Franco Nero

Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941 in San Prospero Parmense,  Parma, Italy), better known by his stage name Franco Nero, is an Italian actor. He is best known for his breakthrough role as the title character in Sergio Corbucci's Spaghetti Western film Django (1966), a role that he reprised in Nello Rossati's Django Strikes Again (1987).

Since then, he has performed over 200 leading and supporting roles in a wide variety of films and television programmes in both Italy and abroad, in genres ranging from poliziotteschi, to action, to drama, to war, and musicals. These include The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966), Camelot (1967), The Day of the Owl (1968), The Mercenary (1968), Battle of Neretva (1969), Tristana (1970), Compañeros (1970), Confessions of a Police Captain (1971), Keoma (1976), Hitch-Hike (1977), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Enter the Ninja (1981), Die Hard 2 (1990), Letters to Juliet (2010) and John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017). He also played the narrator in the film Rasputin (2010), directed by Louis Nero, and voiced the character of Uncle Topolino in the animated film Cars 2 (2011) directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Brad Lewis. In 2012, Nero made a cameo appearance in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained.

In December 2018 Franco attended the German Comic Con in Dortmund. Unfortunately the Enter the Ninja DVD cover that I had sent to the Showmasters send-in service arrived one day late. Instead I received a signed photo of him as Django, which was my second choice. My DVD cover then also got misplaced, never to be seen again so it was not an overall positive experience. I am hoping I will get the chance to meet Franco in real life some day. In February 2022 I purchased an Enter the Ninja signed photo from RACC Trusted Seller #147 Roland Brödner.

Links:
IMDb
Wikipedia