According to the imdb, the recently deceased Italian actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice—better known to us as John Morghen—was known for playing “a handful of memorably sick, sleazy, and eccentric characters who are gruesomely killed in numerous 1980’s Italian splatter pictures.” To that description I’d offer a slight correction: Radice/Morghen was known for playing an adjunct/sidekick to a handful of memorably sick, sleazy and eccentric characters in numerous Italian splatter pictures. Certainly the roles he played were sick and sleazy, but in supporting parts that tended to be overshadowed by the lead actors.
Please understand: I don’t mean to disparage Mr. Morghen but, rather, to clarify his position. It’s hard to upstage John Saxon and David Hess (two of Morghen’s more prominent screen partners), and nor were they meant to be upstaged—Morghen, in short, did exactly what he was asked to do, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
The man certainly had an impressive pedigree, boasting a great deal of stage experience before he turned to screen acting, political activism and the writing and translation of numerous plays. Morghen didn’t even like horror movies, claiming they were “never my cup of tea.”
This belies the fact that Morghen’s filmography leans quite heavily on the horror side of the fence, containing films by all of Italy’s major genre auteurs: Antonio Margheriti, Ruggero Deodato, Lucio Fulci, Joe D’Amato, Umberto Lenzi, Michele Soavi and Lamberto Bava. The sub-genres covered are also pretty comprehensive, with cannibal chomp-fests, zombie mashes and bloody whodunits all represented (as well as, in the case of D’Amato’s ELEVEN DAYS, ELEVEN NIGHTS, softcore erotica).
Standout Morghen roles included the demented Charlie in Margheriti’s CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE (1980); Bob, a
half-witted pervert, in Fulci’s CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980); the sleazy and opportunistic Mike in Lenzi’s notorious CANNIBAL FEROX (1981)—a film Morghen, in a supremely pissy DVD commentary, claimed he regretted being part of; and Brett (also the name of Morghen’s character in ELEVEN DAYS, ELEVEN NIGHTS), an especially flamboyant gay man, in Soavi’s STAGE FRIGHT (1987).
To fully appreciate Morghan’s filmography a knowledge of the 1980s Italian film industry is required. Back then Italian movies were greenlit based on the answer to the question “What’s this like?” Or, to be more specific, what successful Hollywood formula did the filmmaker plan on ripping off? A common answer was DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978), which was enormously popular in Italy, and directly spawned Lucio Fulci’s unauthorized sequel ZOMBIE, a.k.a. ZOMBI 2 (1979), and its follow ups CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980) and THE BEYOND (1981). Another widely imitated hit was A MAN CALLED HORSE (1970), which inspired Lenzi’s MAN FROM DEEP RIVER/Sacrifice! (1972)—a film that in turn provided the template for Deodato’s JUNGLE HOLOCAUST (1977) and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980).
These films tended to be filmed on the cheap, and weren’t anyone’s idea of great art. The Italian horror movie cycle as a whole died out in the mid-eighties, although Morghen continued acting in such films until 1992.
The fact is that no other film professional benefited more from that particular time and place than Morghen. Deodato and Fulci were veteran filmmakers, but are now known solely for the horror-exploitation films they made in their later years, while their protégé Michele Soavi seems destined to be remembered for the exploitation film work he did in the 1980s and early 90s. The British actors David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl both led prolific careers, yet likewise seem destined to be known primarily for the Italian trash films in which they appeared (including Fulci’s THE BEYOND, featuring joint appearances by Warbeck and MacColl).
John Morghen was unique in the 1980s Pastaland movie line-up in that he began his career in the Italian exploitation field (with Deodato’s HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK in 1980) and never quite left it. His late-in-life filmography, which includes GANGS OF NEW YORK, the 2006 OMEN remake and several no-budget horror movies, seems to have been heavily informed by his earlier Italian trash movie roles. His career is an excellent argument in favor of typecasting, and the positive aspects of Italian exploitation.
Yes, it is possible to carve out a substantial career in the lower depths of the film industry, even if that career largely involves being overshadowed by more famous actors. The fact that the name John Morghen has become familiar to film buffs like me (something you can’t say for most of his co-stars) means he accomplished the primary goal of any film professional: he won.