Actor Profile: Luciano Marin (R.I.P.)

Luciano Marin in THE TARTARS (1961)

Continuing with profiling supporting actors of Italian/Euro PEPLUM films. This time it's on Luciano Marin, who, remarkably enough died on November 12 at the age of 87. I was working on his profile, starting with THE TARTARS (1961) on Tuesday. So, this post is an actor's profile and a R.I.P..

Luciano was a supporting actor in the PEPLUM genre: he never had lead role. He often played the handsome son of the lead actor's character, and often was the secondary 'young' love story whenever the lead actor didn't have a love interest. Even though he was portrayed as being young, he was in his late 20s, early 30s when he made most of his movies. He appeared in 26 movies between 1958 and 1965, 15 of which were of the PEPLUM genre, many of which are classics. R.I.P..


CAVALIER IN DEVIL'S CASTLE (1959; Il cavaliere del castello maledetto)

Above and below: Luciano's first PEPLUM style movie was this fun black&white Swashbuckler auctioneer. He was the 'young' one who's often mischievous even though he was 28 years old during that time. Below, he's with perennial villain Livio Lorenzon.

SON OF RED CORSAIR (1959; Il figlio del corsaro rosso )

Above & below: Luciano had a supporting role as Miguel. He co-starred with Sylvia Lopez.

GOLIATH & THE BARBARIANS (1959; Il terrore dei barbari )

Above and below: Probably his most famous role, Luciano co-starred with Steve Reeves in this classic.

SIEGE OF SYRACUSE (1960; L'assedio di Siracusa )

Above and below: Luciano played the son of Archimedes in this epic directed by Pietro Francisci. Alberto Farnese and Tina Louise played his parents even though his real father was Archimedes (below).

FURY OF THE PAGANS (1960; La furia dei barbari)

Luciano had a supporting role in this barbarian movie.

THE GIANTS OF THESSALY (1960; I giganti della Tessaglia)

Massimo Girotti and Luciano on the Argo

Luciano was one of the Argonauts in this epic directed by Riccardo Freda. Another classic.

Luciano and Roland Carey, who was Jason

He was the 'young' love story, with Cathia Caro (back to us).

THE TARTARS (1961; I tartari)

Above and below: Luciano played Victor Mature's son. I profiled this movie on Tuesday, which prompted me to do a profile on the Italian actor. Bella Cortez was his love interest (below)

HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961; Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide)

Above and below: Another classic PEPLUM with Luciano as the son of Hercules, played by Reg Park (above). In real life, Reg was only 3 years older than Luciano. He was also the 'young' love story in this one as well, with Laura Efrikian.

DUEL OF CHAMPIONS (1961; Orazi e Curiazi)

Luciano co-starred with Alan Ladd.

SULEIMAN THE CONQUEROR (1961; Solimano il conquistatore)

The handsome Luciano had another supporting role in this seldom seen movie

COLOSSUS OF THE STONE AGE (1962; Maciste contro i mostri)

In a change of pace, Luciano was one of the leading stars in this prehistoric epic. Reg Lewis was the main star but Luciano had a lot to do in this film.


WAR GODS OF BABYLON (1962; Le sette folgori di Assur)

Above and below: One of his most substantial roles was in this movie co-starring Jackie Lane (below)

SAMSON & THE MIGHTY CHALLENGE (1964; Ercole, Sansone, Maciste e Ursus gli invincibili )

Luciano and Elisa Montés played 'young' lovers in this PEPLUM comedy.

FIRE OVER ROME (1964; L'incendio di Roma)

Luciano had a small role in this epic starring Lang Jeffries. 

MACISTE - AVENGER OF THE MAYANS (1965; Maciste il vendicatore dei Maya)

Barbara Loy, Nando Angelini, Kirk Morris and Luciano Marin made up the main cast of this odd movie.

Scenes from COLOSSUS OF THE STONE AGE, starring Luciano, were re-ussed with new scenes like the one above. This was his last appearance as an actor on the big screen. He appeared in some TV productions. It was an inauspicious end to a movie career of great hits. 

Previous Actor profiles:

Jacques Berthier

Aldo Pini

Ursula Davis

Philippe Hersent

Elena Zareschi

Benito Stefanelli

Claudio Scarchilli