Murder/death: Gian Maria Volonte's brother Claudio Camaso

Hi everyone. I’m hoping to find some information on Gian Maria Volonte’s brother, Claudio Camaso (Volonte). I was very taken by his role in $10,000 Blood Money (10000 Dollari per un Massacro). After seeing that a few years ago, I looked him up online but was unable to find much.

It seems there are contradictory depictions of the events surrounding his death in 1976 and the events leading up to it.

Here on the Spaghetti database, it says he attempted murder of his girlfriend and then killed himself.

On imbd, it says he stabbed a man named Vincenzo Mazza and them hung himself in his jail cell after.

On Wikipedia, it says he accidentally killed a man (homicide) and then committed suicide after.

Very, very little info exists online (and in English) about Camaso. Would any of you Spaghetti experts have info on what happened to Camaso? Also I’d be interested in learning anything about his life in addition to the unusual and contradictory reports of the act he committed and his death. There are no details at all online. Possibly anyone who speaks Italian or is from Italy may have additional insight.

I’ll do some inquiries asap

I read about his death a few years ago, but don’t remember the details. He killed himself, that’s for sure

Two and a half years ago I posted some detailed information in the Suicidal actors thread, Replies # 92, 95, 96, 98, 103.

Thank you very much for that info, JonathanCorbett. So from those readings, I’m trying to piece the story together… Was it that Camaso was beating up his girlfriend in the street and that Mazza was a passerby and attempted to intervene and was then killed by Camaso? Did he beat him to death?

Yes.

No. His friends stated in a press release that Claudio was a rather aggressive and quick-tempered guy and even a pat on the back (!) made him extremely nervous: when Mazza grabbed him by the arm attempting to restore calm Camaso - which was holding the stiletto mentioned in Reply #96 - stabbed him in the chest.

I am watching this Volonte documentary right now, and they also depict it as Camaso accidentally killing a friend, then committing suicide in jail out of desperation

I’ve heard all kinds of theories and stories as to what happened to Claudio Volonte. On the now defunct A Fistful of Westerns site, it was stated he was arrested for the attempted murder of his girlfriend and while awaiting trial he hung himself after going mad from the claustrophobia of the cell. Both the IMDb and Wikipedia list it as while shooting a film he had gotten into an argument with a crew member over a woman and a fight broke out in which a knife came into play. I still haven’t found if it was the crew man who had the knife and Claudio managed to take it away from him or if Claudio had picked it up himself, but either way he fatally stabbed the man and was arrested and charged with a form of manslaughter. Again, only a day or so before he was set to go to court he hung himself.

The fight with and killing of the crew member, I think, is what in fact happened, and his suicide was most likely a combination of remorse/guilt/regret and being unable to bear the small confines of the cell he was in. It’s a tragic story either way as he was a talented actor, on a similar caliber with his brother Gian Maria, and was really good in many of the roles he played, improving his craft each time.

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Once again I wish to make it clear that Claudio was born in Torino on February 3, 1939 and not in the capital in January 1934.

This link offers biographical information of sure interest

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That’s a very telling and interesting article Mr. Corbett, thanks very much for posting. I was able to use Google Translate with the article and read it. I never thought Claudio Volonte was a bad person to begin with, that he just had an anger he could never free himself of, and I think the article proved that.

Also, I always thought he bore a stronger resemblance to Oliver Reed than his older brother Gian Maria.