Has anyone heard of these great books? If not, they are coprehensive casting books full of pictures and contact information on actors in the Italian film industry. They started publishing these books in the early 70s and I believe a new one is published each year.
I recently won the 1977-78 volume on eBay and finally got it in the mail. All i can say is
WOW! This book is a like an encyclopedia! It's HUGE: 850 pages chock-full of pictures of actors who were active in the Italian film industry in 1977.
There are the big international stars like Gina Lollobrigida, Silvana Mangano, Mariangla Melato etc as well as popular favorites like Edwige Fenech, Barbara Bouchet, Maurizio Merli, Ray Lovelock, Susan Scott, Lilli Carati, William Berger, George Eastman, Ajita Wilson etc and, oddly enough, occasional Hollywood names too - even people like Woody Allen and Barbra Streisand are in here!!!
But more interestingly, somewhat lesser-known but equally cool genre actors like Lino Capolicchio, Daniela Doria, Jane Avril, Jessica Dublin, Franco Diogene, Rosemarie Lindt, Don Powell, Haydèe Politoff, Paola Montenero etc are there too. As are such downright obscure actors like Selan Karay (the male lead in HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD), a couple of C.S.C. actors, Eva Axen (the first victim in SUSPIRIA), Patrizia Melega (from Sergio Garrone's two SS films and pretty much nothing else) and various other one-film wonders. For people like myself who find it rewarding to identify even the most obscure of the Italian actors, this book is like a dream come true! Now I just need to hunt down more volumes of these books. Unfortunately, they are not easy to find and if you do find them, they're likely to cost a small fortune. It's worth it, though! :'(
Anyway, I thought I'd do a few scans to give you all an idea of the what can be found in these things:
Here's Mark Shanon - listed under his real name and without his trademark moustache:
Michele Soavi - going for a James Dean-look it seems
This one's for Stephen since I know he can't get enough of this beauty
Love how Franca Gonella from Polselli's REVELATIONS OF A PSYCHIATRIST and VIOLENCE FOR KICKS gets away with this kind of picture:
Another Polselli starlet:
Ciro Ippolito, who later became a director and made ALIEN 2 - ON EARTH (1980):
I don't know what the deal with this silly pseudonym is because, clearly, this is Brad Harris:
I've always considered Annie Belle to be an extremely sexy lady but really now... that hairdo she has on the picture to the right really doesn't do much to enhance her looks:
