Richard Harrison, the American actor who became a star of Italian sword-and-sandal movies and spaghetti Westerns before appearing in a seemingly endless stream of wild Hong Kong ninja movies, has died at 90. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Harrison died of natural causes in Los Angeles on September 19. His death was confirmed by producer and longtime friend Joan Borsten.
While Harrison had a long career that included more than 100 movies, genre fans may know him best as the star of a series of bizarre ninja films that were crafted by filmmaker Godfrey Ho in the 1980s.
From Hollywood to Spaghetti Westerns
Born in Salt Lake City on May 26, 1936, Harrison moved to Hollywood at 17 and initially found work in small roles and as a model in beefcake magazines. He worked at gyms owned by bodybuilders Vic Tanny and Bert Goodrich and took acting lessons at Fox under Sandy Meisner. His early film appearances included Kronos, Jeanne Eagels, Too Much, Too Soon, South Pacific, and Tall Story.
Harrison eventually headed to Italy, where he found the kind of leading man opportunities that had eluded him in Hollywood. He broke out as a sword-and-sandal star with The Invincible Gladiator in 1962 and went on to appear in films like Avenger of the Seven Seas, Gladiator 7, and The Two Gladiators.
He also became a familiar face in spaghetti Westerns, starring Gunfight in the Red Sands, which featured a score by legendary composer Ennio Morricone. Harrison later claimed that he turned down Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars but recommended Clint Eastwood for the role that made Eastwood an international star.
Harrison continued working steadily in European genre movies through the 1960s and 1970s, appearing in Westerns, action movies, spy films, and other low budget productions. While making the Vincent Price adventure film Master of the World in 1961, he met castmate Loretta Nicholson, the daughter of producer James H. Nicholson of American International Pictures. The two married that same year.
Richard Harrison and Godfrey Ho’s Ninja Movies
By the 1980s, Harrison had found another unusual chapter in his career in Hong Kong. He worked with filmmaker Godfrey Ho on a series of low budget ninja movies, often playing a character known as Ninja Master Gordon. The films included Ninja Terminator, Ninja Dragon, Ninja: The Protector, Ninja: Silent Assassin, Ninja Operation: Licensed to Terminate, The Ninja Showdown, and Ninja Powerforce.
Harrison’s association with Ho was especially strange because Ho was known for his cut-and-paste filmmaking techniques. Footage featuring Harrison was reused and incorporated into additional movies, meaning Harrison could turn up in films he had not actually made in the traditional sense. His ninja movies have since developed a substantial cult following. It has been said that Harrison only signed up to work on a couple of ninja films, but Ho spliced his footage into at least twenty of them, all of which had Harrison credited as the star.
Harrison’s career eventually stretched across more than 100 films, and he also worked as a writer, director and producer. His later credits included Terminal Force, Highway to Hell, Empire of the Dark, The Channeler, and Angel Eyes. He continued acting into the 1990s and made his final feature film appearance in Jerks in 2000.
A Life Beyond the Movies
According to Borsten, Harrison regularly hosted dinner parties for his Hollywood and European friends, with the evenings ending in what she called “pasta at midnight.” His circle included such figures as fellow sword-and-sandal star Steve Reeves, director George Cukor, actor Franco Nero, writer Gore Vidal, actor Troy Donahue, Tab Hunter, screenwriter Stewart Stern, and Italian musical duo Al Bano and Romina Power.
In 1985, Harrison also played a role in one of the Cold War’s stranger Hollywood stories. He helped Soviet actor Oleg Vidov, known as the “Russian Robert Redford,” defect at the U.S. embassy in Rome. Vidov and Borsten married in 1989 and remained together until Vidov’s death in 2017.
Harrison returned to Los Angeles in 1986. He and his second wife, Francesca, bought a run-down Malibu property overlooking the Pacific and transformed it into a home they called “Villa Francesca.” The house was later destroyed in the Palisades Fire in 2025.
Harrison and Francesca married in 1978. He is survived by his wife and three of his four children.
For all the wild ninja movies, spaghetti Westerns, and sword-and-sandal adventures that made Richard Harrison a cult film favorite, his career was only one part of an eventful life. He traveled the world, built friendships across the entertainment industry, helped a Soviet actor escape to the West, and apparently knew how to throw a dinner party that would really get rolling when the pasta came out at midnight. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Richard Harrison’s family, friends, and fans.
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