Fernando Sancho

He was born in Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain on 7 January 1916 and died at Hospital Militar Gómez Ulla in Madrid on 31 July 1990 from a liver failure during or following surgery to remove a malignant tumor in the pancreas.^[1] He was interred in Madrid.^[2]

Fernando Sancho fought in the Spanish Civil War on the rebel side, being wounded several times and achieving the rank of lieutenant in the Legion.

He was often typecast as a Mexican bandit in Spaghetti Westerns, including The Big Gundown (directed by Sergio Sollima), A Pistol for Ringo and Return of Ringo (directed by Duccio Tessari), Arizona Colt (directed by Michele Lupo), Minnesota Clay (directed by Sergio Corbucci), and Sartana (directed by Gianfranco Parolini). He also appeared in a number of Spanish horror movies in the 1960s and 1970s. One of his better known horror parts was the role of a corrupt small-town mayor in Return of the Blind Dead (El ataque de los muertos sin ojos), directed by Amando de Ossorio.^{[citation needed]}

Another notable horror film was Orloff and the Invisible Man (1971), directed by Pierre Chevalier and starring Howard Vernon, an unofficial continuation of the Dr. Orloff saga begun by Jess Franco in The Awful Dr. Orloff (1962).

He turned up briefly in the epic film Lawrence of Arabia playing the Turkish sergeant who arrests T. E. Lawrence in Deraa. He appeared in five Greek war movies (1970-73); three of these involved World War II (i.e., Battle of Crete, Greek Resistance, Fort Roupel) and the other two involved the Greek War of Independence and the resistance of Souliotes against Ali Pasha.^{[citation needed]}

Sancho had a prolific career and remained active in films up to his death.^{[citation needed]}

He won the Medallas del Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos for La guerrilla in 1972,^[3] and in 1980 for all his career.^[4]

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fernando Sancho.

• Fernando Sancho at IMDb