"When I began this project I immediately asked him to play Strindler. Gianni considered the role, and we went back and forth at great length about his character. In fact, I have never had such in-depth discussions about a role with any actor. He re-read 'Dead Souls' and challenged me repeatedly about who the protagonist was, Strindler's moral failings, and what he was trying to accomplish."
—Writer/Director Alex Cox

Gianni Garko (born Giovanni Garcovich; 15 July 1935) is a Dalmatian Italian actor who found fame as a leading man in 1960s Spaghetti Westerns. Born Zara, Dalmatia, Italy (now Zadar, Croatia). Most people living in Zadar, in Italian Zara, were Dalmatian families with an ethnic Italian background. They had moved to Zara in the 1920s, when the status of former Austrian-Hungarian territories were settled and Italy was granted the authority over the city. Zara was bombed on several occasions during WW II, and most part of it was destroyed, including its famous historic centre. The often disputed city was ceded to general Tito's Yugoslavia in 1947. Most Italian families moved out and were replaced by South Slavic settlers. The Garcovich family settled in Trieste, just across the border. Gianni then moved to Rome and attended university and drama school.

After finishing school, Gianni started following acting lessons at the local Teatro Nuovo. When he was accepted as a student at the prestigious National Academy of Drama "Silvio d'Amico", he moved to Rome, and made his theatrical debut in 1958 in the play Veglio la mia casa, angelo. The director of the play was no other than Luchino Visconti. In this same year, he also made his first appearances on television and in cinema. His first prominent film role was a small but important part in the Oscar nominated Kapò (1959).

In the wake of Sergio Leone's enormous success with his trilogy of Italian Westerns: A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, Garko, a blond leading man with a resemblance to Eastwood, was hired to portray similarly mysterious gunfighters. He is perhaps best known for his lead role as 'Sartana' in in a fistful of films, playing the inventive, gadget-loving gunfighter, gambler and trickster hero with the catchphrase "I am your pallbearer".

The first appearance of Sartana came in the 1966 Spaghetti Western film Blood at Sundown. In this movie, he played a villain named El General Sartana who is so bad that he frames his own brother for murder. In 1968 he played an unrelated protagonist also named Sartana in If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death (Italian: Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte). The movie was an immediate box office success, and led to four official follow-up Sartana films, with Garko starring in the first three of them: I Am Sartana Your Angel of Death (Sono Sartana, il vostro becchino, 1969), Have a Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay (Buon funerale, amigos!... paga Sartana, 1970), and Light the Fuse... Sartana Is Coming (Una nuvola di polvere... un grido di morte... arriva Sartana, 1970). Like many Spaghetti Western stars, Garko's name was changed to make it seem as though these were American films. Thus, "Gianni Garko" was often billed as "John Garko" and occasionally "Gary Hudson."

The films presented Garko as a combination Man with No Name and James Bond, who used hi-tech weaponry to thwart his enemies. "Gianni is one of the giants of the Italian Western," says Alex Cox. "He created the character of Sartana, and transformed him from a demented villain, in $1,000 On The Black, into the heroic gambler protagonist of several highly-regarded subsequent films."² Sartana, of whom little about his background was ever revealed, used razor-sharp playing cards, a four-barreled derringer; a hidden compartment in his boot heel that carried emergency gadgets, and even a tiny mechanical robot named 'Alfie' that serves as a cigarette lighter, grenade launcher... and anything else Sartana needs at a given moment in the films. After four films, Garko never returned to play Sartana again; George Hilton starred in the fourth, C'è Sartana... vendi la pistola e comprati la bara (Sartana's Here... Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin, 1970). But Garko did appear in westerns like Bad Man's River (alongside Lee van Cleef and Gina Lollobrigida), and Campa carogna... la taglia cresce in which he played a Muslim called Korano, probably the only Islamic protagonist in the history of the genre.

After the western craze ended, Garko continue to appear in European genre pictures and even guest-starred on the British TV series Space: 1999. He turned down the lead (Keith Carradine) role in Pretty Baby (1978) with Brooke Shields. Garko is now a member of the Transnational Radical party NGO, an association of citizens, parliamentarians and members of government of various political backgrounds, who try to promote democracy and freedom throughout the world.

"When I began this project I immediately asked him to play Strindler," said Cox.² "Gianni considered the role, and we went back and forth at great length about his character. In fact, I have never had such in-depth discussions about a role with any actor. He re-read 'Dead Souls' and challenged me repeatedly about who the protagonist was, Strindler's moral failings, and what he was trying to accomplish. Eventually Gianni decided that he couldn't play the role. He's even older than I am, and our super-low-budget schedule is dementedly fast. And he has another project in the works. But yesterday Gianni told me that—given all the work he put into the screenplay with me—he will accept a co-screenwriter credit. So the script of my last movie is a co-production of Gianni Garko, and me. It's an honor to share the credit."

Once the film was complete, Cox showed it to Garko. "Gianni Garko—the legendary Western actor with whom I collaborated on the script—has watched the finished film and sent me a very nice note about it. Here is a fragment: 'I'm still moved by its terrible ending. I can tell you right now that your film deals the final blow to the legend of the Wild West, as Hollywood cinema built it. The Italian Western had demolished half of that legend and at the same time had somehow brought it back to life. You have portrayed the roots of capitalist America, truthfully, but also with profound melancholy.' Gianni had great things to say about the cinematography, which is quite wonderful. And also some compliments for the principal actor. But I am too shy to share them."³

NOTES ON THIS PAGE

¹—Kickstarter Campaign: Cox details his strategies and goals for the production.

²—"Update 9: Gianni Garko is My Co-Pilot" by Alex Cox, 7/20/2024. "Gianni and I met at the Venice Film Festival almost 20 years ago. When I began this project I immediately asked him to play Strindler. Gianni considered the role, and we went back and forth at great length about his character. In fact, I have never had such in-depth discussions about a role with any actor. He re-read Dead Souls and challenged me repeatedly about who the protagonist was, Strindler's moral failings, and what he was trying to accomplish. Eventually Gianni decided that he couldn't play the role. He's even older than I am, and our super-low-budget schedule is dementedly fast. And he has another project in the works. But yesterday Gianni told me that—given all the work he put into the screenplay with me—he will accept a co-screenwriter credit."

³—"Update 32: Festival Report 1, Tabernas" by Alex Cox, 10/10/2025.