Gianni Garko

Acting

Gianni Garko

Born

1935-07-15 (91)

Place of birth

Zara, Dalmatia, Italy [now Zadar, Croatia]

Known for

Acting

Credits

73 titles

Born in Zadar, Dalmatia (then Italy, now part of Croatia), he moved to Trieste in 1948 to attend the acting school of the Piccolo Teatro di Trieste, and then to Rome to enter the Accademia nazionale d'arte drammatica. Garko began his career in the 1950s playing roles of various genres, especially in westerns and Italian-style comedies; in his later years he devoted himself to films for RAI television. He gave life to the character of Sartana (together with directors Gianfranco Parolini and later Giuliano Carnimeo), the protagonist of numerous spaghetti-westerns. In the film Il compagno don Camillo (1965) he played the character of Scamoggia, the photographer sent by the party to document the…

Known for

Space: 1999 poster
7.1

The crew of Moonbase Alpha must struggle to survive when a massive explosion throws the Moon from orbit into deep space.

Space: 1999

1975

Maggie & Bianca Fashion Friends poster
7.5

Originally polar opposites, an American fashion student and the daughter of an industry mogul form an everlasting bond and start a rock band in Milan, Italy.

Maggie & Bianca Fashion Friends

2016

Hercules poster
5.0

Hercules, a semi-divine being, squares off against King Minos, who is attempting to use science to gain power and take over the world. With the help of a benevolent sorceress, Circe, Hercules tries to save his beloved Cassiopeia from being sacrificed by Minos, and struggles against laser-breathing creatures and an evil sorceress.

Hercules

1983

I promessi sposi poster
7.1

Set between 1629 and 1631. Renzo Tramaglino and Lucia Mondella are Lombard peasants forced to separate and endure a thousand vicissitudes because of the bullying of the squire Don Rodrigo. However, during their journey they will find various people willing to help them, from Friar Cristoforo to the Innominato, from Federigo Borromeo to Donna Prassede.

I promessi sposi

1989

Have a Good Funeral, My Friend… Sartana Will Pay poster
6.5

After witnessing a brutal massacre, the legendary hero Sartana is ready to do some investigating. Almost everyone in the tiny town of Indian Creek seems eager to buy up the property left behind by the murder victims, and one of them could well be behind the killings. The sheriff himself is not above suspicion, so Sartana must uncover the culprit all on his own.

Have a Good Funeral, My Friend… Sartana Will Pay

1970

Light the Fuse… Sartana Is Coming poster
6.3

Wily roving gunslinger Sartana arrives in a small town and tries to find a hidden fortune of half a million dollars in gold and two million dollars in counterfeit money. Naturally, a bunch of other treacherous folks who include conniving widow Senora Manassas, shrewd fellow gunslinger Grand Full, and the vicious and unhinged General Monk are also looking to get their greedy hands on said fortune.

Light the Fuse… Sartana Is Coming

1970

Film credits

1980s · 6 titles

Hercules poster
5.0

Hercules, a semi-divine being, squares off against King Minos, who is attempting to use science to gain power and take over the world. With the help of a benevolent sorceress, Circe, Hercules tries to save his beloved Cassiopeia from being sacrificed by Minos, and struggles against laser-breathing creatures and an evil sorceress.

Hercules

1983

Monster Shark poster
3.3

A marine biologist, a dolphin trainer, a research scientist, and a local sheriff try to hunt down a large sea monster, a shark/octopus hybrid, that is devouring swimmers and fishermen off a south Florida coast.

Monster Shark

1984

Skipper poster
7.8

Skipper Alex Grimaldi has two weaknesses: his daughter, born from a previous relationship, and, obviously, his boat. Always with a Tuscan cigar in his mouth, Fabio Testi’s sailor embarks on real seaside adventures because of his clients who are often dangerous criminals.

Skipper

1987

Drei und eine halbe Portion poster
4.7

Two crash pilots from BravoAir have to fight crime with their dim-witted mechanic, the beautiful daughter of a beaten-up police inspector, and the mechanic's 15-year-old godson. Not only are the three of them and the little one clumsy, but so are the gangsters and the police.

