Reg Park was born on 7 June 1928 in Leeds, England. But he moved to Johannesburg, South Africa in the late 1950s. He lived there are ran a successful gym chain until his death in 2007.

Park was a bodybuilder. He won the Mr Universe three times. And I don’t really care about that. I highlight him today because he starred in four Italian “sword and sandal” films in the early 1960s. (He also starred in a fifth film but it is basically just a re-edit of his first two films, so I think we can ignore it.)

What’s remarkable about Park is that he got top billing in all these films and they were the only films he was ever in! Even while making these films, he was still competing. His last Mr Universe title was in 1965 — the year after his last film. He was also continuing to run his gym chain, which he probably considered his main job.

I don’t care much for “sword and sandal” films. I don’t especially like overly-muscled men. (Seriously, give me Cornel Wilde over Arnold Schwarzenegger any day!) And I’m not that keen on Roman and Greek mythology. But Reg Park’s second film, Hercules in the Haunted World, really is fun to watch.

In the film, Hercules finds that his girlfriend is insane. So he must go to Hades to find a MacGuffin to save her. He goes with two pals played by George Ardisson and (most humorously) Franco Giacobini. All the while, the evil King Lico (played by Christopher Lee) is trying to destroy him.

The film is directed by Mario Bava. It was his second and final “sword and sandal” film. Two years earlier, he directed the Steve Reeves film The Giant of Marathon. But Haunted World is the one to see. It is stylish with great use of color. I don’t recall ever seeing one of these films that was anything like it.

After this small clutch of films, Park never again acted. That probably wasn’t just his lack of interest. These films were at the end of their time. The Italian film industry was finding success with Giallo and Western films. I’m not the person to ask if that was a good thing. But obviously, it was!

All the copies of Hercules in the Haunted World I have found to embed are in Italian. But you can watch it in English on Plex and Kanopy.

Other 7 June Anniversaries

Filmmakers

• Jessica Tandy (1909-1994): Actor we know best from The Birds.
• Liam Neeson (1952-): Star known for lots of things but most recently the Taken films.
• Karl Urban (1972-): Actor known for Star Trek and RED.

Films

• Dressed To Kill (1946): Another Roy William Neill Sherlock Holmes.
• The Nutty Professor (1963): Nerd scientist invents potion that turns him into a ladies’ man.
• The Goonies (1985): So much screaming!
• Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (1991): Mean babysitter dies and kids have fun.
• The Phantom (1996): Old-style superhero film.
• The Rock (1996): Terrorists take over Alcatraz.
• Dracula II: Ascension (2003): Sequel to Dracula 2000.
• Hatchetman (2003): Slasher targets college student, if you can believe it.
• Blood Relic (2005): Sort of The Evil Dead on an abandoned military airbase.
• Hellraiser: Deader (2005): Secret group brings back the dead.
• The Purge (2013): Anything goes for 12 hours.

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Reg Park via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.