HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Lou Castel (born Ulv Quarzell; 28 May 1943) is a Colombian-born Swedish
actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
who became internationally known through his work in Italian films, in particular for his starring role in
Carlo Lizzani Carlo Lizzani (3 April 1922 – 5 October 2013) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and critic. Biography Born in Rome, before World War II Lizzani worked as a scenarist on such films as Roberto Rossellini's '' Germany Year Zero'', ...
's '' Requiescant'' (1967) and his co-starring role in
Damiano Damiani Damiano Damiani (23 July 1922 – 7 March 2013) was an Italian screenwriter, film director, actor and writer. Poet and director Pier Paolo Pasolini referred to him as "a bitter moralist hungry for old purity", while film critic Paolo Mereghett ...
's ''
A Bullet for the General ''A Bullet for the General'' (original Italian title: Quién sabe?, which means "Who knows?" in the Spanish language), also known as ''El Chucho Quién Sabe?'', is a 1966 Italian Zapata Western film directed by Damiano Damiani and starring Gia ...
'' (1967).


Life and career

The son of a Swedish father and an Irish mother, Castel was born Ulv Quarzell in
Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
,
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
, where his father was working as a
diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...
. He and his twin brother grew up in Cartagena. When Castel was 6, his parents separated. He followed his mother to Europe and went to school in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, very briefly at
Dartington Hall School Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as ...
with his sister Solveig, then in
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
. He subsequently went to live in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
where his mother was working in the local film industry. A
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
, Castel's mother also introduced her son to politics. Interested in acting from an early age, he attended the
Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia The (; CSC), also referred to as the (), is an Italian national film school headquartered in Rome, with satellite educational hubs in five other Italian regions. It was established in 1935 and aims to promote the art and technique of cinemat ...
, but was quickly kicked out. His first movie role was as an uncredited extra in ''
The Leopard ''The Leopard'' ( ) is a novel by Italian writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, which chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the ''Risorgimento''. Published posthumously in 1958 by Feltrinelli, after two rejections by the ...
'' (1963). Two years later, he gained international fame for his performance in '' Fists in the Pocket'', in which he played the epileptic Alessandro, who murders his mother and his brother. His career in Italy included arthouse pictures, but also
Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
s and also softcore erotica. He enjoyed particular success with his starring roles in
Damiano Damiani Damiano Damiani (23 July 1922 – 7 March 2013) was an Italian screenwriter, film director, actor and writer. Poet and director Pier Paolo Pasolini referred to him as "a bitter moralist hungry for old purity", while film critic Paolo Mereghett ...
's ''
A Bullet for the General ''A Bullet for the General'' (original Italian title: Quién sabe?, which means "Who knows?" in the Spanish language), also known as ''El Chucho Quién Sabe?'', is a 1966 Italian Zapata Western film directed by Damiano Damiani and starring Gia ...
'' (1967),
Salvatore Samperi Salvatore Samperi (26 July 1944 – 4 March 2009) was an Italian film director. His 1973 film ''Malicious (1973 film), Malicious'' was entered into the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival and his 1979 film ''Ernesto (film), Ernesto' ...
's '' Come Play with Me'' (1968) and
Umberto Lenzi Umberto Lenzi (6 August 1931 – 19 October 2017) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and novelist. A fan of film since young age, Lenzi studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and made his first film in 1958 which went unre ...
's '' Orgasmo'' (1969). He later played Jeff, the temperamental bisexual film director in the German production ''
Beware of a Holy Whore ''Beware of a Holy Whore'' () is a 1971 West German drama film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder that features Lou Castel, Eddie Constantine, Hanna Schygulla and Fassbinder himself. Fassbinder considered this to be his favorite of hi ...
'' (1971), directed by
Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker, dramatist and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema moveme ...
. While living in Italy, Castel became involved in a
maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
organization, the Union of Italian Communists (Marxist–Leninist). As Italy was going through the Years of Lead period, he was eventually considered an undesirable alien. In 1972, he was deported to Sweden where he no longer had any acquaintances. For a time, he had to rely on subsidies sent to him from Italy by his organization. However, he quickly bounced back and appeared, mostly as a
character actor A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting character (arts), characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrie ...
, in various European films, directed by filmmakers such as
Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...
and
Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...
. Castel settled in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
in the early 1990s. Though the quality of the films he acted in were quite disparate, ranging from arthouse films to cheap exploitation, Castel had a preference for roles that reflected his extreme leftist beliefs. He portrayed left-wing terrorists in '' Nada'' (1974), ''
The Cassandra Crossing ''The Cassandra Crossing'' is a 1976 disaster thriller film directed by George Pan Cosmatos and starring Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Ava Gardner, Martin Sheen, Burt Lancaster, Lee Strasberg and O. J. Simpson about a diseased Swedish terroris ...
'' (1976), '' Could It Happen Here?'' (1977) and '' Year of the Gun'' (1991). He has a son from the actress
Marcella Michelangeli Marcella Michelangeli (born 28 January 1943) is an Italian former actress and singer. Biography Born Marcella Gherardi in Uscio, Italy, she won several beauty contests at a young age, including Miss Liguria. While a student at the School of F ...
. A
polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
, Castel speaks a number of languages but jokes that he has no real natural mother tongue and speaks every language with an accent, except for Swedish which he no longer has opportunities to use.


Selected filmography


References


Footnotes


Sources

*


External links

* *Lou Castel,
My 'State of Things
," tr. by Rainer J. Hanshe, ''Hyperion: On the Future of Aesthetics'' (spring 2014) 278–280. *Lou Castel,
Before / After the filming of The Stoning of St. Stephen
" tr. by Rainer J. Hanshe, ''Hyperion: On the Future of Aesthetics'' (spring 2014) 281–288. {{DEFAULTSORT:Castel, Lou 1943 births Living people Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia alumni 20th-century Swedish male actors 21st-century Swedish male actors Swedish male film actors Swedish expatriates in Colombia Swedish expatriates in Italy Swedish expatriates in France Swedish communists Swedish people of Irish descent Male actors from Bogotá