Frank Wolff

He became quite good friends with director Monte Hellman when they studied and worked together at the UCLA in the 1950s. As a result, one of his first movies was Hellman's Beast From Haunted Cave - The Original Schlock Classic (1959).

Won two times the UCLA best actor award: for "Macbeth" (1951), playing the title role, and "The Lower Depths" (1952), playing Satin.

Went to Italy in the early 1960s for making movies there on the advice of director Roger Corman. He had starred in three Corman movies 'The Beast from the Haunted Cave (1960)', (Ski Troop Attack (1960) and Atlas (1961)) with Michael Forest before the two became fast friends, traveled to Italy, and were roommates for a while while acting in Italian movies.

Frank Wolff started his career by acting in several Roger Corman films. However, Wolff had to travel to Europe to be successful. He was finally able to become a well known actor in Italy and Europe with his performance in Salvatore Giuliano (1962) and had roles in many European film productions. Moreover, Wolff became a major star in Spaghetti Westerns.

Was offered the role of the villain in Sergio Leone's legendary A Fistful of Dollars (1964), but dropped it more or less for artistic reasons.

Starred and co-starred in movies by most of the most important Italian western directors of all time: Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, Enzo G. Castellari, Giuseppe Colizzi, Giuliano Carnimeo (aka Anthony Ascott) and Sergio Sollima. Only with Sollima he did no western, but the agent-action-adventure Agent 3S3, Massacre in the Sun (1966).

He provided the role of The Stranger to actor Tony Anthony and played the villain in The Stranger's first movie A Stranger in Town (1967) as a favor for Anthony. The part became Anthony's most famous role besides his Blindman (1971) and he repeated it three times. Several months before Frank Wolff's death, according to Anthony himself, Frank Wolff asked him for a similar favor, wanting the role in Blindman (1971), which was finally taken by Ringo Starr. It was kind of deal between them, Anthony would provide him role, because Wolff had done him a favor earlier. But the producers wanted Ringo Starr for the role - Wolff was dropped and had a falling out with Anthony. About one year later Frank Wolff killed himself. There have always been rumors, one reason for the suicide was, he saw his career at an end/thought he couldn't get the roles he wanted anymore.

His most famous, but briefest, performances was as Brett McBain, the friendly farmer in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

He also brought much needed light relief as the sheriff in Sergio Corbucci's The Great Silence (1968). When the time of "Spaghetti-Westerns" was ending, Wolff had several roles in Italian crime movies.

Actor Robert Hoffmann, who starred in Alberto De Martino's Carnal Circuit (1969), co-starring Frank Wolff, settled in his Hilton Hotel apartment in Rome after his suicide, because they had the same agent (Michele Pietravalle) at this time. Hoffmann, searching immediately for a roof over the head, didn't care much about the fact his predecessor had been found dead in the bath tub.

Other memorable performances were in Duccio Tessari's Giallo La morte risale a ieri sera (1970) or in one of Wolffs last performances as a police commissioner in Fernando Di Leo's Caliber 9 (1972).

Died before shooting of his last movie When Women Lost Their Tails (1972) was finished.