Maciste is one of the oldest recurring characters of cinema, created by Gabriele d'Annunzio and Giovanni Pastrone. He is featured throughout the history of the cinema of Italy from the 1910s to the mid-1960s.
Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum, is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budget Hollywood historical epics of the time, such as Samson and Delilah (1949), Quo Vadis (1951), The Robe (1953), The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur (1959), Spartacus (1960), and Cleopatra (1963). These films dominated the Italian film industry from 1958 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by spaghetti Western and Eurospy films.
Stephen Lester Reeves was an American professional bodybuilder and actor. He was famous in the mid-1950s as a movie star in Italian-made sword-and-sandal films, playing the protagonist as muscular characters such as Hercules, Goliath, and Sandokan. At the peak of his career, he was the highest-paid actor in Europe. Though best known for his portrayal of Hercules, he played the character only twice: in Hercules (1958), and in its 1959 sequel Hercules Unchained. By 1960, Reeves was ranked as the number-one box-office draw in 25 countries.
Alicia Alonso was a Cuban prima ballerina assoluta and choreographer whose company became the Ballet Nacional de Cuba in 1955. She is best known for her portrayals of Giselle and the ballet version of Carmen.
Hercules Unchained is a 1959 Italian-French epic fantasy feature film starring Steve Reeves and Sylva Koscina in a story about two warring brothers and Hercules' tribulations in the court of Queen Omphale. The film is the sequel to the Reeves vehicle Hercules (1958) and marks Reeves' second – and last – appearance as Hercules. The film's screenplay, loosely based upon various Greek mythology and plays by Aeschylus and Sophocles, was written by Ennio De Concini and Pietro Francisci with Francisci directing and Bruno Vailati and Ferruccio De Martino producing the film.
Hercules is a 1958 Italian sword-and-sandal film based upon the Hercules and the Quest for the Golden Fleece myths. The film stars Steve Reeves as the titular hero and Sylva Koscina as his love interest Princess Iole. Hercules was directed by Pietro Francisci and produced by Federico Teti. The film spawned a 1959 sequel, Hercules Unchained, that also starred Reeves and Koscina.
Morgan the Pirate is a 1960 Italian-French international co-production historical adventure film, directed by André de Toth and Primo Zeglio, and starring Steve Reeves as Sir Henry Morgan, the pirate who became the Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica.
The Loves of Hercules is a 1960 international co-production film starring Jayne Mansfield and her then husband Mickey Hargitay. The film was distributed internationally as Hercules vs. the Hydra.
Arturo Dominici was an Italian film, television and voice actor.
Heracles, also known as Hercules, is a Greek and Roman mythological hero known for his strength and far-ranging adventures. He is one of the most commonly portrayed figures from classical mythology in the popular culture of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Lucía is a 1968 Cuban black-and-white drama film directed by Humberto Solás, and written by Solás, Julio García Espinosa and Nelson Rodríguez. It was the winner of the Golden Prize and the Prix FIPRESCI at the 6th Moscow International Film Festival in 1969.
Carolyn De Fonseca was an American actress based in Rome. She worked extensively as a voice actress for the English-language dubbing of several hundred foreign films from the early 1960s and onwards. She was also the wife of actor/voice dubber Ted Rusoff, with whom she frequently worked. She died in 2009.
Lorna Feijóo is a Cuban former ballet dancer. Her career started at the Cuban National Ballet, where she rose through the ranks. She left Cuba in 2001, then spent two years with the Cincinnati Ballet, before joining the Boston Ballet in 2003, where she remained as a principal dancer until she retired. Her sister, Lorena Feijóo, was also a ballet dancer.
Goliath and the Dragon is a 1960 sword-and-sandal film directed by Vittorio Cottafavi and starring Mark Forest and Broderick Crawford.
Goliath and the Barbarians is a 1959 Italian peplum film loosely based on events of the Lombard invasion of Italy in AD 568. As with many Italian peplums of the time, the English dubbed version renamed some of the characters.
Run, Man, Run is an Italian-French Zapata Western film. It is the second film of Sergio Sollima centred on the character of Cuchillo, again played by Tomas Milian, after the two-years earlier successful western The Big Gundown. It is also the final chapter of the political-western trilogy of Sollima, which includes Face to Face, and his last spaghetti western. According to the same Sollima, Run, Man, Run is the most politic, the most revolutionary and even anarchic among his movies.
Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops is a 1961 Italian epic adventure film starring Gordon Mitchell and Chelo Alonso.
Hercules, Samson and Ulysses is a 1963 Italian Metrocolor peplum film directed by Pietro Francisci.
José Greci was an Italian film, television and stage actress.
Eleonora Vargas is an Italian film actress.
