The Wild Eye

Edith Peters was one of the many black performers who complemented their careers in the popular nightclubs and revues of the time with the occassional bit part roles on screen.

Fernando Piazza was one of the more obscure black actors to ply their trade in Cinecitta in the 60s. His first credited performance, as far as I can make out, was in Domenico Paolella’s entertaining historical adventure The Women of Devil’s Island

James Sampson was a familiar face in Italian exploitation films of the 1980s. He never had big roles, being more the kind of actor who would pop up for thirty seconds before dropping out of the picture…

Here’s a name that was unfamiliar to me until watching the 1959 Alberto Sordi vehicle, Il moralista, directed by Giorgio Bianchi.  Hazel Rogers has a small part as one of a trio of dancers Sordi – playing a public censor who has become fascinated with the seemier side of life on a trip to Munich [...]

John Kitzmiller was one of the most prominent Afro-American actors to work in Italy during the post war period.  Born in Michigan in 1913, he first came to Europe as a soldier during the liberation of Italy, winning a Victory Medal for his efforts.  He fell in love with the country, deciding to stay there [...]

Jim Gaines is an African-American actor, born in Hawaii in 1955, who came to prominence in a series of Filipino action films

Hal Frederick was an American actor who had a very brief career in Europe, making his debut in an Italian film, Sandokan Against the Leopard of Sarawak

Lola Falana, the daughter of an African-American mother and Cuban father, appeared in two Italian films during the late 1960s.

Isabelle De Valvert starred in a handful of films during the mid 70s, but beyond that information is scarce

While the majoroty of her career was based in the US, she does seem to have become more avtive in Europe towards the later stages of her life

Beryl Cunningham is another of the black actresses who came to brief fame as ‘exotic totty’ in Italian films of the late 60s and early 70s.

Jon Chevron was a slight actor who had supporting, vaguely comic roles in a couple of Italian action films.

Leo Coleman was a black dancer who was involved with the Katherine Dunham troupe

Although not really associated with European Cinema, American actor Jim Brown did actually make a few films of interest.

Carla Brait is one of the better known black actresses to have worked in Italian Cinema, having worked in anumber of cult favourites.

Wilbert Bradley was another Minnesotan who ended up working in the Italian film industry, much like Harold Bradley (the two of them aren’t related).

Harold Bradley was a familiar face in Italian films from the early sixties, appearing in a number of them uncredited. He was also a mainstay of the Roman scene; a former footballer, singer and club manager who drifted into acting for the amusement of it… and because it was a good way of earnign a [...]

Sonia Bennett was an actress who appeared in a number of porn films in the early eighties. She was popular enough to have her ‘own’ film, L’amica di Sonia in 1983, but disappeared from view a couple of years later. I don’t really know anything more about her, though… There’s also an actress called Sônia [...]

aka Dakar, Dakkar Peruvian Born 1920, Lima Died 14, September 2004. Rome A former wrestler, Peruvian Dakkar is one of the more familiar black actors to have worked in Italy, mainly because of his participation in a number of cult favourites from the late seventies and early eighties. Probably his best known role is as [...]

Born 12th May, 1931. Georgetown, British Guyana Died 13th February, 2005. London, UK There’s a pretty decent little biography of Harry Baird on the IMDB, quote: Cast in a number of racially-motivated British films during the 1950s and 1960s, actor Harry Baird was born in Georgetown, Guyana (then called British Guiana) on May 12, 1931 [...]