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1-9 of 9
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Lucio Fulci, born in Rome in 1927, remains as controversial in death as he was in life. A gifted craftsman with a sharp tongue and a wicked sense of dark humor, Fulci achieved some measure of notoriety for his gore epics of the late 1970s and early 1980s, but respect was long in coming.
Abandoning his early career as a med student, Fulci entered the film industry as a screenwriter and assistant director, working alongside such directors as Steno and Riccardo Freda. Granted his debut feature in 1959, with a seldom seen comedy called I ladri (1959) (The Thieves), Fulci quickly established himself as a prolific craftsman adept at musicals, comedies and westerns.
In 1968, Fulci made his first mystery thriller, One on Top of the Other (1969), and its success was sufficient to garner the backing for his pet project The Conspiracy of Torture (1969). Based on a true story, the film details the trial of a young woman accused of murdering her sexually abusive father amid fear and superstition in 16th Century Italy. A scathing commentary on church and state, the film was the first to give voice to its director's passionate hatred of the Catholic Church. Predictably, the film was misunderstood, and Fulci's career was thrown into jeopardy. Deciding it would be best to leave his political feelings on the back burner, Fulci pressed on with a series of slickly commercial ventures.
In 1971 and 1972, Fulci re-established himself in the thriller arena, directing two excellent giallos: the haunting A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971) and the disturbing Don't Torture a Duckling (1972). The former, with its vivid hallucinations involving murderous hippies and vivisected canines, and the latter, with its psychotic religious zealots and brutal child killings, were -- to say the least -- controversial. In particular, Don't Torture a Duckling (1972), despite a huge box-office success, painted too graphic a portrait of perverted Catholicism, and Fulci's career was derailed... some would say, permanently. Blacklisted (albeit briefly) and despised in his homeland, Fulci at least found work in television and with the adventure genre with two financially successful Jack London 'White Fang' adventure movies in 1973 and 1974 which were Zanna Bianca, and Il ritorno di Zanna Bianca. Also during the mid and late 1970s, Fulci also directed two 'Spaghetti Westerns'; The Four of the Apocalypse... (1975) and Silver Saddle (1978), (Silver Saddle) and another 'giallo'; The Psychic (1977), as well as a few sex-comedies which include the political spoof The Eroticist (1972) (aka: The Eroticist), and the vampire spoof Dracula in the Provinces (1975) (aka: Young Dracula), and the violent Mafia crime-drama Contraband (1980).
In 1979, Fulci's film making career hit another high point with him breaking into the international market with Zombie (1979), an in-name-only sequel to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), which had been released in Italy as 'Zombi'. With its flamboyant imagery, graphic gore and moody atmospherics, the film established Fulci as a gore director par excellence. It was a role he accepted, but with some reservations.
Over the next three years, Fulci plied his trade with finesse and flair, rivaling even the popularity of his "opponent" Dario Argento, with such sanguine classics as City of the Living Dead (1980) and The Beyond (1981). Frequently derided as sheer sensationalism, these films, as well as the reviled The New York Ripper (1982) are actually intelligently crafted, with sound commentaries on everything from American life to religion. High on vivid imagery and pure cinematic style, Fulci's films from this period of the early 1980s represent some of his most popular work in America and abroad, even if they do pale in comparison to his 1972 masterpiece and personal favorite Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) (an impossible act to follow, as it happens).
In the mid-1980s, at the peak of his most prolific period, Fulci became beset with personal problems and worsening health. Much of his work from the mid-1980s onward is disappointing, to say the least, but flashes of his brilliance can be seen in works like Murder-Rock: Dancing Death (1984) and The Devil's Honey (1986). A Cat in the Brain (1990), one of Fulci's last works, remains one of his most original. Though strapped by budgetary restraints and marred by mediocre photography, the film is wickedly subversive and comical. With Fulci playing the lead role (as more or less himself, no less -- a harried horror director who fears that his obsession with sex and violence is a sign of mental disease), Fulci also proves to be an endearing and competent actor (he also has cameos in many of his films, frequently as a detective or doctor figure).
By the 1990s, Fulci went on a hiatus with film making for further health and personal reasons as the Italian cinema market went into a further decline. While in pre-production for the Dario Argento-produced The Wax Mask (1997), Lucio Fulci passed away at his home on March 13, 1996 at the age of 68. A serious diabetic most of his adult life, he inexplicably forgot to take his insulin before retiring to bed; some consider his death a suicide, others consider it an accident, but his many fans all consider it to be a tragedy. Whether one considers him to be a hack or a genius, there's no denying that he was unique.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Krzysztof Kieslowski graduated from Lódz Film School in 1969, and became a documentary, TV and feature film director and scriptwriter. Before making his first film for TV, Przejscie podziemne (1974) (The Underground Passage), he made a number of short documentaries. His next TV title, Personnel (1975) (The Staff), took the Grand Prix at Mannheim Film Festival. His first full-length feature was The Scar (1976) (The Scar). In 1978 he made the famous documentary From a Night Porter's Point of View (1979) (Night Porter's Point of View), and in 1979 - a feature Camera Buff (1979) (Camera Buff), which was acclaimed in Poland and abroad. Everything he did from that point was of highest artistic quality.- Jill Flanter was born on 8 July 1950. She was an actress, known for Crime Busters (1977). She died on 13 March 1996 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Shafi Inamdar was born on 23 October 1945 in Pangari, Dapoli Taluka, Ratnagiri, Bombay Presidency, British India. He was an actor and director, known for Hum Dono (1995), Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984) and Insaaf Ki Awaaz (1986). He was married to Bhakti Barve. He died on 13 March 1996 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.- Mad Jack Churchill was born on 16 September 1906 in Surrey, England, UK. He was an actor. He was married to Rosamund Denny. He died on 13 March 1996 in Surrey, England, UK.
- Robert Tetrick was born on 12 February 1927 in San Diego, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Spider (1958), Sea Hunt (1958) and Target (1958). He died on 13 March 1996 in Norco, California, USA.
- Music Department
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Lyricist ("Takin' a Chance on Love"), educated at Swarthmore College. He had an early career as an actor, and served as a captain during World War II. He wrote songs for the off-Broadway stage shows "Naughty Naught" and "The Fireman's Flame", and also songs for the Broadway revues "Second Little Show", "Third Little Show", and "The Show Is On". Joining ASCAP in 1939, his chief musical collaborators were Vernon Duke, Harry Revel, Harold Arlen, Richard Lewine, Ned Lehac, Billy Rose, and Dana Suesse. His popular-song compositions include "Home by the Sea", "Tired of Love", "You Might as Well Pretend", "Now", "It's Easy to Lose", "It's a Lovely Night on the Hudson River", "The Nose on Your Face", "Do My Eyes Deceive Me?", "Zim Zam Zee", "Doin' the Waltz", "The Sun Will Shine Tonight", "Yours for a Song", and "Ride Cowboy Ride".- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Peer Guldbrandsen was born on 22 October 1912 in Odense, Denmark. He was a writer and actor, known for Løgn og løvebrøl (1961), Premiere i helvede (1964) and Skibet er ladet med (1960). He was married to Svea Hedvig Erika Branner and Karen Margrethe Jønsson. He died on 13 March 1996 in Stenlille, Sjælland, Denmark.- Director
- Writer
Róska Óskarsdóttir was born on 31 October 1940 in Reykjavík, Iceland. Róska was a director and writer, known for Sóley (1982). Róska died on 13 March 1996 in Reykjavik, Iceland.