Kirk Morris (born 26 August 1942) is an Italian bodybuilder and actor, best known for his work in

sword-and-sandal Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum (: pepla), is a subgenre of largely Italy, Italian-made historical, mythological, or biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budget ...

films.

Life and career

Born in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

as Adriano Bellini, while at university Morris devoted himself to bodybuilding and thanks to his physique he was chosen by the director

Tanio Boccia Camillo Tanio Boccia (15 June 1911 – 12 March 1982), was an Italian film director and screenwriter active between the 1950s and the early 1970s. From 1960 onwards, he was regularly credited as Amerigo Anton. Career Born in Potenza, Basilic ...

to play the title role in '' The Triumph of Maciste''. He subsequently starred in several other peplum films, including '' The Witch's Curse'' by

Riccardo Freda Riccardo Freda (24 February 1909 – 20 December 1999) was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror film, horror, ''giallo'' and spy films. Freda began directing ''I Vampiri'' in 1956. The f ...

. After the decline of the genre, he appeared in several adventure films, then he retired in the early 1970s. He was also an actor of Fotoromanzi.

Filmography

* 1961 - ''

Hercules in the Valley of Woe ''Hercules in the Vale of Woe'' (/ ''Maciste vs Hercules in the Valley of Woe''), a.k.a. ''Hercules in the Valley of Woe'', is a 1961 Italian Franco and Ciccio comedy film directed by Mario Mattoli and starring Kirk Morris as Maciste and Frank ...

'' * 1961 - '' Triumph of the Son of Hercules'' * 1962 - ' * 1962 - '' The Witch's Curse'' * 1963 - '' Hercules, Samson and Ulysses'' * 1963 - '' Samson and the Sea Beast'' * 1963 - '' Colossus and the Headhunters' * 1964 - '' Hercules of the Desert'' * 1964 - '' Desert Raiders'' * 1964 - ''

Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules ''Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules'' is a 1964 international co-production filmed in Italy and directed by Anthony Dawson. Plot summary An evil and ambitious usurper named Ganor seizes a kingdom by assassinating the Sultan and i ...

'' * 1964 - '' Samson vs. the Giant King'' * 1964 - '' Terror of the Steppes'' * 1965 - '' The Falcon of the Desert'' * 1965 - '' Maciste, the Avenger of the Mayans'' * 1965 - '' Conqueror of Atlantis'' * 1966 - '' 2+5: Missione Hydra'' * 1967 - '' Rita of the West'' * 1968 - ' * 1969 - '' The Seven Red Berets'' * 1970 - '

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Kirk 1942 births Living people Italian male film actors Male actors from Venice Italian bodybuilders People associated with physical culture