Ivan Rassimov Biography

Born of Croatian parents in Trieste, Italy in 1938, Ivan Rassimov and his younger sister, Rada, decided to pursue a career in acting. Ivan studied acting at the University at Trieste. After attending military service in Italy, he then settled in Rome to pursue his acting career. A series of small roles began his career, one of them being from the legendary director Mario Bava with Planet of Vampires.With his strong, piercing eyes and striking look, Rassimov was often cast as villains, from Nazi soldiers, to tough guys, to murder suspects. Rassimov also occasionally played good guys and saw it as a novelty item from his bad guy roles. From playing a police detective, an archeologist, and even a psychiatrist in Mario Bava's last theatrical movie, Schock (1977). He was most often seen as a male stalwart of the Italian cannibal films in acting alongside Me Me Lai in three of them, most notably being _Jungle Holocaust (1977)_.By 1987, Rassimov more or less retired from acting and lived in a villa north of Rome with his wife and teenage daughter. He worked as the director of a publishing house for comic books and novels until his death in 2003.