Drei und eine halbe Portion

1985

Amok poster
8.0

A rural teacher discovers the harsh realities of his South Africa.

Amok

1983

L'occhio di Giuda poster
NR

The plot revolves around a mysterious murder that occurs during a storm, with the victim found in a room locked from the inside. The investigation focuses on a group of people, each with their own secrets. The solution to the crime is tied to an ancient artifact, the "Judas Eye," which plays a crucial role in solving the mystery.

L'occhio di Giuda

1982

1970s · 25 titles

Have a Good Funeral, My Friend… Sartana Will Pay poster
6.5

After witnessing a brutal massacre, the legendary hero Sartana is ready to do some investigating. Almost everyone in the tiny town of Indian Creek seems eager to buy up the property left behind by the murder victims, and one of them could well be behind the killings. The sheriff himself is not above suspicion, so Sartana must uncover the culprit all on his own.

Have a Good Funeral, My Friend… Sartana Will Pay

1970

Light the Fuse… Sartana Is Coming poster
6.3

Wily roving gunslinger Sartana arrives in a small town and tries to find a hidden fortune of half a million dollars in gold and two million dollars in counterfeit money. Naturally, a bunch of other treacherous folks who include conniving widow Senora Manassas, shrewd fellow gunslinger Grand Full, and the vicious and unhinged General Monk are also looking to get their greedy hands on said fortune.

Light the Fuse… Sartana Is Coming

1970

Waterloo poster
7.1

After defeating France and imprisoning Napoleon on Elba, ending two decades of war, Europe is shocked to find Napoleon has escaped and has caused the French Army to defect from the King back to him. The best of the British generals, the Duke of Wellington, beat Napolean's best generals in Spain and Portugal, but now must beat Napoleon himself with an Anglo Allied army.

Waterloo

1970

They Call Him Cemetery poster
6.3

John and George McIntire are a couple of naive brothers who travel to a lawless western town to see their father. The bumbling siblings get themselves into big trouble after they beat up a member of a gang of extortionists. Fortunately, a mysterious roving gunfighter decides to help the guys out of their jam.

They Call Him Cemetery

1971

The Psychic poster
7.0

A woman with psychic powers has a vision of a murder that took place in a house owned by her husband.

The Psychic

1977

Those Dirty Dogs! poster
6.5

Captain Chadwell, Lieutenant Junger and Sergeant Smith are sent by Washington to help their colleagues of Fort Apache to recover stolen arms. A bounty hunter accompanies them.

Those Dirty Dogs!

1973

Bad Man's River poster
4.8

Robber Roy King loses his wife, Alicia, to revolutionary Montero. Despite their rivalry they collaborate in an attempt to rob the Mexican government of one million dollars.

Bad Man's River

1971

Sartana Kills Them All poster
5.2

A pair of outlaws are on the hunt for some loot they know is missing from a robbery. Outsmarting and killing anyone who tries to foil their plans.

Sartana Kills Them All

1970

The Boss poster
6.8

A hitman finds himself embroiled in the middle of a Mafia war between the Sicilians and the Calabrians.

The Boss

1973

His Name Was Holy Ghost poster
6.2

The Holy Ghost is a supernatural gunfighter dressed in white and with a dove sitting on his shoulder. With his sidekick, the Holy Ghost rescues some farmers from the fortified prison of the evil General Ubarte, then raids the castle again for gold treasure aided by some local prostitutes.

His Name Was Holy Ghost

1972

Three Swedish Girls in Upper Bavaria poster
5.6

Otto runs a hotel for tourists in Tyrol but has troubles both with the economy and with his wife Olga. After a trip to Stockholm he imports three Swedish blondes who eventually save Otto from disaster, both marital and financial.

Three Swedish Girls in Upper Bavaria

1977

Star Odyssey poster
2.9

Earth is attacked by an intergalactic villain and his army of robotic androids.

Star Odyssey

1979

Summer Night Fever poster
3.3

Two buddies head off for a summer holiday, but one of them has to take his sister along. She cramps their style when it comes to picking up chicks. However, they manage to have some fun.

