George Eastman (actor)

George Eastman (born Luigi Montefiori; August 16, 1942) is an Italian actor and screenwriter well known for his frequent collaborations with 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. Eastman also played Goliath in the 1985 epic King David starring Richard Gere.

George Eastman
Eastman in the movie Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968)
Born	Luigi Montefiori (1942-08-16) August 16, 1942 (age 83) Genoa, Kingdom of Italy
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1966–2004
Height	6 ft 9 in (206 cm)

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.^[1] 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.^[1]

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 Letale^[2] (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		[3][4]
My Name Is Pecos	1966	Yes			Member of Kline's group		[5][6]
Django Kills Softly	1967	Yes			Bill		[7][8]
The Last Killer		Yes			Ramon/Chico		[7][9]
Poker with Pistols		Yes			Lucas		[10][11]
Django, Prepare a Coffin	1968	Yes			Lucas		[12][13]
Bootleggers	1969	Yes			McGowan "The Irish"		[14]
Fellini Satyricon		Yes			The Minotaur		[15]
Bastard, Go and Kill	1971	Yes			—		[3]
Ben and Charlie	1972	Yes			Charlie		[16]
The Call of the Wild		Yes			Black Burton		[17]
Baba Yaga	1973	Yes			Charlie		[18]
Scalawag		Yes			Don Aragon		[19]
A forza di sberle	1974	Yes
Cormack of the Mounties	1975		Yes				[20]
Blood and Bullets	1976	Yes			Dan Caputo, "Knell"		[21]
Keoma			Yes	Yes			[22][23]
Canne mozze	1977		Yes				[24]
Sesso nero	1980	Yes	Yes	Yes	Voyakis		[25]
Antropophagus		Yes	Yes		Nikos Karamanlis	Also producer	[26][27][28]
Porno Holocaust	1981	Yes			Professor Lemoine		[29][30]
1990: The Bronx Warriors	1983	Yes			—		[31][32]
Ironmaster		Yes			Vood		[33][34]
The New Barbarians		Yes			One		[35][36]
2019, After the Fall of New York		Yes			Big Ape		[37]
Blastfighter	1984	Yes			Tom		[38][39]
Delirium	1987	Yes			Alex		[40][41]
The Barbarians		Yes			Jacko		[42]
Il deserto del fuoco	1997		Yes			Television film	[43]
Rabid Dogs	1974	Yes			Trentadue / Thirty-two		[44]
2020 Texas Gladiators	1983		Yes	Yes			[45][46]
Emanuelle's Revenge	1975	—	Yes		Carlo		[47][48]
The Cobra	1967	—	Yes		Crane		[49]
Emanuelle Around the World	1977	—			Yes		[50]
L'Inspettore Giusti	—		Yes				[51]
Master Stroke	1967	—	Yes		Western actor		[52]

• The Belle Starr Story (1968) directed by Lina Wertmüller
• Chuck Moll (1970)
• The Three Musketeers of the West
• House of Pleasure for Women (1976)
• Orgasmo Nero (1980) directed by Joe D'Amato
• Hard Sensations (1980) directed by Joe D'Amato
• Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (1980) directed by Joe D'Amato (Eastman also wrote this film)
• Absurd (1981) directed by Joe D'Amato (Eastman also wrote this film)
• Caligula... The Untold Story (1982) directed by Joe D'Amato
• The Bronx Warriors (1982) directed by Enzo G. Castellari
• Endgame (1983) directed by Joe D'Amato (Eastman also wrote this film)
• Detective School Dropouts (1986) directed by Filippo Ottoni
• Hands of Steel (1986) a.k.a. Fists of Steel, a.k.a. Vendetta Dal Futuro, directed by Sergio Martino
• Christmas Present (1986) directed by Pupi Avati
• Delirium/Photos of Joy (1987) directed by Lamberto Bava
• Crystal or Ash, Fire or Wind, as Long as It's Love (1989) directed by Lina Wertmüller
• Metamorphosis (1990) a.k.a. DNA Formula Letale (Eastman wrote and directed this film)
• Christmas Rematch (2004) directed by Pupi Avati

Screenplays

• Giubbe rosse (1974), aka Red Coats, aka Cormack of the Mounties, directed by Joe D'Amato
• Candido Erotico (1978)^[53]
• La Ragazza del Vagone Letto (1979)^[54]
• 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), a.k.a. Deliria, directed by Michele Soavi (Eastman has an uncredited role in this film, playing the masked killer)
• Metamorphosis (1990), a.k.a. DNA Formula Letale (Eastman directed this film, and had a cameo role in it as well^[55])
• Il Principe del Deserto (TV serial)^[56]
• The Son of Sandokan (1998), made-for-TV movie