Giovanni Lombardo Radice, best known for his appearances in a slew of controversial early eighties Italian horror films, passed away April 27th 2023. The news was announced via the actor’s public Facebook and later picked up by several media outlets.
Radice began his acting career in 1980 when he appeared in the controversial Cannibal Apocalypse opposite John Saxon. Acting under the pseudonym John Morghen, Radice would spend the next year appearing in some of the most controversial films to come out of Italy. City of the Living Dead, House on the Edge of the Park, and Cannibal Ferox all ran into significant trouble with the British film censors, and were consequently heavily censored or banned outright during the infamous video nasty panic.
Radice received significant backlash from both the press and his own family, who refused to speak to the actor after witnessing the uproar the films caused.
Working steadily through the eighties, Radice is also known to horror fans for his appearances in films like 1987’s Stage Fright, 1989’s The Church and 1990’s Daughter of Darkness opposite Kelly Curtis. Radice would take a hiatus from acting for most of the 1990s, but continued to work in the industry writing for television.
Working steadily from the early 2000s until the time of his passing, Radice stayed mainly in the genre, appearing in several independent films. Outside of acting, he also published a memoir in 2019 entitled Italy’s Whipping Boy.
No immediate cause of death was given, but the actor had been notably quiet on social media, suggesting Radice was not in the best of health. A funeral service was held Saturday April 29th in Rome, Italy. Radice was not married and is not known to have any children. The actor was 68 years old.
Rest in peace, Giovanni.
