Terence Hill

Terence Hill (born Mario Girotti; 29 March 1939) is an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He began his career as a child actor and gained international fame for starring roles in action and comedy films, many with his long-time film partner and friend Bud Spencer. During the height of his popularity, Hill was among Italy’s highest-paid actors.

His most widely seen films include comic and standard spaghetti Westerns, some based on popular novels by German author Karl May about the Wild West. Of these, the most famous are Lo chiamavano Trinità (They Call Me Trinity, 1970); …continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità (Trinity Is Still My Name, 1971), the highest grossing Italian film at that time; and Il mio nome è Nessuno (My Name Is Nobody, 1973), co-starring Henry Fonda. Hill also went on to a successful television career in Italy, most notably playing the title character in the long-running Rai 1 series Don Matteo from 2000 until 2022.

Hill was born on 29 March 1939 in Venice, Italy. Hill’s mother, Hildegard Girotti (née Thieme), was from Dresden, Germany; his father, Girolamo Girotti, was Italian from Amelia, Umbria, and a chemist by occupation. During his childhood, Hill lived in the small town of Lommatzsch, Saxony. As a child, he experienced the bombing of Dresden, which was traumatic for him. He was there up to the End of World War II in Europe.

He was discovered at the age of 12 by Italian filmmaker Dino Risi at a swimming meet, and he became a child actor, appearing in Risi’s Vacation with a Gangster (1951) as Gianni, the orphan gang leader. “They were looking for a boy gang leader and they found me”, he later said.

He had small roles in Voice of Silence (1953) with Jean Marais, Too Young for Love (1953), and It Happened in the Park (1953). He was in Golden Vein (1954) with Märta Torén and Richard Basehart, The Abandoned (1955) and Folgore Division (1955).

Girotti had his first lead in Guaglione (1956). He could also be seen in Mamma sconosciuta (1956), I vagabondi delle stelle (1956), La grande strada azzurra (1956) with Yves Montand and Alida Valli, and Lazzarella (1957).

Girotti did Anna of Brooklyn (1958) with Gina Lollobrigida, The Sword and the Cross (1958) with Yvonne de Carlo (playing Lazarus of Bethany), and a TV version of The Picture of Dorian Gray (1958).

He had support parts in Il padrone delle ferriere (1959) with Virna Lisi, Juke box – Urli d’amore (1959), and Hannibal (1959) with Victor Mature and Carlo Pedersoli, who would later become known as Bud Spencer. Girotti had the lead roles in Spavaldi e innamorati (1959) and Cerasella (1959), a teen comedy.

It was back to support roles with Carthage in Flames (1960), Un militare e mezzo (1960), and The Story of Joseph and His Brethren (1961) with Geoffrey Horne and Robert Morley, directed by Irving Rapper.

Girotti had support parts in The Wonders of Aladdin (1961) with Donald O’Connor and directed by Henry Levin and Mario Bava, Pecado de amor (1961), Seven Seas to Calais (1962) with Rod Taylor, and The Shortest Day (1963). …

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