Claudio Argento, the second born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento,
was born in 1943 and, after finishing grade school and college studies
in the late 1960s, started his film career as an employee with a few
Italian film distribution companies. Within a short time, he was made
chief of the Press and Publicity department of the CIC (Cinema
International Corporation), a USA company on whose behalf he organized
the release of films such as Love Story (1970) and Der Pate (1972) in Italy.
Claudio first worked with his older brother, Dario Argento, and their father,
Salvatore Argento, on the film Die Halunken (1973) as an executive producer, which turned out
to be a box office flop. The next films Rosso - Die Farbe des Todes (1975) (aka Deep Red),
Suspiria: In den Krallen des Bösen (1977), and Feuertanz - Horror Infernal (1980) required a huge effort to achieve their success.
Both Claudio and Dario tracked down American director George A. Romero and
offered to finance and produce a sequel to the famed Die Nacht der lebenden Toten (1968) movie as
well as working on the screenplay, editing and producing the soundtrack
for the film, and financing the bulk of the $2 million budget. The
film, Zombie (1978), first released in Italy and then in the USA seven months
later, was a worldwide success and brought much recognition to both
Claudio and Dario. In the 1980s, Claudio continued producing films such
as Vergiß die Feuer nicht (1985) and the low-budget thriller Distant Lights - Unheimliche Begegnung mit dem Jenseits (1987). Claudio's production
masterpiece was the crime thriller Santa Sangre (1989), which was shot in Mexico
City under troublesome circumstances. He currently produces for mostly
television productions as well as occasional cinema
movies.
