Aldo Canti, often credited as Nick Jordan (1941–1990), was an Italian actor and

stuntman A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

. He is mostly known for his silent role as Alley Cat/Indio in the classic

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 ...

'' Sabata'' (1969), starring

Lee Van Cleef Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of spaghetti Westerns, particularly t ...

Biography

Born Aldo Canti in Rome, Nick Jordan was a stuntman and character actor. He appeared in over two dozen films during his career from 1961 to 1980 and is best remembered for his appearances in two of the Sabata Western films: in '' Sabata'' (1969) he co-starred as Indio/Alley Cat, a

mute Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak. Mute, Mutes or the Mute may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart * ''Mute'' (2018 film), ...

sidekick of the protagonist with a great capacity for acrobacies and jumping at great lengths. Jordan appeared again in ''

Return of Sabata ''Return of Sabata'' () is a 1971 Spaghetti Western film directed by Gianfranco Parolini. The third film in '' The Sabata Trilogy'', it features the return of Lee Van Cleef as the title character, which he had played in the first film, '' Sabata ...

'' (1971, the last film of the series) as Angel, a similar role as Indio/Alley Cat since the character is also mute and has great physical skills, only that this time he has a brother with the same demeanor and abilities, and both work as hired robbers. Additionally, Jordan appeared in several films in the '' Three Fantastic Supermen'' series. Jordan/Canti was also reportedly linked to the

Italian mob "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other organized crime groups from Italy. The central ...

, organizing underground gambling dens for the Rome-based

Banda della Magliana The ''Banda della Magliana'' (, the "Magliana Gang") was an Italian criminal organization based in Rome. It was founded in 1975. Given by the media, the name refers to the original neighbourhood, the Magliana, of some of its members. The '' ...

gang. His death in 1990 is speculated to have been related to these activities.

Death

According to an article posted on 8 June 2018 in Westernsallitaliana.blogspot.com (westernsallitaliana.blogspot.com/2018/06/spaghetti-western-trivia-mysterious.html Spaghetti Western Trivia ~ The Mysterious Death of Nick Jordan), in his time away from movie productions Aldo Canti was an organizer of clandestine gambling dens and linked to the already mentioned Band of Magliana. He apparently had let a few of his patrons run up a sizable debt. He made arrangements to meet them at Rome's Villa Borghese Park on 21 January 1990. He was found shot in the head at the Villa Borghese Trolley the following morning. During the investigation that followed it was established that he was killed by two persons he knew and that had a gambling debt with him, but the killers were never found.

Selected filmography

* ''The Revenge of the Crusader'' (1964) * ''War of the Planets'' (1966) * '' The Three Fantastic Supermen'' (1967) * '' Five For Hell'' (1969) * '' Sabata'' (1969) * ''

'' (1971) * '' Super Stooges vs. the Wonder Women'' (1973)Ursini, James, ''The Modern Amazons'', Limelight (2006) * ''War of the Planets'' (1977)

References

External links

*
Nick Jordan at Allmovie
* Nick Jordan (as Aldo Canti) at MUB

* Bio & Filmography at Thrilling Foru

1941 births 1990 deaths Italian male film actors Italian stunt performers Male Spaghetti Western actors Italian murder victims People murdered in Lazio {{Italy-film-actor-stub