5. John Fordyce was Dino

 

DINO is the oldest and the tallest, blond-haired, blue-eyed and with a perpetual set to the jaw. It is as though he has to constantly restrain himself from throwing a punch at Aldo, with whom he frequently shares the screen. He is older brother to Mario and Maria and appears to have a close or familial connection with Giorgio (Daniel Dempsey) who is often (albeit unobtrusively) by his side. 

He is the cool-headed check to the mercurial Aldo. He is disgusted by the attempted rape and tells Aldo so, no doubt distancing himself from the role he played in it. He sabotages Aldo’s tale of the girl in Venice by referring to a fact they both know. The two boys appear to go a long way back; perhaps he is familiar with Aldo’s ticks and knows the leader’s tipping point, as well as his own.

He is not Aldo’s second in command. Their relationship is too complicated for that. Aldo speaks to him harshly (as he does to Luigi, Silvio, Tekko, Carlo and undoubtedly the rest) but never entrusts charge of the group to him. Aldo is annoyed when Dino receives a compliment from Turner for his scouting skills: it’s implied that Turner prefers to do business with the more mature and reliable teenager. Dino is Turner's choice for his second-in-command. 

Perhaps Dino knows Aldo too well to attempt to gain authority over the gang. They have guns, and Aldo has his loyal followers among the bigger boys. Dino, who has family that will need looking after, has a lot to lose should things go wrong. 

***

Here’s an excerpt of a New York Times article by Alfred Friendly Jr., dated Feb. 1, 1970 (“Mama Mia! Rome Is No Place to Be a Movie Star”):

… John Fordyce, on the other hand, seems to be making it. A 19‐year‐old American with a shag of blond hair, a gleam of even teeth, a lithe, athletic build and a minimal capacity for introspection, John has the advantage of having lived for years in Rome and of knowing the territory. He was “discovered” in 1967 at the chic, free‐form swimming pool of the Parco Dei Principi Hotel and sent off to Yugoslavia for a screen test and then the lead role in director Andrezej Wajda's “Gates of Paradise,” a still unreleased success at film festivals in Berlin and San Francisco.

John's next break came last year, as a result of his friendship with a chauffeur who often drives visiting film people. “I walked into the Colony Restaurant on the Via. Veneto, and my friend introduced me to the director he was driving that day and gave me a big build‐up as an actor.” He soon had a supporting role as the leader of a band of war orphans in a Rock Hudson‐Sylva Koscina movie called “The Hornet's Nest.”

John recently signed with the William Morris Agency and has four lines and fourth billing in a low‐budget Warner Brothers film called “Invasion,” which is being made at Cinecitta. On the set the other day he reflected, “I like fantasy. I always wanted to be Tarzan when I was a little boy. The best part in ‘The Hornet's Nest’ for me is where we kids get hold of machine guns and mow down about a thousand Germans.”

He is serious about being an actor, studies Stanislayski without yet understanding all of it and is a patient watcher of everything that goes on around him. About starting a film career in Italy, he is philosophical. “If they like your character here, you'll do fine, but it's not your talent that counts. That's where I'm lucky, because I was sort of brought up with these people. There are so many great actors here who can't get anywhere and a lot of bad ones doing really well. I haven't really had any experience, but here I am, working when others aren't.”

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/02/01/archives/mama-mia-rome-is-no-place-to-be-a-movie-star-rome-no-place-to-be-a.html