Frank Wolff (actor)
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Walter Frank Hermann Wolff (May 11, 1928—December 12, 1971) was a versatile American actor whose prolific film career in his final ten years was devoted entirely to European-made films, most of which were Italian productions.
A native of San Francisco, Frank Wolff was the son of a Bay area physician. The elder Wolff, a political and social maverick, encouraged young Frank to follow an unconventional path. Frank attended UCLA, where he studied acting and directing, wrote and directed plays and befriended another actor/director, Monte Hellman. Between 1957 and 1961, he appeared in nearly twenty episodes of TV series and feature films, a few of which fit into the horror/science fiction genre.
Frank Wolff's first genre film was as one of the leads in the campy, typically low-budget Roger Corman 1959 production Beast from Haunted Cave, directed by his friend Monte Hellman. The following year he was in two Corman-directed films—as one of the leads in Ski Troop Attack and a single brief scene in the memorable The Wasp Woman. One of his TV appearances was in "A Passage for Trumpet", the May 20, 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone.
In the Spring of 1961, Frank Wolff travelled to Greece to co-star in another Roger Corman-directed film, Atlas. The title role was assigned to the brawny Michael Forest, another Corman regular, who also had top billing in Beast from Haunted Cave and Ski Troop Attack. Wolff played the treacherous King Praximedes, a scene-stealing lead villain who received notice from the few critics who reviewed the film. Wearing a short beard, Wolff's Praximedes was alternately charming, overbearing and menacing.
Taking Corman's advice, Frank Wolff remained in Europe and became a well-known character actor in over fifty mostly Italian-made films of the 1960s, including suspense giallos and spaghetti westerns. He had second billing in his most prestigious film, the 1963 best picture Oscar nominee America, America, which producer-director-writer Elia Kazan filmed in Greece. As the Armenian Vartan Damadian, a heavily-mustached Wolff assayed a complex, multi-layered personality. His other films included Salvatore Giuliano, Death Took Place Last Night, The Great Silence and Once Upon a Time in the West. He was also seen a few episodes of British-produced TV series, such as The Saint and The Baron.
Frank Wolff committed suicide in his Rome hotel room at the age of 43. His final two Italian-made films, Milan Caliber 9 and When Women Lost Their Tails were released posthumously in 1972.
