León Klimovsky

León Klimovsky
Born October 16, 1906
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died April 8, 1996(1996-04-08) (aged 89)
Madrid, Spain
Occupation Film director, screenwriter, film producer

León Klimovsky (16 October 1906 – 8 April 1996) was an Argentine film director, screenwriter and film producer.[1]

A trained dentist, born in Buenos Aires, his real passion was always the cinema.[1] He pioneered Argentine cultural movement known as cineclub and financed the first movie theater to show art movies. He also founded Argentina's first film club in 1929.

After participating as scriptwriter and assistant director of 1944's Se abre el abismo, he filmed his first movie, an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Player. He also worked on adaptations of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo and Ernesto Sabato's The Tunnel.

During the 1950s, Klimovsky settled in Spain, where he became a full-time "professional" director. He directed many spaghetti westerns and exploitation films, filming in Mexico, Italy, Spain and Egypt. Horror film fans best remember him for his contributions to Spain's horror film genre, beginning with La Noche de Walpurgis ("Walpurgis Night"), the film that is said to have started the Spanish horror film boom of the 1970s. Klimovsky directed famed Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy in no less than 9 films in the 1970s, while also directing other classic horror films such as "The Strange Love of the Vampires", "The Dracula Saga" and "The Vampires' Night Orgy". Naschy complimented Klimovsky's workmanlike attitude and abundant energy, but he always felt that Klimovsky rushed through many of their projects together, never allowing for sufficient retakes.

León Klimovsky always dreamt of doing great mainstream movies but ended up doing commercial exploitation films, but he had no remorse, as cinema was a vocational mandate for him. He retired from directing in 1979, at age 73.

In 1995, at age 89, he won the "Honor Award" from the Spanish Film Directors Association. He died the following year in Madrid from a heart attack at age 90. He was the brother of noted Argentinian mathematician and philosopher Gregorio Klimovsky.

Filmography

  • La barraca (TV miniseries, 1979)
  • Violación fatal (1978)
  • La doble historia del Dr. Valmy (1978)
  • Laverna (1978)
  • El extraño amor de los vampiros (a.k.a. The Strange Love of the Vampires, 1977)
  • ¿Y ahora qué, señor fiscal? (1977)
  • Último deseo (a.k.a. The People Who Own the Dark, 1976), with Paul Naschy
  • Gritos a Medianoche (1976)
  • Secuestro (a.k.a. Kidnapped, 1976), with Paul Naschy
  • Tres días de noviembre (1976)
  • Muerte de un quinqui (a.k.a. Death of a Hoodlum, 1975), with Paul Naschy
  • Mean Mother (1974)
  • Una libélula para cada muerto (a.k.a. A Dragonfly for Each Corpse, 1974), with Paul Naschy
  • The Devil's Possessed (a.k.a. The Marshall from Hell, 1974), with Paul Naschy
  • Odio a mi Cuerpo (1974)
  • El Talón de Aquiles (1974)
  • Vengeance of the Zombies (1973), with Paul Naschy
  • The Vampires Night Orgy (1972)
  • La Rebelión de las Muertas (a.k.a. Rebellion of the Dead Women, 1972), with Paul Naschy
  • La Casa de las Chivas (1972)
  • The Dracula Saga (1972)
  • Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo (a.k.a. Dr. Jekyll and the Wolf Man, 1971), with Paul Naschy
  • Su le mani, cadavere! Sei in arresto (1971)
  • El Hombre que Vino del Odio (1971)
  • Reverend's Colt (1970)
  • La noche de Walpurgis (a.k.a. The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman, 1970), with Paul Naschy
  • Quinto: non ammazzare (1970)
  • Los hombres las prefieren viudas (1970)
  • La sfida dei MacKenna (1970)
  • Pagó cara su muerte (1969)
  • Bridge over the Elbe (1969)
  • L'urlo dei giganti (1969)
  • Giugno '44 Sbarcheremo in Normandia (1968)
  • Un hombre vino a matar (1968)
  • Una chica para dos (1968)
  • A ghentar si muore facile (1967)
  • A Few Dollars for Django, 1966)
  • El bordón y la estrella (1966)
  • Two Thousand Dollars for Coyote (1966)
  • La colina de los pequeños diablos (1965)
  • Aquella joven de blanco (1965)
  • Stop at Tenerife (1964)
  • Fuera de la ley (1964)
  • Ella y el miedo (1964)
  • Los siete bravísimos (1964)
  • Escuela de Seductoras (1962)
  • Horizontes de luz (1962)
  • Todos eran culpables (1962)
  • Torrejón City (1962)
  • La danza de la fortuna (1961)
  • Un tipo de sangre (1960)
  • Peace Never Comes (1960)
  • Ama Rosa (1960)
  • El hombre que perdió el tren (1960)
  • Un bruto para Patricia (1960)
  • Gharam fi sahraa (1960)
  • S.O.S., abuelita (1959)
  • Salto a la gloria (1959)
  • Llegaron los franceses (1959)
  • Un indiano en Moratilla (1958)
  • Desert Warrior (1957)
  • Viaje de novios (1956)
  • Miedo (1956)
  • La pícara molinera (1955)
  • El tren expreso (1955)
  • El juramento de Lagardere (1955)
  • Tres citas con el destino (episode Maleficio, 1954)
  • The Count of Monte Cristo (1953)
  • La Parda Flora (1952)
  • El túnel (1952)
  • The Earring (1951)
  • Suburb (1951)
  • La Vida color de rosa (1951)
  • The Marihuana Story (1950)
  • The Guitar of Gardel (1949)
  • Se llamaba Carlos Gardel (1949)
  • El jugador (1947)

References

  1. 1 2 "León Klimovsky". The New York Times.
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