Anthony Steffen
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Anthony Steffen also known as Antonio De Teffè (born July 21, 1929 or 1930, died June 4, 2004) was a Brazilian actor who achieved fame as a leading man in over 25 Spaghetti Westerns.
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[edit] Early life
Born Antonio Luiz De Teffè at the Brazilian embassy in Rome, his family had noble blood, making him a Baron. His father Manoel de Teffe was a Formula 1 racing champion and former Brazilian Ambassador. While still a teenager, Antonio fought in World War II along the partisans against the Nazis.
[edit] Early career
Under the name Antonio De Teffè, he worked behind the scenes in several Italian productions in the early 50's and later acted in several movies, but never really achieving stardom. In 1962, he had a bit part in Sodom and Gomorrah.
[edit] Spaghetti westerns
An early appearance of his was in the 1955 Gli Sbandati.
From 1965 to 1975, the newly named Anthony Steffen achieved considerable fame in Europe, amassing cult status, starring in 27 Spaghetti Westerns. Considered to be a "Brazilian Clint Eastwood", he was sometimes unfairly criticized for being a stiff or wooden actor. Several of his movies were sizeable box office hits in Europe. Among them were Blood at Sundown (1966), Seven Dollars on the Red (1966), Gentleman Killer (1967), Killer Kid (1967), Why Go On Killing? (1965), No Room to Die (1969), and Garringo (1969). Django The Bastard (Stranger's Gundown, 1969) a movie that was produced and written by Steffen, is considered to be an inspiration for Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter. In several of his movies, Steffen starred alongside other Spaghetti Western luminaries such as Gianni Garko, Peter Lee Lawrence, and William Berger. Outside of the Spaghetti western genre, Steffen also appeared in several Giallo movies including The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971). His roles and status diminished as the Spaghetti Western genre fell into decline. Amassing a considerable fortune from his career as an actor, Steffen embarked on a jet set lifestyle.
Steffen returned to Rio de Janeiro where he died of cancer in 2004. He has maintained cult-status among fans of Italian Cinema for being perhaps the most prolific Spaghetti Western Leading actor.
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