RIP Sergio Smacchi

 

Highly respected stuntman and actor Sergio Smacchi died in Rome on February 22, 2026. Born in Rome on April 5, 1940, Smacchi appeared in well over 100 films as both an actor and stuntman and in many cases both in the same film. His first film was in 1964’s “Anthar l'invincibile” as an actor and performing stunts. He was part of the stunt group Il team di Musumeci Greco. Sergio would continue his career up until his final film in 2005 “Romanzo Criminale” where again he was both an actor and performed stunts.

Smacchi worked on 21 films with Terrence Hill and Bud Spencer as well as the 33 Spaghetti westerns listed below.

SMACCHI, Sergio

Born: 4/5/1940, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Died: 2/22/2026, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Sergio Smacchi's westerns - stuntman, actor:

Zorro the Rebel – 1966 (wedding guest)

Ballad of a Gunman – 1967 (saloon brawler)

Don’t Sing, Shoot! (TV) – 1967 [stunts]

Stranger Say Your Prayers – 1967 (man outside Jefferson Bank)

The Longest Hunt – 1968 (saloon patron) [stunts]

The Forgotten Pistolero – 1969 [stunts]

The Unholy Four – 1969 (gambler)

Fistful of Lead – 1970 (Mantas’ henchman) [stunts]

A Man Called Apocalypse Joe – 1970 (Berg henchman)

They Call Me Trinity – 1970 (Mescal henchman)

The Twilight Avengers – 1970 (saloon patron)

The Ballad of Ben and Charlie – 1971 [stunts]

Blazing Guns – 1971 (soldier) [stunts]

Guns for Dollars – 1971 (Krantz henchman) [stunts]

His Name was King – 1971 (smuggler) [stunts]

The Price of Death – 1971 (miner)

Trinity is STIL My Name – 1981 (Parker henchman)

Two Sons of Trinity – 1971 (Django)

Alleluia and Sartana, Sons of God – 1972 (brawler)

Jesse and Lester, Two Brothers in a Place Called Trinity – 1972 (saloon brawler)

On the Third Day Arrived the Crow – 1972 (Sloane brother)

The Return of Hallelujanh – 1972 (Drake henchman)

Stay Away from Trinity When He Comes to Eldorado – 1972

Trinity & Sartana Those Sons of Bitches – 1972 (‘El Tigre’/Tiger henchman)

Where the Bullets Fly – 1972 (General Cagoso/Colonel Hotshot henchman)

Karate, Fists and Beans – 1973 (Chinese eatery dinner) [stunts]

The Man Called Invincible – 1973 (monk) [stunts]

Challenge to White Fang - 1974 (Beauty Smith henchman)

The Crazy Bunch – 1974 (‘Pimple Nose’ Stryker)

White Fang and the Gold Diggers – 1974 (Garrick)

White Fang to the Rescue – 1974 (Benjamin ‘Ben’ Dover)

Buddy Goes West – 1981 (Colorado Slim henchman) [stunts]

Thunder Warrior – 1983

RIP Peter Helm

 

Peter Helm, Actor in ‘Inside Daisy Clover’ and ‘The Andromeda Strain,’ Dies at 84

He appeared on Broadway with Jane Fonda and Joey Heatherton and was busy on TV in the 1960s, with turns in ‘Wagon Train,’ ‘The Donna Reed Show,’ ‘The Fugitive’ and more.

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

May 23, 2026

 

P eter Helm, the actor from Toronto who appeared on such 1960 shows as Naked City, Wagon Train and Ironside and in films including The Longest Day, Inside Daisy Clover and The Andromeda Strain, has died. He was 84.

Helm died Thursday in his sleep at his home in West Hills, his friend David Timmerman told The Hollywood Reporter.

Survivors include his sister, actress Anne Helm (Follow That Dream, The Magic Sword, The Iron Maiden), and a daughter, actress Tiffany Helm (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning).

