Duccio Tessari

Duccio Tessari (11 October 1926 – 6 September 1994) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor, considered one of the fathers of Spaghetti Westerns.

Born in Genoa, Tessari started in the fifties as documentarist and as screenwriter of peplum films. In 1964 he co-wrote Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful of Dollars'', one year later he gained an impressive commercial success and launched the Giuliano Gemma's career with ''A Pistol for Ringo'' and its immediate sequel, ''The Return of Ringo''. In 1975, Tessari launched the most popular and successful European depiction of Zorro, when he directed ''Zorro'' starring Alain Delon as the titular masked hero. The movie was a smash hit in Europe, Russia, Japan and China.

He later touched different genres and worked in RAI, directing some successful TV-series. He died of cancer in Rome, at 67. He was married to actress Lorella De Luca. Provided by Wikipedia