Just watched a curious little poliziesco from 1968 called Un corpo caldo per l’inferno. It’s not great, but not bad, and has an interesting cast, including a distinctive looking chap who I’ve seen in numerous films over the years, John Benedy. Normally, he sports a resplendant seventies moustache and, although he’s missing his ‘tache in this role, he’s still effective as a villain (he always played vilains, just about). After a bit of searching, it seems that Mr Benedy is something of a cult figure, a low key Luciano Rossi or Federico Boido. There’s a lot of info about him on the Thrilling Forum, from which I’ve gathered most of the info below.
John Benedy, aka Gianni De Benedettis
Born 1938 in Mesagne, near Brindisi.
Benedy was a regular performer in fumetti and fotoromanzi, including recurring roles in Killing and Sadistik (he was interviewed in Il Diabolikal Super-Kriminal, the documentary about Sadistik made in 2007, which I unfortunately haven’t seen). He moved into films in the early sixties, and his filmography according to IMDB is this:
– Carcerato (1981)
– Patrick vive ancora (1980)
– La tua vita per mio figlio (1980)
– Strategia per una missione di morte (1979)
– Provincia violenta (1978)
– L’amante del demonio (1972)
– Uccidi Django … uccidi per primo (1971)
– I racconti di Padre Brown
– Il re dei ladri (1971) episodio TV
– Un corpo caldo per l’inferno (1968)
– Sette donne d’oro contro due 07 (1966)
There’s an actor profile for him in Killing N. 25 Actor, which reads as follows:
Gianni De Benedettis, aka John Benedy, figures today among the cinematic artists with a bright future. His first great success was with an excellent performance in the film Rocco and his Brothers. After which directors and producers from around the world competed with each other with ever more attractive contacts. Gianni De Benedettis isn’t even thirty, and already is busier and more qualified than many actors of his generation. In a few years he has appeared in about twenty productions, most of which have been notable successes with the critics and the public. John Benedy doesn’t show a predilection for any particular type of films, and there isn’t any genre he won’t work in. Westerns, spy films, war films, love stories, as long as they have a good script he’ll take them on in order to hone his artistic skills. He has appeared in Il mercenario (possibly La congiura dei dieci), Agente speciale Berlino, Covo di spie a Casablanca (possibly aka Spionaggio a Casablanca) and Fuoco su Berlino
If this is true, then his filmography is missing numerous entries (including all the films mentioned in the article), although he shouldn’t be mistaken for the much older Gianni Di Benedetto. Could be time to play a little bit of spot the Benedy!
hi matt , rudy from Belgium. i have a little question – where on earth did. you find a copy of the movie “UN CORPO CALDO PER L’INFERNO” (1968) ?? can’t find it on google i think. and is it in english ?? thanks for the answer – rudy
Hi Rudy, I suspect it must have been from Cinemageddon or, if not there, a leftover video from my old trading days (probably deriving from French TV). I’ve never seen it available anywhere in English, though…
regarding actor john benedy. according to your article about him in magazine killing N25 he has made several other movies. two of them were called “AGENTE SPECIALE BERLINO” and “FUOCO SU BERLINO”. i have searched these two movies, but these titles don’t exist. what i cold find were 2 other movies with BERLINO – maybe these two could be the above movies or not ? the first one is “BERLINO APPUNTAMENTI PER LE SPIE (1964) (aka SPY IN YOUR EYE) (with brett halsey) and second “DA BERLINO L’APOCALISSE (1967) (aka LE TIGRE SORT SANS SA MERE) (with roger hanin) is it possible matt, that you can check these two movies. maybe he’s in it (uncredited) or not ? that’s all i could find – best greetings rudy from Belgium.
Hi Rudy, I’m not familiar with those titles but I’d be surprised if they’re not just different names for one or both of the films you mention…