Biography

July 25, 1928 · Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy

June 10, 2016 · Rome, Italy (undisclosed)

Domenico Palmara

6′ (1.83 m)

In 1967 he founded SINC Cinematografica, an Italian dubbing company.

His greatest international exposure came with his supporting roles in Steve Reeves' movies including the two Hercules films ("Hercules" (1958) and "Hercules Unchained" (1959)), "The Last Days of Pompeii" (1959), "The Trojan Horse" (1961), "Sandokan the Great" (1963), "Sandokan: Pirate of Malaysia" (1964) and Reeves last film, the spaghetti western "A Long Ride from Hell" (1968).

He was good friends with director Sergio Leone. He was Leone's first choice to play Ramon Rojo in "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) opposite Clint Eastwood. In what may have been the worst decision of his career, he turned down the role in order to appear in another spaghetti western, Mario Caiano's "Bullets Don't Argue" (1964). The role of Ramon Rojo was played by Gian Maria Volonte.

During the 1960s, many Italian, and other European actors, would select an Anglicized pseudonym for use in the credits of their films, especially in the sword and sandal and the spaghetti western genres. During this period, Domenico "Mimmo" Palmera would be listed in the credits as "Dick Palmer.".

He was a very ethnic looking Italian actor/bodybuilder whose motion picture career spanned almost 45 years.