Rik Battaglia

Who is Rik Battaglia?

Rik Battaglia is a retired Italian film actor. He was born at Corbola, near Rovigo, Veneto.

He used mainly the stage name of Rik Battaglia although alternate names he used for his films were also Rick Austin, Riccardo Battaglia and Rick Battaglia. He would go on to appear in over 100 films from the 1955 to 1999. He went to sea at the age of 17 and worked on a freighter. He was discovered in a bar and producer Carlo Ponti hired him on the spot and signed to his first film in 1955's La donna del fiume, directed by Mario Soldati and opposite Sophia Loren. He played a cigarette smuggler who has a tempestuous love affair with a young and sexy Sophia Loren in hot pants.

He then took two years of drama classes and subsequently appeared in a number of costume and sword and sandal films. He played supporting parts in the Peplums La Gerusalemme liberata/The Mighty Crusaders, and Annibale/Hannibal. In Germany he appeared as a slave merchant in the Liane-sequel Jungle Girl and the Slaver, and he was seen in the Hollywood adventure Raw Wind in Eden. Rik Battaglia also played in Esther and the King, La giornata balorda and in the biblical epic Sodom and Gomorrah. He appeared in several adventure films as Sandokan, la tigre di Mompracem.