Talented, prolific and versatile writer/director Sergio Martino has made a vast array of often solid and enjoyable films in such diverse genres as horror, comedy, Western and science-fiction in a career that spans over 40 years.
Martino was born on July 19, 1938, in Rome, Italy. His grandfather was noted director Gennaro Righelli. Sergio began his cinematic career in his early 20s as an assistant to his writer/producer brother Luciano Martino and handled second unit director chores on Mario Bava's Le corps et le fouet (1963), and made his directorial debut in 1969 with the mondo documentary Tous les vices du monde (1971). He really hit his stride in the early 1970s with several superior giallo murder mystery thrillers that usually starred popular actress Edwige Fenech (who was married to Martino's brother Luciano at the time): L'étrange vice de Madame Wardh (1971), Toutes les couleurs du vice (1972), La queue du scorpion (1971) and Ton vice est une chambre close dont moi seul ai la clé (1972). Martino subsequently collaborated with Fenech on a handful of other projects, including the bubbly sex comedies Sexycon (1976) and Croissants à la crème (1981). Other people Sergio has frequently worked with are actors George Hilton, Ivan Rassimov and Claudio Cassinelli and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi. Sergio's other worthwhile movies are the gritty spaghetti western Arizona se déchaîne (1970), the terrifically trashy Torso (1973), the rousing crime thriller Polices parallèles (1973), the entertaining action/adventure romp La montagne du dieu cannibale (1978), the fun "The Island of Dr. Moreau" rip-off Le continent des hommes poissons (1979) and the funky post-nuke sci-fi/action opus 2019 après la chute de New York (1983). He has also directed various made-for-TV features and episodes of TV shows for Italian television.
