Oldest Surviving Spaghetti Western Veterans

Watching ‘Sabata’ recently, I noticed a familiar face whose name I didn’t know … so I Googled the movie, to discover that Antonio Gradoli was born March 19th, 1917 … and is still with us - Bravo Antonio! :grinning:

Love to hear of any other participants from the genre who are still alive and well, heading toward triple figures.

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Antonio Gradoli may be the winner. Kirk Douglas is older and did an Italian heist movie but no Spaghetti. Potentially living past 100, I’d say Eastwood has a good chance but he’s got a ways to go.

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Clint will be delighted to hear that! :smile: Might even offer you a commission to design the poster for his next movie.

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In the strict sense off-topic, but anyway: A very old guy I came across some years ago was Swiss actor Lukas Ammann, who played the judge in Tonino Valerii’s I giorni dell’ira. Ammann was born in 1912 and died at the age of 104 last year.

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Wow! … thanks for that, Companero :smile:

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Strangely, the Italian Wikipedia seems to doubt that Gradoli’s still alive (“è stato,” past).

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Perhaps he died of embarrassment after his last film appearance, in ‘TRINITY PLUS THE CLOWN AND A GUITAR’ (1975) ? :rofl:

Haven’t seen it, but I’d suspect from the title it’s not a classic

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Maybe Italian Wikipedia has taken that into consideration and by stating that he “was an actor” they meant he was an actor… until that appearance. :wink:

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More really old guys, a nonagenarian and a centenarian: Salvatore Rosso, born in 1920, and Mario Maffei, born in 1918.

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Tom Felleghy was born November 26, 1921. As far as I know he’s still alive.

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Here he is in ‘Arizona Colt’ (1966)

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Unfortunately Antonio Gradoli and Tom Felleghy did not even come close to the goal of turning one hundred, having died in 1990 and 2005, aged 73 and 83 respectively.
Mario Maffei died in 2001, shortly before turning 83.

On the other hand, Garrone (the fourth Sergio) and José Torres will turn 99 in mid-April and early June of this year.
Their paths crossed in Degueyo (1966), produced and co-written by Garrone under the pseudonym Willy Regan.

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Thank you for the update, JC

Yep, and that really is amzing. Good on him.

Good old Hunt Powers is 94
Richard Harrison 87
Mark Damon is 90
Tony Anthony 86
Terence Hill 84
Robert Woods 87
Gianni Garko 88
Brett Halsey 90

To name a few more. And then of course Clint is now 93

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Here’s a short list of SW ladies who are still alive and kicking

Marianne Koch: 92
Claudia Cardinale, Rada Rassimov, Nieves Navarro and Linda Veras: 85
Ida Galli and Rosalba Neri: 84
Erica Blanc: 81
Diana Lorys: 80
Simonetta Vitelli: 73

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Two more worth a mention: Kobayashi’s great leading man Tatsuya Nakadai (91) and French actress Corinne Marchand (92).

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Two actresses born in the 1920s: Madrilenian Lina Rosales, who was in Per un pugno nell’occhio, and Parisian Micheline Presle, who had a role in Les Pétroleuses, are 95 and 101 years old respectively. Chapeau, Mesdames !

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And Brigitte Bardot herself is 89.
Nice to talk about the ones who are still kicking for a change instead of waiting until they pass.

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