Lou Castel | |
|---|---|
 Castel in Fists in the Pocket (1965) | |
| Born | Ulv Quarzell 28 May 1943 |
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1963–present |
Lou Castel (born Ulv Quarzell; 28 May 1943) is a Colombian-born Swedish actor who became internationally known through his work in Italian films, [1] in particular for his costarring role in A Bullet for the General (1967).
The son of a Swedish father and an Irish mother, Castel was born Ulv Quarzell in Bogotá, Colombia, where his father was working as a diplomat. He and his twin brother grew up in Cartagena. [1]
When Castel was 6, his parents separated. He followed his mother to Europe and went to school in London, very briefly at Dartington Hall School with his sister Solveig, then in Stockholm. He subsequently went to live in Rome where his mother was working in the local film industry. A communist, Castel's mother also introduced her son to politics. [1]
Interested in acting from an early age, he attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, but was quickly kicked out. His first movie role was an uncredited extra in The Leopard (1963). Two years later, he gained international fame for his performance in Fists in the Pocket , in which he played the epileptic Alessandro, who murders his mother and his brother. His career in Italy included arthouse pictures, but also Spaghetti Westerns and also softcore erotica. [1] He enjoyed particular success with his starring roles in Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General (1967), Salvatore Samperi's Come Play with Me (1968) and Umberto Lenzi's Orgasmo (1969). He later played Jeff, the temperamental bisexual film director in the German production Beware of a Holy Whore (1971), directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
While living in Italy, Castel became involved in a maoist organization, the Union of Italian Communists (Marxist–Leninist). As Italy was going through the Years of Lead period, he was eventually considered an undesirable alien. In 1972, he was deported to Sweden where he no longer had any acquaintances. For a time, he had to rely on subsidies sent to him from Italy by his organization. However, he quickly bounced back and appeared, mostly as a character actor, in various European films, directed by filmmakers such as Wim Wenders and Claude Chabrol. [1]
Castel settled in France in the early 1990s. [1] Though the quality of the films he acted in were quite disparate, ranging from arthouse films to cheap exploitation, Castel had a preference for roles that reflected his extreme leftist beliefs. He portrayed left-wing terrorists in Nada (1974), The Cassandra Crossing (1976), Could It Happen Here? (1977) and Year of the Gun (1991).
He has a son from the actress Marcella Michelangeli. [1]
A polyglot, Castel speaks a number of languages but jokes that he has no real natural mother tongue and speaks every language with an accent, except for Swedish which he no longer has opportunities to use. [1]
Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and spaghetti Westerns, he garnered an international cult following for his giallo and horror films.
The Whip and the Body is a 1963 gothic horror film directed by Mario Bava under the alias "John M. Old". The film is about Kurt Menliff who is ostracized by his father for his relationship with a servant girl and her eventual suicide. He later returns to reclaim his title and his former fiancée Nevenka who is now his brother's wife. Menliff is later found murdered, but the locals believe his ghost has returned to haunt the castle for revenge.
Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor and activist, remembered for his versatility as a performer, his outspoken left-wing leanings, and fiery temper on- and off-screen. He is perhaps most famous outside Italy for his roles in four Spaghetti Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964), El Indio in Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965), El Chuncho Munoz in Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General (1966) and Professor Brad Fletcher in Sergio Sollima's Face to Face (1967).
Fists in the Pocket is a 1965 Italian satirical drama film written and directed by Marco Bellocchio and starring Lou Castel. It was Bellocchio's first feature film and became one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year. The film centers on a young man suffering from epilepsy, who plots the murders of the members of his dysfunctional family.
Killer Nun is a 1979 Italian nunsploitation horror film directed and co-written by Giulio Berruti, co-written by Alberto Tarallo, and starring Anita Ekberg, Joe Dallesandro, Lou Castel, and Alida Valli. Its plot follows a nun who, after recovering from brain surgery, grows increasingly paranoid that her health is again declining; she begins indulging in opioids from the hospital in which she works, and spirals into addiction and madness with violent consequences. The film is loosely based on the true story of a Cécile Bombeek, a middle-aged nun who committed a series of murders in a geriatric hospital in Wetteren, Belgium in 1977.
Enzo G. Castellari is an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor.
The Unnaturals is a gothic horror film directed and written by Antonio Margheriti. It is loosely based on Dino Buzzati's short story "Eppure bussano alla porta" from the collection The Seven Messengers. The film is an Italian and West German co-production between Super International Pictures S.l.P, Edo Cinematografica, and CCC Filmkunst GmbH.
Tuncel Tayanç Kurtiz was a Turkish theatre, movie and TV series actor, playwright, and film director. Since 1964, he acted in more than 70 movies, including many international productions.
Luigi Cozzi is an Italian film director and screenwriter. At a young age, Cozzi became a fan of science fiction and began his career as an overseas correspondent for Western film magazines. After directing his first film The Tunnel Under the World, Cozzi befriended director Dario Argento and began working with him in film and television as well as directing his own features including Hercules as well as continuing work with Argento. In the 2010s, he returned to directing with the film Blood on Méliès' Moon.
Francesco is a 1989 historical drama film about the life of St. Francis of Assisi. It is directed and co-written by Liliana Cavani, and stars Mickey Rourke as Francis and Helena Bonham Carter as the future St. Claire. The screenplay is adapted from Hermann Hesse’s 1904 book Francis of Assisi. Vangelis composed the musical score.
Carmelo Pompilio Realino Antonio Bene, known as Carmelo Bene was an Italian actor, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was an important exponent of the Italian avant-garde theatre and cinema. In 1968, his movie Our Lady of the Turks won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. He died of a heart ailment in 2002.
Treasure Island is a 1986 fabulist metafiction film directed by Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz, which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. French, British and American companies funded Ruiz's obscure and complex adaptation of the classic 1883 coming-of-age adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Treasure Island stars a young Melvil Poupaud, a familiar face in Ruiz's filmography, alongside popular veteran actors such as Martin Landau, Anna Karina and Jean-Pierre Léaud.
Death Rage is a 1976 Italian film directed by Antonio Margheriti and starring Yul Brynner in his final film.
Almost Human is a 1974 Italian noir-poliziotteschi film directed by Umberto Lenzi. This film stars Tomas Milian, Henry Silva, Ray Lovelock and Anita Strindberg.
Frankenstein '80 is a 1972 Italian film directed by Mario Mancini.
The Big Racket is a 1976 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Enzo G. Castellari. Fabio Testi stars as a police inspector who takes on a gang of hoodlums who terrorise an Italian city by extorting cash from local shop and bar owners.
La morte non conta i dollari 1967 Italian spaghetti Western film directed by Riccardo Freda. The film is about Lawrence White who returns to his hometown of Owell Rock with his sister to avenge the father's death at the hands of a gang. The leader of the gang, Doc Lester has recently appointed himself the gunslinger Boyd as the new sheriff.
The Long Hair of Death is a 1964 Italian horror film directed by Antonio Margheriti. It stars British actress Barbara Steele in the roles of Helen Rochefort and Mary, Italian actor George Ardisson as Kurt Humboldt, and Polish actress Halina Zalewska in a dual role as Adele Karnstein and her daughter Lisabeth. It is set in a 15th-century feudal castle, and the nearby village.
Marcella Michelangeli is an Italian former actress and singer.
Ombre (transl. Shadows) is a 1980 Italian horror film directed and written by Giorgio Cavedon.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
