Riccardo Freda

Biography

Riccardo Freda (24 February 1909 – 20 December 1999) was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror, giallo and spy films. Freda began directing I Vampiri in 1956. The film became the first Italian sound horror film production. Riccardo Freda was born in 1909 in Alexandria, Egypt to Italian parents. Freda attended school in Milan where he took art classes at the Centro Sperimantale. After school he took on work as a sculptor and art critic. Freda first began working in the film industry in 1937 and directed his first film Don Cesare di Bazan in 1942. Freda began directing I Vampiri. I Vampiri was the first Italian horror film of the sound era, following the lone silent horror film Il mostro di Frankenstein (1920) Despite being the first, a wave of Italian horror productions did not follow until Mario Bava's film Black Sunday was released internationally.

Directed

1. Lust of the Vampire (1957) — Director
2. The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962) — Director
3. Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (1959) — Director
4. Double Face (1969) — Director
5. The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (1971) — Director
6. The Ghost (1963) — Director
7. Murder Obsession (1981) — Director
8. Tragic Ceremony (1972) — Director
9. The Witch's Curse (1962) — Director
10. The Giants of Thessaly (1960) — Director
11. Castle of the Banned Lovers (1956) — Director
12. Theodora, Slave Empress (1954) — Director
13. Aquila Nera (1946) — Director
14. The Mysterious Rider (1948) — Director
15. The White Warrior (1959) — Director
16. The Mongols (1961) — Director
17. Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World (1961) — Director
18. Trap for the Assassin (1966) — Director
19. Les Misérables (1948) — Director
20. Death at Owell Rock (1967) — Director
21. Mexican Slayride (1967) — Director
22. The Exterminators (1965) — Director
23. Sins of Rome (1953) — Director
24. Double Cross (1951) — Director
25. Les Misérables - Storm Over Paris (1948) — Director
26. Revenge of the Black Eagle (1951) — Director
27. Gold for the Caesars (1963) — Director
28. Romeo e Giulietta (1964) — Director
29. Don Cesare of Bazan (1942) — Director
30. The Magnificent Adventurer (1963) — Director
31. The Iron Swordsman (1949) — Director
32. The Seventh Sword (1962) — Director
33. Tamar Wife of Er (1971) — Director
34. Ambush in Tangier (1957) — Director
35. Tutta la città canta (1945) — Director
36. From Here to the Inheritance (1955) — Director
37. Manhunt (1961) — Director
38. Vedi Napoli e poi muori (1951) — Director
39. The Legend of Piave (1952) — Director
40. The Son of d'Artagnan (1950) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Lust of the Vampire (1957) — Il dottore (uncredited)
2. Sundown (1941) — Pilot (uncredited)
3. Once Around the Park (1989) — Ricardo, le réalisateur
4. The World of Dario Argento 3: Museum of Horrors (1997) — Self
5. Il museo degli orrori di Dario Argento (2022) — self
6. The Little Adventurers (1939) — Il maestro
7. Kino kolossal - Herkules, Maciste & Co (2000) — Self
8. Un uomo solo: Incontro con Riccardo Freda (1998)
9. Intervista a Riccardo Freda sul suo cinema (2007)