Turkey’s 'Count Dracula' dies aged 87

Veteran film critic Giovanni Scognamillo died Saturday at the age of 87 after a more than 60-year career documenting Turkish cinema, his assistant said.

Scognamillo -- known as one of the more eccentric characters of Istanbul's Beyoglu district because of his obsession with vampires -- died of respiratory failure in the city's Basaksehir State Hospital, Nalan Soylemez said.

A cinema historian, researcher, translator, actor and artist, Scognamillo was born in Istanbul in 1929 to an Italian Levantine family.

With his tapered black fingernails and black cloak, Scognamillo dressed and described himself as a vampire and staged exhibitions of vampire paintings at his home.

A documentary titled Giovanni Scognamillo: A Levantine in Beyoglu was released in 2006.