Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Alfonso Brescia (director) / Oberdan Troiani (cinematographer) · Public domain

Nello Pazzafini

Actor · died at 62

Profile

Age at death	62
Birth date	May 15, 1933
Birthplace	Rome
Died	January 9, 1996
Place of death	Lido di Ostia
Profession	Actor, Film actor
Zodiac sign	Taurus

In the rankings

#1 of 71 Stars We Lost in the 1990s with the Most Productions

Worked most often with

Filmography / Projects

Nello Pazzafini — Biography

Born Giovanni Pazzafini to a family originally from Ferrara, Nello Pazzafini came into the world in Rome on 15 May 1933 and died in the same city on 9 January 1996. A footballer in his youth, he entered the film business by enrolling in Italy's first stunt school in 1958 and initially worked largely uncredited as a stuntman in peplum pictures.

From the mid-1960s he moved into larger, credited parts and became a specialist in villainous characters, working across hundreds of Italian genre films -- sword-and-sandal epics, Italian westerns and poliziotteschi crime pictures -- over a career of nearly thirty years, at times crediting himself under names such as John Carey, Red Carter and Nat Williams.

He is remembered for roles in sword-and-sandal titles such as Hercules Against Rome and Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators, westerns including The Big Gundown and Adiós gringo, and later action films like Ironmaster and Yor, the Hunter from the Future; he also left his mark on popular Italian cinema of the period through comedies and dramas such as City of Women and La Cage aux Folles II.

Last reviewed: September 13, 2026

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