George Eastman (actor)

George Eastman
Eastman in the movie Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968)
Born
Luigi Montefiori

August 16, 1942
Genoa, Kingdom of Italy
Occupation Actor
Years active 1966–present
Height 6 ft 9 in (206 cm)

George Eastman (born Luigi Montefiori; August 16, 1942) is an Italian actor and screenwriter well known for his frequent collaborations with notorious director Joe D'Amato. He is most famous for his role as the insane, cannibalistic serial killer Klaus Wortmann in the gory 1980 horror film Antropophagus (aka The Grim Reaper). He also played a similar role in its 1981 follow-up, Absurd. Both films were directed by D'Amato and written by Eastman.

Career

Eastman was born in Genoa, Italy, and studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome and at the Drama School held of Alessandro Fersen. He took his Americanized alias "George Eastman" when he was cast as a "heavy" in many Spaghetti Westerns made in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1972 he played the villain in The Call of the Wild which starred Charlton Heston and was directed by Ken Annakin.

Eastman later became a regular performer in many movies directed by Joe D'Amato, for whom he also wrote many screenplays. Their first work together was Cormack of the Mounties (aka Giubbe rosse) in 1975.

He was a very familiar face in Italian B-cinema in the early 1980s, being generally cast as a villain, thanks to his towering 6'9" height, and his dark and menacing looks. He co-starred in many Italian science fiction films such as Bronx Warriors, The New Barbarians, Endgame, Ironmaster, 2020 Texas Gladiators and After the Fall of New York. His most famous movie is the gory horror film Anthropophagous, directed by Joe D'Amato in 1980, in which he played the monster. He also starred in D'Amato's Erotic Nights of the Living Dead, Porno Holocaust and Absurd (aka Anthropophagous 2).

Two of his greatest major villain roles were in Rabid Dogs (aka Kidnapped, 1974) and Blastfighter (1984). He appeared in Paramount's 1985 biblical film King David playing Goliath in David's childhood flashback scene. In 1986, he performed as Stefano in the movie Regalo di Natale, directed by Pupi Avati. He also wrote and directed the science fiction film Metamorphosis/ DNA Formula Lethal (produced by Joe D'Amato) in 1990, after which he quit acting to concentrate on his screenwriting. He is now a well regarded author in Italian television and only acts occasionally. (In 2003, he returned to acting in La rivincita di Natale, a film directed by Pupi Avati.)

Partial filmography

Title Year Credited as Role Notes Refs.
Actor Screenwriter Story author
Django Shoots First 1966 Yes Jesse Kluster
My Name Is Pecos 1966 Yes Member of Kline's group
Django Kills Softly 1967 Yes Bill
The Last Killer Yes Ramon/Chico
Poker with Pistols Yes Lucas
Django, Prepare a Coffin 1968 Yes Lucas
Bootleggers 1969 Yes McGowan "The Irish"
Fellini Satyricon Yes The Minotaur
Bastard, Go and Kill 1971 Yes —
Ben and Charlie 1972 Yes Charlie
The Call of the Wild Yes Black Burton
Baba Yaga 1973 Yes Charlie
Scalawag Yes Don Aragon
A forza di sberle 1974 Yes
Cormack of the Mounties 1975 Yes
Blood and Bullets 1976 Yes Dan Caputo, "Knell"
Keoma Yes Yes
Canne mozze 1977 Yes
Sesso nero 1980 Yes Yes Yes Voyakis
Antropophagus Yes Yes Nikos Karamanlis Also producer
Porno Holocaust 1981 Yes Professor Lemoine
1990: The Bronx Warriors 1983 Yes —
Ironmaster Yes Vood
The New Barbarians Yes One
2019, After the Fall of New York Yes Big Ape
Blastfighter 1984 Yes Tom
Delirium 1987 Yes Alex
The Barbarians Yes Jacko
Il deserto del fuoco 1997 Yes Television film
Rabid Dogs 1974 Yes Trentadue / Thirty-two
2020 Texas Gladiators 1983 Yes Yes
Emanuelle's Revenge — Yes Carlo
The Cobra — Yes Crane
Emanuelle Around the World — Yes
L'Inspettore Giusti — Yes
Master Stroke — Yes Western actor

Screenplays

  • Giubbe rosse (1974), aka Red Coats, aka Cormack of the Mounties, directed by Joe D'Amato
  • Candido Erotico (1978)
  • La Ragazza del Vagone Letto (1979)
  • The Great Alligator River (1979), directed by Sergio Martino (Eastman got plot credit only)
  • Sesso nero/ Black Sex (1980), directed by Joe D'Amato
  • Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (1980), directed by Joe D'Amato (Eastman also co-starred in this film)
  • Absurd/Rosso sangue (1981), directed by Joe D'Amato (Eastman co-starred in this film as the monster)
  • Caligula: The Untold Story (1982), directed by Joe D'Amato
  • Endgame (1983), directed by Joe D'Amato (Eastman co-starred in this film as well)
  • Stage Fright (1987 film) (1987), a.k.a. Deliria, directed by Michele Soavi (Eastman has an uncredited role in this film, playing the masked killer)
  • Metamorphosis/Regenerator (1990), a.k.a. DNA Formula Lethal (Eastman directed this film, and had a cameo role in it as well)
  • Il Principe del Deserto (TV serial)
  • The Son of Sandokan (1998), made-for-TV movie