Continuing with profiling supporting actors of Italian/Euro PEPLUM films. This time the spotlight is on Pietro Marascalchi. You might not now his name but you definitely saw him in one of his many PEPLUM movies. He always played supporting roles, never leading. Originally, Pietro was a wrestler who participated in the 1960 Olympics. He became a professional wrestler and, as many other wrestlers at the time in Italy, he eventually dabbled in PEPLUM movies. He didn't act a lot. Only 6 PEPLUM movies and half of those were cameos of sorts. But his role in SEVEN SLAVES AGAINST ROME (1964; above) was a stand-out, with his character's tumultuous relationship with the character played by Gordon Mitchell. The Japanese poster of this movie featured Pietro over all other more famous actors of that movie. And they were right. In my opinion he's the best thing in that movie.
But his best role would be the one in HERCULES AGAINST MOLOCH (1963). Pietro plays Moloch. Even if his face is hidden with ugly masks, Pietro's commanding physique makes him stand-out, even compared to Gordon Scott who plays Hercules in that movie. The former Olympian died in 2019. I wished he had made more movies. His IMDb profile is incomplete.
Pietro's first role was in CONQUEST OF THE NORMANS (1962). He played Thor along with Genevieve Grad.
Pietro had a small cameo-like appearance, in a fighting scene in FURY OF ACHILLES (1962)
Pietro's best role was playing Moloch in HERCULES AGAINST MOLOCH (1963). Even if his face was covered, his presence still commanded attention. Below: the exciting fight between Moloch and Hercules (Gordon Scott). He will always be Moloch in my book.
Pietro's other stand-out role was in SEVEN SLAVES AGAINST ROME (1964) with Gordon Mitchell. Even though he's not the main star, he was the best thing in the movie. Gordon Mitchell's character fought constantly with Pietro's character, to the point of it being sadistic. Their fight in the arena (below) is pretty intense...well, as intense as any scene from a Michele Lupo film. He's not listed at IMDb for this movie.
The Japanese poster of SEVEN SLAVES AGAINST ROME featured Pietro over all the other actors.
Pietro with the cast of 'good guys'.
Pietro's next film, REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS (1964) also starred Gordon Mitchell and was directed by Michele Lupo. His role is prominent throughout the movie but the two men don't fight like the previous film.
HERCULES AND THE TYRANTS OF BABYLON (1964) was Pietro's last role in a PEPLUM movie. You see him here, with a host of other Italian actors too numerous to mention.
Since his IMDb listing is incomplete, it might be possible Pietro might be in another movie but it has to be one that I haven't seen because I haven't seen him in anything else.
1 comment:
Love these profiles on peplum actors btw, especially supporting actors. It's easy to miss some of their appearances especially when watching cruddy 4:3 copies.
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