The colorful Helm appeared alongside Jane Fonda, Dean Jones and Joey Heatherton on Broadway in 1960 in the Josh Logan-directed There Was a Little Girl, a drama about rape, then acted onstage with Myrna Loy in a 1962 production of James Kirkwood’s There Must Be a Pony that aimed for Broadway but missed.

He and Heatherton would enjoy a great friendship while traveling the world together over the years, and she told THR that he was “a great actor and a great person, top of the world.” The pair also worked with George Carlin at the start of his career, and the comedian once called Helm one of the funniest men he had ever met.

On the big screen, Helm portrayed an ill-fated G.I. in the Darryl F. Zanuck-produced The Longest Day (1962) and the social climber Milton Hopwood opposite Natalie Wood in Robert Mulligan’s Inside Daisy Clover (1965), then sent the sci-fi plot in motion as one of the two Air Force officers who spot a U.S. satellite going down in Robert Wise’s The Andromeda Strain (1971).

Peter John Helm Jr. was born on Dec. 22, 1941. After the death of his banker father, John, his mother, Isabel, brought his older sister to New York in 1952 to support her ballet ambitions, and he and his half-brother, David, came along.

Helm made his onscreen debut on a 1959 episode of the NBC sitcom Too Young to Go Steady, then showed up as fresh-faced types on such series as Dr. Kildare, The Donna Reed Show, Tales of Wells Fargo, Naked City, Rawhide, The Fugitive, Combat!, Mr. Novak, The Farmer’s Daughter, Perry Mason and Bonanza through the mid-1960s.

His final onscreen credit came on a 1971 episode of The Smith Family.

In 1991, Helm founded Vancouver-based GeoMediapro, working as a director and producer, and he taught at the Vancouver Film School and was a Teamster for more than 20 years. Away from show business, he was an enthusiastic aviation photographer and the founder of a Ferrari club in L.A. who liked to drive fast.

His first wife was actress Brooke Bundy (two Nightmare on Elm Street films); they were married from 1962 until their 1966 divorce. His survivors include another daughter, Brandee, and seven grandchildren. His son, Dustin, died of complications from a motorcycle accident in 2014.

HELM, Peter (Peter John Helm Jr.)

Born: 12/22/1941, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Died: 5/21/2026, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Peter Helm’s westerns – actor:

The Last Sunset – 1961 (saloon patron)

Tales of Wells Fargo (TV) - 1962 (Jason Moore)

Wagon Train (TV) – 1962, 1963 (Ethan Clay, Leland Barber, Tom O'Neal)

Rawhide (TV) - 1963 (Grover)

Stoney Burke (TV) - 1963 (Todd Purvis)

Bonanza (TV) – 1965 (Gwylem)

The Legend of Jesse James (TV) - 1966 (Zeb Hicks)

RIP George Eastman

 George Eastman (Luigi Montefiori), an actor of spaghetti western but not only

Among his films were Pupi Avati and Fellini, he was 83 years old

 

ilNordEst.

May 20, 2026

Italian actor and screenwriter George Eastman (stage name of Luigi Montefiori) died yesterday, May 19 at Gemelli Medical Center in via Bagliasco in Rome, home of the hospice of the Catholic University at the age of 83. Luigi Montefiori has starred in numerous spaghetti westerns and genre films, as well as having played one of the legendary poker players in the Christmas Gift film by Pupi Avati. His name in films such as "Boot Hill" and "Hate Your Neighbor." He worked with Mario Bava and Joe D'Amato, then was a TV series writer such as "The Marshal Rocca" and "Honor and Respect". Ligurian origins, two meters high, former rugby player, Montefiori has had a career that has gone through numerous genres: western, horror, thriller, science fiction and popular television. He had chosen an American name sensing that he would take more hold on the audience. Born in Genoa on August 16, 1942, he moved to Rome and attended the Experimental Center of Cinematography under the guidance of Nanni Loy, except to abandon him almost immediately for the sets of Cinecittà. So he contributed to hits like Bill il taciturno (1967), Odia il prossimo tuo (1968), Preparati la bara! (1968), Il mio corpo per un poker (1968), La collina degli stivali (1969), Quel maledetto giorno della resa dei conti (1971), Amico, stammi lontano almeno un palmo (1972), Tutti per uno, botte per tutti (1973). He also worked in Mario Bava's “Angry Dogs” (1974), with Joe D'Amato, for whom he worked as a screenwriter and protagonist. He was also the character of the Minotaur in “Satyricon” by Federico Fellini (1969), the poker player in the diptych “Christmas Gift” (1986) and The “Christmas Rematch” (2004) by Pupi Avati, who also directed him in “Bordella” (1976), until an appearance in “King David” by Bruce Beresford (1985), but also in a moonlight night, by Lina Wertmuller (1989) In those years his activity focused on the production side of screenplays for famous series such as ‘The Team’ and ‘The Marshal Rocca’. Since the years as screenwriter of ‘La team’, ‘Il marshal Rocca’, ‘Il cuore nel pozzo’, has collaborated on the screenplay of the “White One”, but not only up to popular melodramas such as “Honor and Respect” and “Sin and Shame”. He leaves his three children Evelina, Arianna and Tommaso, his wife Manuela and his two grandchildren, Giulio, the son of the eldest Evelina, and Allegra, daughter of Arianna and singer Briga. (ANSA).

