Gus Mercurio
Augustino Eugenio " Gus" Mercurio OAM ( born August 10, 1928 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, † December 7, 2010 in Melbourne, Victoria) was an Australian film actor and boxer.
Life
Gus Mercurio's parents Vincent and Ceil Mercurio were originally from Sicily and deserved to be a fruit and vegetable merchant in Milwaukee their livelihood. Gus Mercurio had three siblings. 1935, when Gus was seven years old, his father left the family. In the coming years the family Mercurio often had to fight for child support payments from the father's side. Gus Mercurio even began to work as an amateur boxer in his early years, and met in over 100 fights among other things, Rocky Graziano and Pete Mead.
1945, at the age of 17 years, Mercurio joined the merchant navy, and three years later, in 1948, a soldier in the United States Marine Corps. After his military service continued Mercurio his work as a boxer gone, even turned pro, and then fought about 36 fights. On the advice of his chiropractor Mercurio studied at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, in the appropriate tray, and received his diploma after four years.
After working a short time in California as a chiropractor, he came in 1956 with the U.S. team at the Olympic Summer Games in Australia. Love for Down Under caused him to stay with his wife Shirley and their two children in Australia. In Ballarat Mercurio's third child was born. But the marriage failed; Shirley moved with the three children back to the U.S.. Mercurio moved to Swan Hill, where he began to work as a chiropractor, and founded a boxer club for boys and young men. Gus Mercurio has rendered outstanding services to the sport of boxing in Australia. In 1967 he was elected Vice President of the Victorian Amateur Boxing Association. He married a second time. With his wife, Jean, he had four more children, including 1963 Paul Mercurio, who also celebrated as a film actor successes. 1968 closed the second marriage of Gus Mercurio also in divorce. Most recently, he lived with a woman named Rita in a community.
1970 Mercurios began second career - he became an actor. His film debut, he celebrated in an episode of the crime series The Long Arm. Although he took over in numerous television series and films roles, he was little known outside of Australia. In 1980 he took over in The Blue Lagoon, the first role in an internationally acclaimed film. In 1988, he was also responsible for Crocodile Dundee II in front of the camera. From 1996 to 2000 he was one of the main characters of the television series Flipper.
1989 Mercurio received Australian citizenship.
After his last film appearance, in 2008, Mercurio retired into private life. He died in December 2010 at the age of 82 years after an operation on an aneurysm.