RIP Sergio Salvati

THE OBITUARY OF THE RIGHTEOUS - SERGIO SALVATI, 91 YEARS OLD, VERY ROMAN, GREAT DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY WHO WAS ONE OF THE OPERATORS OF "THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY" AND HISTORICAL COLLABORATOR OF LUCIO FULCI - A GREAT PROFESSIONAL, IN THE LAST TWENTY YEARS HE HAD BECOME THE HISTORICAL MEMORY OF ITALIAN CINEMA AND OF A PROFESSION, THE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, FUNDAMENTAL FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A FILM - HE HAS ALWAYS TRIED TO HELP ME AND ALL KINDS OF FANS IN THE WORK OF RESEARCHING STORIES AND CHARACTERS OF OUR GENRE CINEMA – VIDEO

Dagospia

Marco Giusti for Dagospia

September 18, 2025

Sergio Salvati, 91 years old, very Roman, great director of photography who, thanks to his experience as an operator and assistant in genre cinema of the 1960s, was one of the operators of "The Good the Bad the Ugly" by Sergio Leone, knew everything about the famous scene of the bridge that exploded before the start, as well as director of the second unit of "My Name is Nobody" by Tonino Valerii,

He specialized in horror and fantasy, first linking up with a director like Lucio Fulci, for whom he will shoot all his most famous films, "And you will live in darkness. The after life", "Zombi 2", "That villa next to the cemetery", "Fear in the city of the dead", and then to the international directors who tried to carry on the genre in the 1980s, giving life to titles such as "Ghoulies II" by Albert Band, "Ork" by John Charles Buechler, "Catacombs" by David Schoeller, "Transformations" by Jay Kamen, "Puppet Master" by David Scholler.

But he was also very active in advertising, he shot hundreds of carousels in the early 1970s, becoming the right-hand man of the English director Richard Lester for sensational series, Agip with Raffaella Carrà, Simmenthal with Tommy Tune, Oransoda, Cinzano, Mentafredda and Paolo Bianchini, which he will also follow in the cinema. A great professional, a security on the set, in the early 1990s he worked in the comedy produced by Aurelio De Laurentiis, "Christmas Holidays 90", "Christmas Holidays 93", "90s", all directed by Enrico Oldoini, but also in the films as a director of Christian De Sica, "Faccione" "Count Max", "Ricky and Barabbas".

In the last twenty years he had become a great historical memory of Italian cinema and of a profession, the director of photography, absolutely fundamental for the construction of a film. With the international rediscovery of Lucio Fulci's horror cinema, the name of Sergio Salvati had become absolutely cult among fans. Also because, with great kindness and competence, Sergio had been able to tell everyone the secrets of their cinema.

Born in Rome in 1934, the son of a film engineer, Adolfo Salvati, and a fashion designer, Carolina Pastori, he entered the world of cinema at the age of twenty. We find him in the early 1960s as a photography assistant on "Apocalypse on the Yellow River", operator on "The Road of the Giants" by Guido Malatesta, "The Loves of Hercules", "The Steppe" by Alberto Lattuada, "The Woman of the Lake", "The Sweet Ladies" by Luigi Zampa. The set of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" by Sergio Leone, with the direction of photography by Tonino Delli Colli, was the real professional turning point.

On "Medea" by Pier Paolo Pasolini he moved to the hand-held camera, for "My Name is Nobody" produced by Leone and directed by Tonino Valerii he is responsible for the photography of the second unit. The first film he signed as director of photography was the adventurous "Desert of Fire" by Renzo Merusi in 1971, followed by "Piange... the Telephone" by Lucio De Caro. In 1974 he met Lucio Fulci for "Il ritrono di Zanna Bianca", where he directed the photography of the shots of dogs and animals, and for the more authorial and crazy "The Four of the Apocalypse", a very successful horror western.

He will never leave him, becoming his eye. Despite Fulci's temper, he will shoot with him all his subsequent films, "Dracula in Brianza", "7 Notes in Black", "Silver Saddle", "Zombi 2", "Luca the Smuggler", Fear in the City of the Living Gead", "Black Cat", "And You Will Live in Terror - The Afterlife", "The House Next to the Cemetery", giving life to an absolutely original type of Italian horror that will have an immediate success with the public and will become an international cult in the following decades.

We also find him director of photography of "Ciao nì" by Paolo Poeti, the only film with Renato Zero, and of "Deep Sex", a soft (and hard) porn mess born on the set of "Zombi 2" at the behest of the producer, Fabrizio De Angelis, then moved to Rome to the direction of Marino Girolami and here and there completed by Salvati himself with Al Cliver, Venantino Venantini, Marcella Petrelli. He continued to work in what remains of Italian genre cinema in the 1980s, "1990. The Bronx Warriors" by Enzo G. Castellari, "Thunder", "Cobra Mission", and is recovered by small American horror productions for its great expertise in the genre.

He thus signs the photography of "Ghoulies II", "Ork", "Catacombs", "Puppet Master". The last horror he will shoot is "MDC – La maschera di cera", conceived by Lucio Fulci for Dario Argento producer and then shot, after Fulci's death, by Sergio Stivaletti. As long as he could, he always worked very hard. Also for TV series, such as "The Seventh Papyrus", produced by Ciro Ippolito, "Incantesimo", for short films of any kind. And he has always tried to help me and all kinds of fans in the work of researching stories and characters of our genre cinema, but not only, to bring to light skills and values.

SALVATI, Sergio

Born: 6/16/1934, Trastevere, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Died: 9/17/2025, Rome, Lazio, Italy

 

Sergio Salvati’s westerns – cinematographer:

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966

Three Silver Dollars - 1968

My Name is Nobody – 1973

Challenge to White Fang - 1974

4 of the Apocalypse… - 1974

Silver Saddle – 1978

Thunder Warrior – 1983 (co)