EASTMAN, George (Luigi Montefiore)

Born: 8/16/1942, Genoa, Liguria, Italy

Died: 5/20/2026, Rome, Lazio, Italy

 

George Eastman’s westerns – actor, writer:

Django Shoots First – 1966 (Jeff Kluster/Custer) [as George Eastman]

My Name is Pecos – 1966 (Kline/Clain henchman) [as Gigi Montefiore]

Django Kills Silently – 1967 (Bill/Django) [as George Eastman]

Django, the Last Killer – 1967 (Ramón /Chico) [as George Eastman]

Poker With Pistols – 1967 (Lucas) [as George Eastman]

Viva Django! – 1967 (Lucas) [as George Eastman]

Belle Starr – 1968 (Larry Blake/Blackie) [as George Eastman]

Hate Your Neighbor – 1968 (Gary Stevens)

Boot Hill – 1969 (Baby Doll) [as George Eastman]

The Unholy Four – 1969 (Hondo) [as Luca Montefiori) [writer]

The Ballad of Ben and Charlie – 1971 (Charlie Logan) [as George Eastman] [writer]

Bastard, Go and Kill – 1971 (Chaco) [as George Eastman]

Vendetta at Dawn – 1971 (Doctor George Benton/Sabata) – 1971 [as George Eastman]

The Call of the Wild – 1972 (Black Burton) [as George Eastman]

The Three Musketeers of the West – 1973 (Mac Athos/Mercathos) [as George Eastman]

Keoma – 1975 [writer]

Red Coat – 1975 [writer]

The New Land - !9?? [writer for TV series that was never made]

The Tiger from the River Kwai – 1975 (Sheriff Sam) [as George Eastman]

2020 Texas Gladiators - 1982 [director, writer as Alex Carver]

RIP Péter Scherer

 The Jászai Mari Award-winning artist was 64 years old.

Euro News

By Rita Konya

5/19/2026

 

Péter Scherer was born on 16 November 1961 in Ajka. In 1987, he graduated as a civil engineer from the Budapest University of Technology. In 1995 he received an acting diploma from the Hungarian Chamber of Actors. From 1984 to 1995 he was a member of the Arvisura Theatre Society.

Between 1995 and 1997 he worked as a freelance actor, and from 1997 to 2001 he was a member of the Bárka Theatre. Between 2002 and 2008 he was a member of the Krétakör company. He has been a freelancer since 2008, and a member of the Nézőművészeti Kft. since 2009. He often appeared in TV series and also worked a lot as a voice actor.

