Mario Bava was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter, frequently referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the Macabre".
22 Facts About Mario Bava
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Mario Bava was a pioneer of Italian genre cinema, and is regarded as one of the most influential auteurs of the horror film genre.
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Mario Bava went on to direct such films as The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Black Sabbath, The Whip and the Body, Blood and Black Lace, Planet of the Vampires, Kill, Baby, Kill, Danger: Diabolik, A Bay of Blood, Baron Blood, Lisa and the Devil and Rabid Dogs.
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Mario Bava was born in Sanremo, Liguria on 31 July 1914.
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Mario Bava was the son of Eugenio Bava, a sculptor who worked as a special effects photographer and cameraman in the Italian silent movie industry.
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Mario Bava helped his father at the special effects department at Benito Mussolini's film factory, the Istituto Luce.
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Mario Bava became a cinematographer himself in 1939, shooting two short films with Roberto Rossellini.
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Mario Bava made his feature debut in the early 1940s.
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Mario Bava's camerawork was an instrumental factor in developing the screen personas of such stars of the period as Gina Lollobrigida, Steve Reeves and Aldo Fabrizi.
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Mario Bava was originally hired as the cinematographer, but when Freda walked out on the project midway through production, Mario Bava completed the film in several days, even creating the innovative special effects that were needed.
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Mario Bava handled the cinematography and special effects on the 1955 Kirk Douglas epic Ulysses and the 1957 Steve Reeves classic Hercules, two films credited with sparking the Italian sword and sandal genre.
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Mario Bava co-directed The Day the Sky Exploded in 1958, the first Italian science fiction film, predating even the sci-fi films of Antonio Margheriti.
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In 1960, Mario Bava directed the gothic horror classic Black Sunday, his first solo directorial effort, which made a genre star out of Barbara Steele.
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Mario Bava directed two films that are now regarded as the earliest entries in the Italian giallo genre: The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Blood and Black Lace.
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Mario Bava's 1965 science fiction horror film Planet of the Vampires was a thematic precursor to Alien.
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Mario Bava was disappointed with the theatrical distribution of some of his later films.
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The elder Mario Bava later did special effects matte work on Dario Argento's 1980 film Inferno.
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Mario Bava died suddenly of a heart attack on 27 April 1980, at age 65.
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Mario Bava's doctor had given him a physical just a few days before, and had pronounced him to be in perfect health.
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At the time of his death, Mario Bava was about to start shooting a science fiction film titled Star Riders, on which Luigi Cozzi had hoped to collaborate.
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On several of Mario's movies, Mario was credited as John M Old.
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Mario Bava's directing style has heavily influenced many directors including Joe Dante, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Francis Ford Coppola, John Landis, and Tim Burton.