Terence Hill (born
Mario Girotti on 29 March 1939) is an Italian
actor. He is best known for starring in
multiple action and western films (so-called
spaghetti westerns) together with his long
time partner
Bud Spencer.
Biography
Hill was
born in Venice,
Italy
. As a child he lived in the small town of
Lommatzsch
, Germany
from 1943 to
1945, during World War II, surviving
the Dresden Bombing.
His mother
was German, his father an Italian
chemist.After being discovered by Italian filmmaker
Dino Risi for
Vacanze col Gangster
(
Holiday with the Gangster, 1951) at an early age of 12,
he had, after 27 movies in Italy (including
Gli sbandati), a major
film-role in
Luchino Visconti's
The Leopard (
Il
Gattopardo, 1963). In 1964 he returned to Germany and there
appeared in a series of
Heimatfilmen,
adventure and
western films, made after
novels by German author
Karl May. In 1967,
he returned to Italy to act in
God Forgives, I don't (
Dio
perdona... Io no!, 1968). He changed his name to
Terence Hill in the same year. The name was made up, as a publicity
stunt, by the film producers; he had to choose from a list of
twenty names and picked the one with his mother's initials. In a
Q&A, he dismissed as a journalist's invention the rumour that
it might have been taken from the Roman playwright
Terence and his wife's surname (his wife was Lori
Zwicklbauer; she later took her husband's surname).
In the following years, he starred in many action and
Spaghetti Westerns together with his long
time partner
Bud Spencer. The pair were
notable for their comedy films, successful not only in Italy, but
also abroad. They made a large number of
Italian Westerns and other films together.
Many of these have alternate titles, depending upon the country and
distributor. Possibly their most famous film is the 1971 western
Lo chiamavano Trinità (
They Call Me Trinity) and the 1972
sequel
Continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità (
Trinity Is STILL My Name!) He
has stated in interviews that
Il mio nome è Nessuno
(
My Name Is Nobody, 1973)
in which he co-starred with the American
Henry Fonda, is his personal favorite of all his
films.
His first American films were
Mr. Billion and
March or Die (both 1977), after
which he divided his time between Italy and the US.
Hill's adopted son Ross was killed in an accident in New Mexico in
1990 while the actor was preparing to film
Lucky Luke on the Bonanza Creek Ranch near
Santa Fe. Hill later went on to a successful television career in
Italy. In 2000, he landed the leading role in the Italian
television series
Don Matteo, as
a crimefighting
parish priest.
Filmography
- Vacanze col gangster (1951)
- Villa Borghese (1953)
- La voce del silenzio (1953)
- Divisione Folgore (1954)
- Gli sbandati (1955)
- La vena d'oro (1955)
- I vagabondi delle stelle (1956)
- Mamma sconosciuta (1956)
- Lazzarella (1957)
- Guaglione (1957)
- La grande strada azzurra (1957)
- La spada e la croce (1958)
- Novelliere: The picture of Dorian Gray, Il (1958,
TV)
- Anna di Brooklyn (1958)
- Cerasella (1959, as Mario Girotti)
- Spavaldi e innamorati (1959)
- Padrone delle ferriere, Il (1959)
- Giuseppe venduto dai fratelli (1960)
- Militare e mezzo, Un (1960)
- Cartagine in fiamme (1960)
- Annibal (1960)
- Juke box urli d'amore (1960)
- Pecado de amor
- Le meraviglie di Aladino(1961)
- Giorno più corto, Il (1962)
- Dominatore dei sette mari, Il (1962)
- Gattopardo, Il (1963)
- Winnetou - 2.
Teil (1964)
- Among Vultures
(1964)
- Duell vor Sonnenuntergang (1965)
- Schüsse im Dreivierteltakt (1965)
- Der Ölprinz (1965)
- Ruf der Wälder (1965)
- Old Surehand (1965)
- Die Nibelungen, Teil 1: Siegfried (1966)
- Rita nel West (1967)
- La feldmarescialla (1967)
- Io non protesto, io amo (1967, as Mario Girotti)
- Die Nibelungen, Teil 2: Kriemhilds Rache (1967)
- Dio perdona... Io no! (1967)
- Preparati la bara! (1968)
- I quattro dell'Ave Maria (1968)
- Barbagia (1969)
- La collina degli
stivali (1969)
- La collera del vento (1970)
- They Call Me
Trinity (1970)
- Il Corsaro nero
(1971)
- Trinity Is STILL My
Name! (1971)
- Più forte,
ragazzi! (1972)
- Vero e il falso, Il (1972)
- E poi lo
chiamarono il magnifico (distributed in English as Man
of the East, 1972)
- Il mio nome è Nessuno
(My Name Is Nobody, 1973)
- Porgi l'altra guancia (1974)
- Altrimenti ci
arrabbiamo (1974)
- A Genius, Two
Partners and a Dupe (1975)
- Due superpiedi quasi piatti, I (Crime
Busters, 1976)
- Mr. Billion (1977)
- March or Die
(1977)
- Pari e dispari
(1978)
- Io sto con gli
ippopotami (1979)
- Poliziotto
superpiù (Superfuzz, 1980)
- Chi trova un
amico, trova un tesoro (1981)
- Don Camillo (1983)
- Nati con la camicia
(1983)
- Non c'è due senza
quattro - Double
Trouble (1984)
- Miami Supercops
(1985)
- Renegade (1987)
- Lucky
Luke (10 episodes, 1993)
- Botte di Natale
(1994)
- Cyberflic (1997)
- L'uomo che sognava con le aquile (2006, TV)
- "Don Matteo" .... Don Matteo (120 episodes, 2000-2008)
- L'uomo che cavalcava nel buio (2008)
- Doc West (2009)
References
- Question 29.
External links