León Klimovsky

León Klimovsky (16 October 1906 – 8 April 1996) was an Argentine film director, screenwriter and film producer.[1]

León Klimovsky
Born16 October 1906
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died8 April 1996(1996-04-08) (aged 89)
Madrid, Spain
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter, film producer

Biography

A trained dentist, born in Buenos Aires, his real passion was always the cinema.[1] He pioneered Argentine cultural movement known as cineclub and financed the first movie theater to show art movies. He also founded Argentina's first film club in 1929.

After participating as scriptwriter and assistant director of 1944's Se abre el abismo, he filmed his first movie, an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Player. He also worked on adaptations of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo and Ernesto Sabato's The Tunnel.

During the 1950s, Klimovsky settled in Spain, where he became a full-time "professional" director. He directed many Spaghetti Westerns, Euro War and exploitation films, filming in Mexico, Italy, Spain and Egypt. Horror film fans best remember him for his contributions to Spain's horror film genre, beginning with La Noche de Walpurgis ("Walpurgis Night"), the film that is said to have started the Spanish horror film boom of the 1970s. Klimovsky directed famed Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy in no less than 9 films in the 1970s, while also directing other classic horror films such as "The Strange Love of the Vampires", "The Dracula Saga" and "The Vampires' Night Orgy". Naschy complimented Klimovsky's workmanlike attitude and abundant energy, but he always felt that Klimovsky rushed through many of their projects together, never allowing for sufficient retakes.

León Klimovsky always dreamt of doing great mainstream movies but ended up doing commercial exploitation films, but he had no remorse, as cinema was a vocational mandate for him. He retired from directing in 1979, at age 73.

In 1995, at age 89, he won the "Honor Award" from the Spanish Film Directors Association. He died the following year in Madrid from a heart attack. He was the brother of noted Argentinian mathematician and philosopher Gregorio Klimovsky.

Filmography
Director
Screenwriter
  • Se abre el abismo (1945)
  • 3 millones y el amor (1946)
  • Albergue de mujeres (1946)
  • Siete para un secreto (1947)
  • La guitarra de Gardel (1949)
  • La parda Flora (1952)
  • El túnel (1952)
  • El conde de Montecristo (1953)
  • El Tren Expreso (1955)
  • Miedo (1956)
  • Un indiano en Moratilla (1958)
  • S.O.S., abuelita (1959)
  • Un bruto para Patricia (1960)
  • Ama Rosa (1960)
  • La paz empieza nunca (1960)
  • Y el cuerpo sigue aguantando (1961)
  • Todos eran culpables (1962) (dialogue)
  • Horizontes de luz (1962)
  • Los siete bravísimos (1964)
  • Escala en Tenerife (1964)
  • La colina de los pequeños diablos (1965)
  • Un dólar y una tumba (1970)
  • Una señora llamada Andrés (1970)
  • Odio mi cuerpo (1974)
Producer
Assistant director

References
  1. "León Klimovsky". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-11-21.
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