Monday, February 8, 2010

Remembering Maurizio Merli

Maurizio Merli was born on February 8, 1940 in Rome, Italy. He made a name for himself as an actor in crime films during the 1970s do to his strong resemblance to Italian actor Franco Nero. During his peak he starred in two Euro-westerns “White Fang to the Rescue” (1974) as Burt Halloway/ Benjamin 'Ben' Dover and in the classic “A Man Called Blade” (1977) as Mannaja/Blade. He also apparently appeared as a Union soldier in the Franco & Ciccio 1967 film “Two R-R-Ringos from Texas”. Merli had a great screen presence and it is a shame he found stardom after the decline of the Spaghetti Western genre as he would have been one of its icons. Sadly Merli passed away of a heart attack after a tennis match on March 10, 1989 in Rome. Maurizio is the father of Maurizio Matteo Merli. Today we remember him on what would have been his 70th birthday.

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