Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Blog's 15th anniversary: Renato Rossini aka Howard Ross

In celebration of the blog's 15th anniversary, I'm re-posting old posts. Here's one popular post I wrote back in 2014. The question remains: is it Kirk Morris or Renato Rossini in that movie?



Vintage article on Renato Rossini. Also known as Howard Ross or Red Ross, the Italian bodybuilder was a regular in PEPLUM films. He rarely had a lead role but his supporting roles were always stand-outs including in HERCULES AGAINST THE MONGOLS (1963) pictured in the article above along with Ken Clark and Nadir Moretti.


The article had a photo of Renato in a bodybuilding competition. Same exact pose as the one below.


Renato in a Mondo movie called SEXY PROIBITISSIMO (1963) in a segment called 'Hercules Oblivious'; his bodybuilding experience came in good use for this brilliant short film. IMDb and other websites covering the PEPLUM genre have credited Kirk Morris as the bodybuilder (below). 


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