The American actor and film producer Mark Damon is dead. This was reported by the US magazine “The Hollywood Reporter” on Monday, citing Damon’s daughter, and the industry publication “Variety” with reference to Damon’s widow. He died of natural causes on Sunday in Los Angeles and was 91 years old.
The actor appeared in several spaghetti westerns in the 1960s, including “Ringo with the Golden Guns” (1966), “Death Counts No Dollars” (1967) and “To the Gallows, Bastardo” (1968). According to several reports, Damon was originally shortlisted for the iconic role of Western hero “Django,” which Sergio Corbucci ultimately cast with Franco Nero.
Discovered by Groucho Marx
Damon was later very successful as a producer in Hollywood. His numerous projects included the erotic thriller “9 1/2 Weeks” (1986) with Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger and the crime drama “Monster” (2003) with Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci.
On April 22, 1933, Mark Damon was born into a Jewish family. His birth name was Alan Harris, his parents’ original last name was Herscovitz.
None other than Groucho Marx, who was also Jewish, discovered him as an actor. At first, however, Damon insisted on studying dentistry. Only later did he decide to take acting lessons.