Apparently director Osvaldo Civirani died a few days ago. I can’t find any more information about this at the moment, but will update when I hear anything more.
Civirani was afamous photographer who took a lot of shots in Cinecitta during the golden years, before moving on to become a film director in his own right. He worked in a variety of genres, but his output was variable: The Becket Affair, for instance, is a really quite good spy film, but The Devil With Seven Faces stands as one of the poorest of giallos.
Here a translated obit:
Roma, 28 feb. – Osvaldo Civirani, the director of Spaghetti Westerns, peplums and comedies, died in Rome at the age of 91. As well as directing about 30 films, Civirani was also a screenwriter and director of photography. He began his career as a director of photogrpahy in 1943, working alongside Luchino Visconti at the time he was shooting Osessione. Later, he was assistant to Alessandro Blasetti in Fabiola (49), Federico Fellini (Luci del varieta (50) and Lo sceicco bianco (52)), Roberto Rossellini (Francesco, giullare di Dio, 50) and Carlo Lizzani (Cronache di poveri amanti, 54)
He made his debut as a directot in 1964 shooting in Cinecitta, at the time known as Hollywood on the Tevere, with the peplums Kindar l’invulnerabile and Ercole contro i figli del sole, both with the actor Mark Forest. In 1965, he directed Tentazioni proibite, which featured Brigitte Bardot. In 1967, he made Ric e Gian alla conquista del west, Il figlio di Django, Lucrezia Borgia l’amante del diavolo, Quel giorno Dio non c’era and Le Mans scorciatoia per l’inferno (which featured a young Edwige Fenech).
Between 71 and 72 he directed five comedy films with Franco & Ciccio, before concluding his career with the films Il pavone nero (74) and La ragazza dalla pelle di corallo (76)
Descanse en Paz.