- Romano Kristoff
Romano Kristoff was a Spanish-born
B-movie actor (and occasional writer/director) working in thePhilippines in the 80's and early 90's. He was also credited as Rom Kristoff, Ron Kristoff, Run Kristoff, Ron Krastoff, and other similar variants. Very little info on him can be found anywhere, except that he was Spanish by birth, a martial artist (apparently holding a black belt inkarate ), ex-Foreign Legionnaire and had some legitimate training as an actor.He appeared mostly in low-budget action and
martial arts films such as "Jungle Rats" (1987), and "Black Fire" (1985), during the 80's, often directed byTeddy Page andJohn Gale (director) . The vast majority of Kristoff's films were produced byK.Y. Lim 's "Silver Star Film Company" (also called "Kinavesa" in the Philippines), a prolific, if somewhat notorious producer of Filipinoaction films . The "Silver Star" films usually recycled the same cast of American andEurope anZ-movie workhorses from one film to another. Some of the recurring faces wereMike Monty ,James Gaines ,Mike Cohen , Gwendolyn Hung,Frank Juhas andRonnie Patterson , and Kristoff acted with all of them. He became something of a star for "Silver Star", appearing in several leading roles throughout the 80's, most prominently in "Slash" (1984), a film influenced by the "Rambo " films ofSylvester Stallone to the point of plagiarism. In 1981 Kristoff was cast as a supporting player in the Richard Harrison vehicle "Intrusion Cambodia", directed by John Gale. The two became friends and Kristoff was later invited toItaly by Harrison to co-write and act in the 1986 film "Three Men On Fire", which Harrison directed and starred in. "Three Men On Fire" was Kristoff's only film shot outside the Philippines. Kristoff also co-wrote the script to "Ninja's Force" (1985) with Ken Watanabe (not to be confused with the more famous Ken Watanabe), another member of the "Silver Star" entourage.He also appeared in some Italian productions made in the Philippines, such as the
Vietnam war actioner "Tornado" ("1983"), directed byAntonio Margheriti and starring Giancarlo Prete and Antonio Marsina. Other Italian films he acted in were "The Last Hunter", (1980), also directed by Margheriti, and "Warbus" (1985) and "Just A Damn Soldier" (1988), both for Ferdinando Baldi.When the Filipino film industry dwindled at the turn of the 90's, so did the careers of many
expatriate actors working in the Philippines. Kristoff, like Monty, Gaines and others, faded to obscurity as the 90's progressed. Although he wasn't a great actor, Romano Kristoff can definitely be called one of the more talented "Silver Star" stars and did possess a fair amount of physical charisma. Outside the Philippines, he could possibly have had a more successful career in action and martial arts films.He seems to be now mostly retired from film, having made only the occasional appearance over the past fifteen years. Kristoff's most recent notable role was a small part in the Italian-Filipino
Brigitte Nielsen actioner "Doomsdayer" (2000), directed by Michael J. Sarna and also starring former TVTarzan actor Joe Lara and Udo Kier. According to an interview ofNick Nicholson on the French B-movie site "Nanarland", Kristoff is currently managing a restaurant in the Philippines.External links
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0471692/ Romano Kristoff on IMDb] . Many of the years listed for the "Silver Star" films may be incorrect.
* [http://www.nanarland.com/acteurs/Main.php?id_acteur=romanokristoff Romano Kristoff profile on Nanarland.com (in french)]
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