His main roles include Pilate (The Master and Margarita); Dávid Hornyák (Babelna); Claudius (Hamlet); Friar Francis (Much Ado About Nothing); Macduff (Macbeth); Béla Ormándi (A Midsummer Night's Dream); Lajos Matyik (Titanic Water Revue); N lad (Fun); Dokter (Tótferi); Prezli (Blue, Blue, Blue); Cardinal (Princess of Amalfi); Stage Manager (Six Actors Looking for an Author); Zoltán Csordás (The Bird of Danger); Red (My Homeland); Samrayev (Shirai); Oronte (Misanthrope); Heimdall/ Volker (The Nibelungen Housing Estate); Theseus (Fédra Fitness); The Ice (National Theatre); Papa Ubu (King Ubu and the Hungarians - Budapest Puppet Theatre).

He played in several films, including Kontroll, Argo, Magyar vándor, Valami Amerika, and Amerika Meg (The Lord Gave Me a Lantern in Pest).

His work has been recognized with numerous awards: in 1995 he received the Theatre Critics' Award, in 1999 the Film Critics' Award, in 2007 the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, and in 2009 he received the Mari Jászai Award. In 2020, he was awarded the Karinthy Ring, and in 2024, he was awarded the For Budapest Award. In 2025, he was awarded the Antal Páger Actor Award of the Makó Municipality.

Its company, the Nézőművészeti Kft., will hold a vigil on Tuesday evening from 9 p.m., the commemoration will be hosted by the B32 Gallery and Cultural Space. The organizers are waiting for everyone who would like to say goodbye with a candle, a quiet thought or personal presence, they wrote.

SCHERER, Péter

Born: 11/16/1961, Ajka, Hungary

Died: 5/19/2026, Budapest, Hungary

 

Peter Scherer’s western – actor:

Four Souls of Coyote (TV) – 2023 [Hungarian voice of Kacsa]

RIP Ann Robinson

 

Ann Robinson, Star of ‘The War of the Worlds,’ Dies at 96

The onetime stuntwoman got more mileage out of the 1953 sci-fi movie than "Vivien Leigh did on 'Gone With the Wind,'" she once said.

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

May 17, 2026

 

Ann Robinson, the red-haired actress who was memorably menaced by Martians in the spectacular 1953 sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds, has died. She was 96.

Robinson died Sept. 26 at her home in Los Angeles, her granddaughter, Tori Bravo, told The Hollywood Reporter. Her death had not been publicly revealed until now.

Born in Hollywood, Robinson had broken into the movies as a stunt performer and was an inexperienced contract player at Paramount Pictures when she auditioned for producer and effects wiz George Pal and then cast as library science teacher Sylvia Van Buren in War of the Worlds.

In the Oscar-winning film, based on the H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel, Sylvia and Pacific Tech professor Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) try to figure out a way to defeat Martians who have landed in a small town outside Los Angeles and all over the planet, employing a fantastic heat-ray to inflict widespread destruction.

“The nations of the world mobilize their armed might rushing to defend the Earth against the unknown weapon of the super race from the Red Planet!” the narrator on the movie trailer exclaims. “Is there nothing that can stop the Martians’ death machines?”

In one creepy scene, a Martian places his long, skinny fingers on the shoulder of an unsuspecting Sylvia, but Clayton comes to the rescue and kills the creature with a hatchet.

“I always thought, ‘This guy might have been nice! Maybe we ruined a chance for peace because Gene Barry got overzealous and threw that hatchet,'” a playful Robinson told Tom Weaver in an interview for his 1994 book, Attack of the Monster Movie Makers.

“This Martian was just coming up behind me to tap me on the shoulder — he wasn’t aggressive, he wasn’t mean. Of course, the Martians had blown my uncle apart, along with a bunch of other people, but maybe this guy was the nice one who wanted to negotiate.”

Steven Spielberg invited Robinson and Barry to reprise that scene in his 2005 version of War of the Worlds, starring Tom Cruise.

“Steven was just so adorable,” she told Nick Thomas in 2016. “He came up behind me, squatted down and placed three fingers on my left shoulder and yelled, ‘Someone take my picture!’ Apparently, War of the Worlds was one of his favorite films growing up.

“They treated me like royalty,” she added. “My son, who was with me, told me he heard people saying, ‘She’s here, she’s here!’ after we arrived on the set. Then for the Ziegfeld Theater premiere, they flew me to New York first class, put me up in a beautiful hotel overlooking Central Park and arranged for a limousine to drive my family around. I waited 60 years to get that treatment!”

