Anthony Steffen: Killer Kid (middle); Shango, a sort of Shane meets Django (bottom)
Anthony Steffen Introduction: Spaghetti Western Star
Why Anthony Steffen?
You know, some lives must be made known. Imagine the life of a guy of one of the noblest families of Europe, whose mother was one of the most beautiful and desirable women in Italy (and former lover of one of Mussolini’s generals), whose father was a charming bon vivant. He was also a Formula 1 pilot who was later appointed ambassador (for winning a race) by the Brazilian president at the time.
Also, at the age of 14 Anthony Steffen joined the partisans to fight the Nazis and his family lost everything in the war. So as not to starve, he found work as an assistant at the Italian studios. But when one of the actors did not show up for a call, he, thanks to his good looks, replaced the absent actor in front of the camera.
From then on, this guy was featured in all types of Italian films, from the neo-realist era to the early ’90s. He dwelled among the great European stars and directors, and became the most prolific actor of Spaghetti Westerns.
So, this was the life of Italian-Brazilian actor Antonio Luiz de Teffè von Hoonholtz, better known as Antonio de Teffè, but immortalized on screen as Anthony Steffen.
Anthony Steffen, Richard Wyler, Salvatore Borgese, Two Pistols and a Coward (1968)
How did the book came to be? Is it supposed to be a biography, a detailed filmography, both?
Initially, it was not to be a book, but a documentary. Steffen, however, was very weak due to chemotherapy treatment; and vain as he was, he wouldn’t allow himself to be filmed for that reason.
At first, my friend and co-author Fábio Vellozo found his name in the phone book. We wondered, "Is this Antonio Luiz de Teffè the real Anthony Steffen? There has been no news about him in years. He has just disappeared. Some say he’s in Italy, some say he’s even dead. Is that possible that a man who had such a career in Europe is living right here in Rio de Janeiro?"
That was Steffen, all right. Fábio gave him a call, and after months of talks, Steffen agreed to receive us. He was a very suspicious kind of fellow, and at first he thought we were thieves who were researching his life in order to rob him.
Later on, he became quite impressed with all we knew about his life and films, and eventually decided to take a chance on us. Then, a major friendship began.
Nobody had talked to him about his films in years and he was happy to know he still had a fan club! However, the cancer took its toll and our friendship lasted only two years. It was when another friend of ours, the journalist Rodrigo Pereira, came up with the great idea of writing about his life.
During our meetings with Antonio, we collected much information about his life. However, there were still many gaps, missing movies and inaccurate details. That was when our detective work began.
We looked around the world for anyone who had worked with or had known Antonio — and some of those were pretty hard to find. Among them were such names as Mark Damon, Elke Sommer, Antonio Pica, Ray Lovelock, Nicoletta Machiavelli, Enzo G. Castellari, Eduardo Fajardo, Jorge Rivero, Juan Bosch, Celso Faria, Edoardo Mulargia, Esmeralda Barros, Marilu Tolo, Stelio Candelli, Scilla Gabel, Gianni Garko, Dominique Boschero, and many others known and respected by Eurocult film admirers.
We investigated newspapers from various countries and read everything about him and Italian "popular cinema" from the ’50s to the early ’90s. Additionally, for a year and a half we worked on the text itself, written by the three of us. The experience was exhausting, but wonderful.
Now, we couldn’t write about Antonio without giving attention to his films which were part of an important but underestimated aspect of Italian cinema. When I say "popular films," I mean the ones that really brought in money, not artistic recognition. Antonio knew but did not work with Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti or Michelangelo Antonioni.
Anthony Steffen in Mario Bonnard’s sword-and-sandal drama Aphrodite, Goddess of Love (1958)
Instead, Antonio would be normally associated with saucy comedies with Totò and Franco (Franchi) and Ciccio (Ingrassia), melodramas, gothic horror flicks, peplum (sword and sandals), gialli (violent erotic thrillers), polizzieschi (cop thrillers) and wip (women in prison) films, in addition, of course, to the genre that made him famous worldwide, the Spaghetti Western.
By learning about Antonio’s life, you’ll be able to see how all these genres began — their origins and predecessors — and what eventually became of them. All that plus some cool making-of stories and exclusive, new information.