Summer Night Fever

1978

The Night of the Devils poster
6.3

In this adaptation of Tolstoy's story the Wurdulak, a mentally ill patient known as Nicola flashes back to horrifying experiences that he encountered while driving through the country. Upon damaging his car, Nicola sets out for help, only to meet a mysterious family that lives in total fear of someone or something. This evil force slowly penetrates the household and thrusts each of its members into a frenzy of absolute terror.

The Night of the Devils

1972

The Heroes poster
5.7

Four soldiers and a beautiful Greek nurse, thrown together in North Africa during World War II, team up to pull off a heist of two-million pounds in boxes marked "plasma."

The Heroes

1973

Joy of Flying poster
4.0

The young wife Silvia is neglected by her husband Kurt. She dreams during the flight to a psychoanalyst Congress similarly Jong's heroine Isadora while reading a novel called emancipatory joy of flying in a world of its own. Then she has an affair with the businessman Jörg. It recognizes that the total of all sexual acting out day and night dreams anyone yet alone makes to a free people.

Joy of Flying

1977

Cold Eyes of Fear poster
4.8

Against a backdrop of Swingin' 60s London a young playboy type "steals" a beautiful Italian girl from her elderly date and suggests she comes back to his place for some good times. "His place" being owned by his father, a rich and respected solicitor. Unfortunately a couple of criminals have plans of their own, one for money, the other for revenge, and the lovers end up prisoners in a tense siege situation

Cold Eyes of Fear

1971

No artwork available
8.0

The inspiration, as the title tells, was Les Chants de Maldoror (The Songs of Maldoror). Cavallone followed only loosely the poem, interpolating some of its most outrageous content within the story of a film director, Paolo (Gianni Garko) who’s undergoing a deep personal crisis. The first part (which producer Giuseppe Tortorella labelled "mythological porn") is set in Italy, as Marco is working on a film called Maldoror, and focuses on his tormented relationship with a married woman, Monica (Jane Avril). According to the script, it was filled with excessive and cruel images, extracts from the film-within-a-film which were liberally spliced within the plot, and in their uneasiness somehow predated Pasolini’s Salò.

Maldoror

1977

The Price of Death poster
6.0

Four people are killed in a saloon hold-up. The townspeople pin the murders on local no-count black sheep Chester Conway. Lawyer Jeff Plummer and prostitute Polly Winters don't believe that Chester is guilty of these crimes, so they hire smooth and suave gunman Silver to prove Chester's innocence and find the real killers.

The Price of Death

1971

The Flower with Petals of Steel poster
5.4

A doctor kills his girlfriend when he accidentally causes her to fall onto an ornamental flower which has metal spikes. He disposes of her by chopping up and then dissolving her corpse. The woman's sister accuses the doctor and an investigation begins. In the meantime, a second woman is killed and the doctor begins to receive metal petals through the post.

The Flower with Petals of Steel

1973

Dracula Blows His Cool poster
3.1

An ancestor of the famous vampire gets a job as a photographer shooting beautiful fashion models at the family estate.

Dracula Blows His Cool

1979

The New Godfathers poster
6.9

A revolution in Iran halts a heroin shipment, but an alliance of crime families is set on getting it to the US. They decide to run the drug through an unsuspecting network of good-natured, local smugglers in Naples, while an international anti-narcotics agent rushes to shut their operation down. Betrayals and divided loyalties lead to a final, bloody confrontation in America.

The New Godfathers

1979

Lo scugnizzo poster
6.8

Gennarino is a Neapolitan orphan boy. He lives with Angela, his adoptive mother, a former famous singer now fallen on hard times. She has a serious illness, and they together try to get the money, necessary for her right care, by singing around. But one day Angela is obliged by the illness to stop her activity, and Gennarino decides to join a pilferers gang.

Lo scugnizzo

1979

Encounters in the Deep poster
3.8

An oceanographer diving in the Bermuda Triangle discovers an undersea world.

Encounters in the Deep

1979

The Cop poster
6.3

A crackdown on drugs leads a burned out cop to take the law into his own hands and seek revenge against villainous drug dealers. Word comes down from above that the United States feels French authorities have been lax on their arrests of the dealers. A violent action feature finds the harried inspector battling his colleagues as much as the criminal element targeted for extermination.