Robinson also played Sylvia on a few episodes of a 1988-90 War of the Worlds syndicated TV series.

“I’ve gotten more mileage out of War of the Worlds than Vivien Leigh did on Gone With the Wind,” she told Weaver.

Born on May 25, 1929, Robinson attended Hollywood High and Sacred Heart Academy in La Canada Flintridge. In one of her first movies, she doubled for June Havoc and got caught on a 15-foot barbed-wire fence trying to escape the Tehachapi state prison in The Story of Molly X (1949).

“I had lied like crazy to get the job, telling everybody how experienced I was!” she told Weaver. “I looked and thought to myself, ‘What have I got myself into?’ But when you’re that young and stupid, nothing fazes you.”

She also rode horses in Black Midnight (1949), starring Roddy McDowall, stepped in for Shelley Winters in Frenchie (1950) and served as an extra in A Place in the Sun (1951), for which director George Stevens gave her a line of dialogue.

Robinson joined the Circle Theatre in Hollywood, then was signed by Paramount for $125 a week as one of the studio’s “Golden Circle” of future stars.

After War of the Worlds and a loan-out to Columbia to work in the film noir The Glass Wall (1953), Paramount decided not to renew her contract. In 1954, she played an L.A. cop opposite Jack Webb in the first Dragnet movie and an alien queen on a syndicated kids sci-fi show, Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.

Robinson put show business on hold in 1957 when she ran off to Mexico to marry Jaime Bravo, a famous matador. That “blew my career right out of the water,” she told Weaver. “When I got back home, Hollywood had passed me by. I just ruined it, I blew it.” She and Bravo had two children before divorcing in 1967.

Robinson, however, did guest-star in the 1960s on many TV shows, including Perry Mason, Bachelor Father, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Peter Gunn, Death Valley Days and 77 Sunset Strip.

In addition to her granddaughter, survivors include a son, Jaime Bravo Jr., a director for ABC Sports and ESPN, and a grandson, Sammy.

ROBINSON, Ann

Born: 5/25/1929, Hollywood, California, U.S.A.

Died: 9/26/2025, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Ann Robinson’s westerns – actress:

Black Midnight – 1949 (girl serving punch at square dance)

Callaway Went Thataway – 1951 (hatcheck girl at Mocambo's)

The Cimarron Kid – 1952 (Stella)

Cheyenne (TV) – 1955, 1957 (Joan Carter, Paula Copeland)

Fury (TV) – 1955-1956 (Helen Watkins)

Gun Brothers – 1956 (Rose Fargo)

Gun Duel in Durango – 1957 (Judy)

Rawhide (TV) – 1960 (Julia Garcia)

The Texan (TV) - 1960 (Anne Carter)

Shotgun Slade (TV) - 1960 (Miss Baxter)

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (TV) - 1961 (Hetty Doane)

Sugarfoot (TV) - 1961 (Marie McTavish)

Death Valley Days (TV) - 1962 (Millie)

 

RIP Cris Derksen

 

Canadian music world mourns passing of talented and forward-thinking cellist Cris Derksen

People

By Charlie Smith

May 17, 2026

 

A dazzling Two-Spirit cellist with deep connections to Vancouver has died in a car crash in Northern Alberta. UBC-educated composer and performer Cris Derksen, 45, was driving home from her father’s funeral when the collision occurred. Derksen’s wife, Tuscaroran and Scottish Two-Spirit Iroqueer vocalist Rebecca Bensen, is reportedly in critical condition.

Derksen’s aunt Theresa Johnson wrote a tribute on Facebook to her niece.

“My extraordinary, gifted, radiant, cherished niece Cris may have left us prematurely, but her profound legacy and enchanting music will perpetually uplift me. There has to be a divine purpose why I had to bid farewell to her merely a week after laying my brother Bernie, her dad, to rest,” Johnson wrote. “She serenaded him with her cello one final time, and this poignant moment will forever be etched in my memory as a testament to her remarkable talent.”

