Alberto Dalbés
Born Apr. 3rd, 1922 – Died Sept. 14th, 1983
Spanish horror from the early ’70s, especially that of Jess Franco’s work, probably have seen Dalbés’ face at some point. For me, I first became aware of him from appearing as the mad doctor in Paul Naschy’s The Hunchback of the Morgue (1973). He really was fun to watch there, playing a scientist so driven in his plans to create a new life form, that he had no care or whims about other people, even having them killed to be used to feed this beast he was creating. Great stuff.
He made his screen debut in 1943 in a film called Youth Kicks and worked in quite a few movies before moving to Spain, where he continued to appear on screen. He appeared in other genre films like Maniac Mansion and Cut-Throats Nine, both from 1972.
He seemed to work quite a bit with Jess Franco, appearing in quite a few number of his pictures, such as Night of the Assassins (1974), The Demons (1973), Tender and Perverse Emanuelle (1973), Dracula: Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972), The Curse of Frankenstein (1972), and so many more.
So the next time you find yourself watching a Franco film, you just might want to keep your eyes open to see if you don’t see Dalbés come onscreen.
Yesterday, we lost a incredible talent in the movie world, that of Ian Holm. He passed away at the age of 88, from complications of Parkinson’s. He appeared in so many role over the years, in all genres, that his was a face and name that as soon as you knew he was in the film, you were going to see something special. He could project more in a look than some actors could do in a 10-minute monologue! His genre appearances in films like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) and David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999) showed his range. In fact, in 1968, on a TV series called Mystery and Imagination, he played both the creator and creature in an adaptation of Frankenstein. Of course, how can anyone forget his portrayal of Bilbo in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy?
Maniac (1980)
Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made (2018)
