Cassinelli in Allonsanfàn (1974)
Claudio Cassinelli was born in Bologna, Italy to Giuseppina Tafani and Antonio Cassinelli, an opera singer. He had two sisters, Paola Cristina and Loretta. Cassinelli began his career in theater and later worked in film and television. His film career is split between "auteur" films (with directors such as Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Liliana Cavani, Pasquale Festa Campanile, and Damiano Damiani, among others) and genre films, especially poliziotteschi and action films.
Cassinelli photographed by Paolo Monti in 1965 (Source: Paolo Monti Fund, BEIC Foundation)
Cassinelli died in Page, Arizona at the age of forty-six, during the filming of a scene in Sergio Martino's sci-fi action film Vendetta dal futuro (English title: Hands of Steel). He was on a helicopter that crashed into the Navajo Bridge as a result of pilot error. The helicopter's rotors struck the bridge as the pilot, Dan Nasca, was attempting to fly under the bridge, and fell 400 feet into the Colorado River, according to Coconino County Sheriff's Lt. W.R. Anderson. Cassinelli was survived by his wife, Irene Bignardi, and three children, Sebastiano, Filippo, and Giovanni.
