Stelio Candelli(1931-2017)

Handsome, ash blonde-haired Italian actor Stelio Candelli was born in Trieste on the to a family of Civil Servants. Between 1954 to 1957 he studied drama at the Accademia d'Arte Drammatica in Rome, making his film debut in Alberto Lattuada's," Guendalina" (1957). However, it was "Le notti di Lucrezia Borgia" (1959), a Renaissance costume vehicle for ill-fated British actress Belinda Lee, that brought him commercial notice and he subsequently appeared in a number of successful 'Sword n' Sandal' Cinecitta epics during the early 1960s, of which the best was, "Le sette folgori di Assur" (1962) opposite Hollywood actor Howard Duff. In 1965 Stelio co-starred in Mario Bava's seminal Alien sci-fi flick, "Terrore nello spazio" aka "Planet of the Vampires". The James Bond spy boom of the mid-1960s offered him the lead roles in, "Agente segreto 777" (1965) and "Suicide Mission To Singapore" (1966) in which he changed his screen name briefly to 'Stanley Kent'. The Anglo name change worked and brought him to the notice of the BBC who were casting for a lead character in a Mafia based TV series entitled, "Vendetta", to be filmed in London and Malta (standing in for Italy). With hit theme music composed by John Barry, "Vendetta" became highly popular running from 1966 to 1968. Stelio played a deadly hunter of all things Mafia by the name of Danny Scipio and the series now enjoys cult status. Unbelievably the BBC has still to release available episodes on DVD. A series of so-so spaghetti westerns (some opposite his friend Anthony Steffen) such as '"Viva Django" (1971) followed and whilst these were clearly fun to make, Stelio shone more in contemporary fare such as the English shot giallo, "La muerte llama a las 10" aka "The Killer Wore Gloves" (1974). Another BBC TV series, "Circus" (1975) brought a welcome return to London and British Television screens followed a few years later by a guest spot in an episode of the Ian Ogilvy, "Return of the Saint" (1979). The least said about "Orinoco - prigioniere del sesso" (1980) the better. In the Hollywood "Winds of War" epic series, the Italian actor had a memorable role as a sinister scar-faced Gestapo agent but ironically enough it was a rather mundane part in Lamberto Bava's cult horror movie, "Demons" (1985) that often brings him most recognition internationally.