The Cop

1970

1960s · 20 titles

$10,000 for a Massacre poster
5.4

After being hired to free a landowner's kidnapped daughter, a bounty hunter double-crosses his employer and joins the kidnapper's gang.

$10,000 for a Massacre

1967

Don Camillo in Moscow poster
7.1

Priest Don Camillo blackmails his friendly rival Peppone into letting him join a Communist delegation visiting the Soviet Union.

Don Camillo in Moscow

1965

I Am Sartana Your Angel of Death poster
6.4

Sartana is falsely accused of robbing a bank, and must find the real robbers and clear his name.

I Am Sartana Your Angel of Death

1969

Kapo poster
6.9

Determined to survive at any price, Edith, a young Jewish woman deported to an extermination camp, manages to survive by accepting the role of kapo, a privileged prisoner whose mission is to ruthlessly guard other prisoners.

Kapo

1960

Vengeance Is Mine poster
6.8

Johnny Forest, bounty hunter, attempts to carry out his mother's dying wish that he bring in his outlaw brother, Clint, alive. On the run from Jurago, a former partner he has crossed, Clint accepts Johnny's help, and agrees to surrender ..... for now.

Vengeance Is Mine

1967

If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death poster
6.0

After a stagecoach is robbed and the passengers murdered, a long and tangled series of surprise attacks and murderous double-crosses, leaves the coach's strongbox in the hands of the killer Lasky. It is up to the legendary hero Sartana to track down the missing money and determine just who is ultimately behind the grisly robberies and killings.

If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death

1968

The Mongols poster
5.2

During the Mongol invasion of Poland, a conflict between Mongol Emperor Genghis Khan and his oldest son Ogotai ensues when the former aims for peace and the latter itches for war and conquest.

The Mongols

1961

$1,000 on the Black poster
5.1

Johnny Liston has just been released from prison where he has wrongly served twelve years for a murder. He returns to Campos, the village of his birth, where the whole town is terrorized by Johnny's brother, Sartana, who has taken Manuela, Johnny's fiancèe to be his lover. With his only friend a mute, Johnny must seize all opportunity to find out why he was framed, who was involved and why he is not welcome. source: SWDB www.spaghetti-western.net

$1,000 on the Black

1966

Eighteen in the Sun poster
5.1

An Italian variation on the Frankie & Annette-Gidget beach party movies that were all the rage in North America in the early 60s. Nicole Molino (Catherine Spaak) and Nicola Molino (Gianni Garko) are not related to one another. In fact, they don’t even know each other until both are inadvertently assigned the same hotel room on the island of Ischia. Nicole isn’t interested in any hanky-panky, so Nicola reluctantly promises to keep his hands to himself.

Eighteen in the Sun

1962

Almost a Man poster
6.5

A young writer descends into madness. Alienated, neurotic, and plagued by guilt, Michele retreats from reality, loses interest in work, and comes to the brink of suicide before being sent to an asylum for shock therapy. Escaping from the asylum, Michele returns to his boyhood home, where he learns the reasons for his present mental state.

Almost a Man

1966

The Avenger poster
6.3

Aeneas leads escapees from the Trojan war to new land in Italy, and must deal with new threats to his people.

The Avenger

1962

Pontius Pilate poster
6.7

The events that culminated with the Passion of Christ seen from the perspective of Pontius Pilate, the Procurator of Judea who unwillingly condemned Christ to death. Based on the biblical Gospel of John.

Pontius Pilate

1962

The Shortest Day poster
6.4

Two jerks are enlisted in the Italian army during W.W.1 and by pure luck manage to help win an important battle.

The Shortest Day

1963

Five for Hell poster
4.9

Lt. Glenn Hoffmann is the the fun-loving leader of a bunch of oddball, acrobatic G.I.s whose mission is to steal the German's secret attack plans from a villa behind enemy lines, where they run into a brutal Nazi commander.

