Two months on from his last public appearance Italian film star Giovanni Lombardo Radice has passed away. The actor was with us for our 2023 HorRHIFFic festival alongside Silvia Collatina both of whom flew in from Rome for the event.

A trained ballet dancer Giovanni switched to acting after an injury in the 1970s. His first major film role was in Ruggero Deodato's The House On The Edge Of The Park, Deodato himself dying last December. Throughout the 1980's Giovanni moved from film to film with some ease Cannibal Apocalypse, Cannibal Ferox, The Church and Phantom Of Death all fell quickly after his debut. Despite being a huge name in horror Giovanni was not a horror movie fan, his personal joy fell into the art-house films of France from the 1950's onwards.

Giovanni's greatest joy came from working in historical dramas specifically from the Biblical era. and as he progressed through his life he enjoyed a relationship with religion and God.

The downturn in his career during the early 2000's bought him much sadness and although he achieved plentiful work still in the horror genre, he was always an actor who waited on the next drama role. He loved the thrill of working on stage and had a great ability to learn lines very quickly, even in his more senior years.

Despite being Italian Giovanni considered himself a European first, he grew tired and weary of what he saw as Italian political corruption, which he had experienced frequently since his early days in film.

Giovanni was incredibly devoted to animals and loved his two sausage dogs one of who passed away a few years ago. In one of his final social media posts he posted an image of his dog in a shopping trolley, on a trip to the supermarket.

He would joke about his addictions from drugs and alcohol in the 80s through to cigarettes and caffeine, more recently he had become addicted to iced tea which he felt was helping some medical "issues" he was experiencing, he joked that while it made him feel better he was never far from a toilet.

Giovanni had a wicked sense of humour which he subtly revolved around all things. he had a directness that could both shock and amuse in great measure.

Italian cinema has lost a great talent that was never properly executed, yet despite this he made films that people love, films that brand new audiences stumble upon every generation. He never really got to appreciate what his performances meant to people, or take the chance to really sit back and enjoy his impact on Italian cinema. He was an actor that worked across the globe "wherever the money took him" some of his final movies Beyond Fury and The Witches Of The Sands being shot in the UK.

Giovanni, we salute you.

Below are the interviews from his final two public appearances at the Romford Horror Festival.