In a separate post on Facebook, the AIM Booking Agency said that Derksen (she/they) was much more than a client—she was family.

“To know Cris was to know a force of nature,” the company stated over social media. “She was fiercely authentic and deeply generous, and she brought an uncompromising spirit to everything she touched. Her art was a reflection of her soul: poignant, powerful, grounded in heritage, and relentlessly innovative.”

Many others have also expressed their incredible sadness over the Toronto-based cellist’s sudden passing.

DERKSEN, Cris

Born: 4/20/1981, Mackenzie County, Alberta, Canada

Died: 5/16/2026, Alberta, Canada

 

Cris Derksen’s western – composer:

Shadow Trap – 2019

RIP Dennis Rush

 

Parade

By Andrea Reiher

May 14, 2026

 

Child Star Mourns Death of Fellow ‘Andy Griffith Show’ Actor and Close Friend

Former child actor Keith Thibodeaux is mourning the loss of fellow ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ actor Dennis Rush after decades of friendship and appearances together at Mayberry fan events.

Former child star Keith Thibodeaux is mourning the loss of fellow actor Dennis Rush, his longtime friend and former co-star from The Andy Griffith Show.

Thibodeaux, who famously played Little Ricky on I Love Lucy under the stage name Richard Keith, shared the news in an emotional Facebook post alongside a photo of the two actors together at a fan event.

“I just got word that my old buddy Dennis Rush, a fine actor and a great friend passed away,” Thibodeaux wrote. “What a shock.”

He continued by remembering Rush’s connection to The Andy Griffith Show, where the two appeared together as part of Opie Taylor’s (Ron Howard) circle of childhood friends.

“He was with us as one of Opie’s buddies,” Thibodeaux wrote. “He’s the one sitting down. I will miss him at the Andy Griffith festivals as we had so many stories to tell.”

Related: Former Child Star Dead at 33 After Sudden Medical Emergency

In a 2022 interview with WRAL, Rush said working on The Andy Griffith Show was “the best.”

“I got to be in eight episodes over about a two-and-a-half-year period. It was just the best of the best,” said Rush in the interview. He also said that he got his start playing James Cagney’s son in the movie Man of a Thousand Faces and that he and the Oscar-winning actor exchanged Christmas cards every year until Cagney died in 1986.

Thibodeaux also revealed that he had recently prayed with Rush after learning of his leukemia diagnosis.

“I’m just glad that I was able to pray with him last month at one of the festivals when he found out that he was diagnosed with leukemia,” he added. “Mayberry has lost a great citizen and a great friend!”

Related: Last Surviving ‘I Love Lucy’ Cast Member Remembers Lucille Ball as ‘Very Demanding’

Fans and former colleagues quickly filled the comments section with condolences. Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, wrote, “Sorry, Keith. Those decades long friendships are the best. He will save a nice place for you where he’s going, I’m sure.”

Another fan commented, “My condolences for the loss of a longtime friend. It seems there is much loss of our generation these days.”

Rush appeared in eight episodes of The Andy Griffith Show as Howie Pruitt, one of Opie Taylor’s close friends. Thibodeaux played Johnny Paul Jason, another recurring member of Opie’s group.

According to his IMDb biography, Rush was born in California in 1951 and appeared in a number of classic television series during the 1950s and 1960s, including Wagon Train, Laramie, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Lucy Show and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His final listed acting credit came in 1966, but it sounds like he routinely attended Andy Griffith Show fan events.

RUSH, Dennis (Dennis E. Rush)

Born: 6/10/1951, California, U.S.A.

Died: 5/14/2026, San Diego, California, U.S.A.

 

Dennis Rush’s westerns – actor:

No Name on the Bullet – 1959 (Billy Chaffee)

The Deputy (TV) – 1959 (Timmy Jackson)

Wagon Train (TV) – 1960-1962 (Davey Adams, David Ivers)

Frontier Circus (TV) – 1962 (boy)

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1962 (kid)

Laramie (TV) – 1962-1963 (boy, Teddy)