Five for Hell

1969

One Night at the Beach poster
5.8

Un soir sur la plage is relatively interesting; the cast includes highly talented Jean Dessailly, Martine Carol, a cast against type Michel Galabru as the cop.The biggest surprise is sixties starlet Daliah Lavi as a simple-minded nymphomaniac girl who is murdered on the beach. The story is essentially a whodunit: in Martine Carol's house, there are many people (too many people actually) and they all have a reason to get rid of her.

One Night at the Beach

1961

Crazy Desire poster
6.6

A middle-aged businessman meets a band of rowdy youths and is smitten by one, named Francesca.

Crazy Desire

1962

Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules poster
5.5

Maciste arranges for himself and his new friend Bangor to be captured by a mysterious band of white-clad marauders and taken to an underground city. There the two are forced to turn an enormous wheel along with other captives as part of a gold-and-diamonds mining operation. The underground city's queen, Halis Mosab, takes note of the handsome, muscular Maciste and chooses him to be her consort if he can meet such challenges as saving the kidnapped Princess Saliura from a gigantic ape. Maciste kills the ape and carries Saliura back to the aboveground world. The white-clad marauders can't follow them if it means being caught in the sunlight which instantly dissolves them. Maciste then returns to the underground city to save the other captives. Meanwhile, high priest Kahab informs his son, Katar, that their queen is not one of them but, unbeknownst to her, was kidnapped as a small child from the "world above." If Katar can marry her...

Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules

1961

Taste of Vengeance poster
6.6

A group of Northern vigilantes, roaming the post Civil War south, attack and kill the fiancee of war veteran Brian, who is rescued by his friend, Daniel. The two, with brother Robert, set out to find the killers. But Brian, suffering from amnesia and becoming frustrated with not remembering the killer's faces, starts killing at random and loses the support of his two partners.

Taste of Vengeance

1968

Red Roses for the Fuhrer poster
6.5

James Daly is an American special soldier who goes behind enemy territory during WWII. His Objective: to steal top secret SS document that can change the course of the war.

Red Roses for the Fuhrer

1968

Thunder from the West poster
10.0

During World War II an Italian secret agent is sent undercover to kill the head of the resistance in Budapest.

Thunder from the West

1969

Series credits

Space: 1999 poster
7.1

The crew of Moonbase Alpha must struggle to survive when a massive explosion throws the Moon from orbit into deep space.

Space: 1999

1975

Maggie & Bianca Fashion Friends poster
7.5

Originally polar opposites, an American fashion student and the daughter of an industry mogul form an everlasting bond and start a rock band in Milan, Italy.

Maggie & Bianca Fashion Friends

2016

I promessi sposi poster
7.1

Set between 1629 and 1631. Renzo Tramaglino and Lucia Mondella are Lombard peasants forced to separate and endure a thousand vicissitudes because of the bullying of the squire Don Rodrigo. However, during their journey they will find various people willing to help them, from Friar Cristoforo to the Innominato, from Federigo Borromeo to Donna Prassede.

I promessi sposi

1989

the famous escapes poster
7.0

From Bonaparte to Casanova, history is cast in the light of famous escapes from various European countries.

the famous escapes

1972

L'isola del tesoro poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

L'isola del tesoro

1959

Morte a passo di valzer poster
NR

Italian TV adaptation of John Dickson Carr's mystery novel Fire, Burn! (1957).

Morte a passo di valzer

1979

Vivere poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Vivere

1999

No artwork available
NR

A complex legal and human story centered on a man's presumed innocence, with dramatic twists and turns tied to the search for the truth.

Mio padre è innocente

1997

Italian Restaurant poster
9.3

No synopsis available yet.

Italian Restaurant

1994

Italian Restaurant poster
9.3

No synopsis available yet.

Italian Restaurant

1994

No artwork available
7.0

Uno di noi is an Italian television series, airing on Rai Uno in 1996. The series was rerun on Rai Premium during the summer of 2011.

Uno di noi

1996

No artwork available
NR

A priest hears the last words of a dying man who confesses to a crime for which someone else has long been imprisoned. How can the innocent person be exonerated without violating the seal of confession?

Una prova d'innocenza

1991

Behind the camera