Tony Kendall

The handsome and charismatic Tony Kendall was born Luciano Stella on August 22, 1936 in Rome, Italy. Kendall started his career in show business as a model for Italian Fumetti, which are comics done in photographs. Tony made his film debut using his birth name in 1957. He subsequently changed his name to Tony Kendall after Vittorio De Sica suggested that he do so. Best known for his recurring lead role as dashing private eye Jo Louis Walker in the "Kommissar X" series, Kendall appeared in well over 40 motion pictures in such genres as giallo, spaghetti Westerns (he played infamous roving gunslinger Django in both "Django Defies Sartana" and "Gunman of 100 Crosses"), horror (he's hunky macho hunter hero Sirgurd in the immensely enjoyable fright feature "When the Screaming Stops"), and crime thrillers (he was especially memorable as sly hit-man Peter Zacari in the excellent "Machine Gun McCain"). Moreover, Tony acted alongside Brad Harris in a handful of movies. Kendall died at age 73 from cancer on November 28, 2009 in Rome, Italy.