An uncanny screen presence, handsome yet otherworldly, Lemoine had been acting in films for more than 15 years when he got his first real starring role in Romano Ferrara's PLANETS AGAINST US (1962). He also starred in the first features by Jose Benazeraf, SIN ON THE BEACH, NIGHT OF LUST and JOE CALIGULA, which initiated his continuing interest in erotic cinema, while also playing the villain in Mario Bava's first western THE ROAD TO FORT ALAMO (1964); in an interview, he remembered his incredulity at working with Bava, one of his heroes, and plaguing him with all manner of fannish questions at the end of each work day.
Later in the 1960s, he worked in two of the Gamma I films by Antonio Margheriti, and he and his one-time wife Janine Reynaud worked together in Jess Franco's SUCCUBUS, KISS ME MONSTER and SADISTEROTICA (now known as TWO UNDERCOVER ANGELS, in which he played Franco's recurring character Morpho). The image above, from SUCCUBUS, finds Franco proposing Lemoine's mind-controlling character as a "new" Aurora monster hobby kit meant to accessorize a new era of post-modern fantasy cinema; it's still one of the most brilliant and hilarious moments I've ever seen in a movie. Lemoine's many other films of interest include THE CASTLE OF CREEPING FLESH, FRUSTRATION (also by Benazeraf), SEVEN WOMEN FOR SATAN (which he directed) and numerous erotic films, some of which he helmed under the aliases John Armando and Michel Leblanc.
One of the most extraordinary faces of the Eurofantastique, and one of its biggest fans, he will be missed.
