael Coby & Paul Smith

 After the duo of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill had their big breakthrough at the beginning of the 1970s with the two western comedies “They Call Me Trinity and “Trinity is STILL My Name”, the film industry quickly began to copy the new successful concept. Shortly thereafter, a whole series of so-called doppelganger films were created, in which a sporty daredevil type was accompanied by a tall, powerful and bearded giant. These films were then marketed accordingly, so that there was a certain risk of confusion from them. Reason enough to take a closer look at Michael Coby and Paul Smith in particular.

[Courtesy Michael Ferguson]

Probably the best-known doppelganger duo were the USA-born Paul Smith and the Italian Michael Coby born Antonio Cantafora. This duo already had the greatest resemblance of all doppelganger duos from a purely visual point of view, but in addition, numerous stuntmen and supporting actors known from the Spencer/Hill films also provided additional risk of confusion. Paul Smith and Michael Coby starred together in a total of five films in 1974 and 1975. Like the original duo Spencer/Hill, they started with Western comedies “Carambola” and “The Crazy Adventures of Len and Coby”, but later transported their style into present day adventures. In Germany, the two were always called Toby (Coby) and Butch (Smith) in their films, but this was not the case in the originals.

Paul Lawrence Smith was born on June 24, 1936, in Everett, Massachusetts. His first film role was in 1960 in the film “Exodus”, which was shot in Israel. In 1967, he returned to Israel to serve as a volunteer in the Six-Day War. Smith remained in Israel, where he made a few films, became an Israeli citizen, adopted the Hebrew name Adam Eden, and met his second wife, Aviva ‘Eve’ Eden (2006-2012). In 1973, Paul had previously moved to Italy, where he shot the five Spencer/Hill lookalikes alongside Michael Coby. Four years later, in 1977, Smith returned to the U.S.A., where he made further films, including “Midnight Express” (1978), “Popeye” (1980), “Red Sonja” (1985) and “Maverick” (1994). His last appearance was in 1999 in the TV movie ‘D.R.E.A.M. Team’. In February 2006, Paul Smith returned to Israel. Since then, Paul Smith has been living in the small town of Ra'anana. He no longer made films but was a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences and as such is entitled to vote at the Oscars. In addition, he tried to spend more time with his family. He himself has a son Elliott from his first marriage, who still lives in the States. In addition, his wife Eve, also from her first marriage, had a daughter. Smith died on June 25, 2012. 

Michael Coby was born Antonio Cantafora on February 2, 1944, in Crotone, Calabria. After studying acting, he landed his first film role in 1967 in the Italian western “The Dirty Outlaws”. From then on, he could be seen again and again in Italo Westerns. Thanks to an outward resemblance to actor Terence Hill, he was hired in the mid-1970s for the Spencer/Hill lookalike films alongside Paul Smith. For these films he adopted the English-sounding pseudonym Michael Coby, which he abandoned in the mid-1980s. From then on, he reverted to his real name. While his doppelganger partner is drawn to the U.S.A. in his further career, Cantafora remained largely faithful to European film. It was only in 1983 that he was drawn to Brazil for a film “Gabriela, cravo e canela”. In 1987 he even filmed with the great Federico Fellini “Fellini's Intervista”, but the big breakthrough as an actor eluded him. "Simone e Matteo" - director Giuliano Carnimeo expressed this circumstance as follows: "He was a serious actor, a professional who, unfortunately, in his career did not have the luck that he should have deserved." His last appearance was in 2003 as a detective in Dario Argento's serial killer thriller “The Card Player”.

 

Who Are Those Singers & Musicians? ~ Lydia MacDonald

 

Lydia Macdonald was born Lydia De Domenico in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 5, 1923. She was a Scottish bilingual singer who contributed to various Italian film soundtracks from the 1950’s to the 1970’s.

Lydia was born to a Welsh-born mother and Italian father, Lydia went to Italy in 1939 on what was intended to be a family holiday, Obliged to remain in Italy and complete her education in Rome due to the outbreak of World War II she befriended several young leaders of the emerging Italian jazz scene, including Armando Trovajoli, Piero Umiliani and (especially) Piero Piccioni with whose Orchestra 013 she participated as principal vocalist. During Rome's liberation by the allies in 1944, she broadcast on both the British and American Forces networks. Returning home to Scotland immediately after the War she was soon spotted and auditioned by bandleader Ted Heath who recruited her as his first female vocalist and thereby one of the first female popular singers to perform before mass peacetime audiences between 1946 and 1949. After leaving the Heath band, exhausted by its very heavy touring schedule, she moved to Rome in 1950 where she reconnected with the musician friends she had made in the War years. Soon, as a bilingual singer and lyricist, she found herself in demand to contribute the blossoming Italian film industry, collaborating throughout the 1950s/60s and early 1970s with the leading composers and arrangers of the day, including Piero Piccioni, Ennio Morricone, Piero Umiliani, Armando Trovajoli and numerous others. This was notable for its cultural significance; by contrast with the rich flow of Italian immigrants to Scotland in the early and mid-20th Century, there was minimal migration the other way, so Lydia's move from Scotland to Italy to build a career is all the more notable for that. In the early 1970s, she returned to Edinburgh to retire where she remained until she passed away in Edinburgh on March 26, 1998 shortly after turning 75.

Mac DONALD, Lydia (aka Lidia Mac Donald, Lydia McDonald) (Lydia De Domenico) [3/5/1923, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. – 3/26/1998, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.] – songwriter, singer, member of Ted Heath’s orchestra.

Blood for a Silver Dollar – 1965 [sings: “Give Me Back”]

Special Birthdays

Piero Zuffi (director) would have been 115 today but died in 2006.

Donatas Banionis (actor) would have been 100 today but died in 2014.

Kurt Böwe (actor) would have been 115 today but died in 2000.

Riccardo Pizzuti (actor) is 90 today.

Neil Summers (stunts, actor) is 80 today.

Penélope Cruz (actress) is 50 today.

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Félix Briones, Félix Briones Jr.

Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Félix Briones, Félix Briones Jr.

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

The Spanish actor and his son are not to be confused with the more famous father and son matadors of the same name. According to the Diccionario del cine Español Félix Briones Hernandez was born in Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain in 1895 and started his film career in 1945. His first credited role was in the 1948 film “Aventuras de don Juan de Mairena” in the role of El Rojo. He’d go on to appear in over 60 films ending with a role in the 1961 film “Fantasmas en la casa” as the sale owner.

His only appearance in a Euro-western was in the three-part film “Tres eran tres” (Three Were Three) in the segment “Una de indios” (One of the Indians) in an uncredited role.

BRIONES, Félix (Félix Briones Hernandez) [1895, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain – 19??, Spain] actor, married to ? father of actor Félix Briones hijo [19??-19??].

Three Were Three – 1954

Félix Briones hijo was the son of Félix Briones Hernandez. He appeared in only three films between 1954–1955. Whether he’s still living is unlikely but is unknown since there’s even less information available about him than his father.

Like his father his only appearance in a Euro-western was in the three-part film “Tres eran tres” (Three Were Three) in the segment “Una de indios” (One of the Indians) in an uncredited role.

BRIONES Félix hijo., [19??, Spain -19??, Spain] – film actor, son of actor Félix Briones [1895-19??].

Three Were Three – 1954

From the WAI! vault