The Italian authorities (through neglect) killed Carol it seems to me.
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Thanks for the link. Some great interviews in the archive. Appreciated
O’Brien’s saying he got parts because Berger, “was busy or he was arrested” as evidence that Berger’s career was sacrificed to drugs sounds disingenuous.
An actor being busy hardly plays to his claim, and descibing that abominable miscarriage of justice as, “getting mixed up in drugs” is either heartless or ignorant.
Berger was acquitted and the tiny portion of cannabis found may have belonged to a guest or been planted by the police.
That they could only find 0.9 grams of a (now class B) drug, even if it was all William’s personal stash, is evidence against a pot head addiction that might undermine his professional or personal life.
Sounds like O’Brien was projecting personal animosity here.
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Agreed … and if Donal O’Brien was as he claims, a non-drinker, then someone like Berger, partaking of the ‘dreaded’ marijuana, must have seemed like a drug addled fiend to his narrow minded understanding.
Think about all the famous A-list actors who were total alcoholics … that addiction never had anything like the stigma of any kind of drug use … in fact it was seen by many as masculine and routine.
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Thanks for posting a link to the O’Brien interview. Is he still alive?
Berger’s career took a strange trajectory. He became a star of spaghetti westerns, but after the genre declined in the early 70s, he appeared in a number of gialli and Eurocrime films. Then he was in various weird artsploitation films and sexploitation films. In the 80s, he did any old rubbish for the money. A fine actor, but a sad waste of talent, who did not get the roles that he deserved.
Which of William Berger’s films are available on Blu Rays or at least on good DVD editions? I have a Multi Region Blu Ray player so it does not matter from which countries the Blu Rays or DVD’s are.
I have an unpublished manuscript that he wrote and intended to publish. I’ve read some it into a podcast. Spotify im one of his sons and he wrote us letters when we became a certain age. He intended to publish these letters as a book called ‘Who’s afraid of the Generation Gap’ he chronicles his life from pre teen moving to NY from Austria during the anschluss to his 50s. I lived with him in Italy in the late 80s. Just a couple of years but he was such a great dad and he taught me a lot. I’m very proud of him, he was an actor through and through. Even when he moved to LA in the 90s he still pursued acting. His final role was ‘elderly victim’ on Americas Most Wanted. And he acted the part 100 percent. He went out ever the optimist. Brilliant man.
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Hi Wendell. That is fantastic, thanks for sharing. He was an outstanding actor and unforgettable screen persona!
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Great post! I was in Innsbruck last year—the birthplace of William Berger—and searched in vain for a memorial (monument, birthplace, etc.) dedicated to him. He was a very charismatic and versatile actor.
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Wow, I haven’t been able to get to Austria yet. I lived with him in Rome and Sardenia.
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I also found out that one of his co stars Brett Halsey lives in Laguna Beach, CA, very close to me. Ill try to get an interview with him. Hes 92 years old.
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With regards from the globe spanning spaghetti western fan community, we wish him all the best.
As for Sardinia, I go there every year, where did you stay there?
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Oschiri.
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Brett is a lovely guy and I’m sure would be very happy to talk with you. He is on Facebook so you should be able to contact him there
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