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For years he was the most famous Italian "cowboy". His debut at age 12 was with Dino Risi in the 1952 movie "Vacanze col gangester". He was born in Venice in 1939 and in the 1950's Mario Girotti (stage name Terence Hill) started working with important directors such as Mauro Bolognini ("The gold vein") and Gillo Pontecorvo ("La grande strada azzurra"). In 1963 he played the young Northern officer in Luchino Visconti's masterpiece "Il gattopardo". He became very popular with his "spaghetti westerns" and for years was the leading actor of this genre. "Dio perdona io no" (1967), "I quattro dell'Ave Maria" (1968), "La collina degli stivali" (1969), all three directed by Giuseppe Colizzi; the famous "Lo chiamavano Trinità" (1970) and "Continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità" (1971), directed by E.B. Clucher (Enzo Barboni) are only a few examples.
He and Bud Spencer worked together on so many films that they have become the most famous couple on the Italian film scene.
In 1973, he co-starred with Henry Fonda in "Il mio nome è Nessuno", directed by Sergio Leone. During this time he also worked on French, German, English and American movies. In 1984 he started his directing career with "Don Camillo", a character he was very fond of. He moved to Santa Fè, New Mexico and in 1992 created the TV series "Lucky Luke", in wich he stars as the famous cowboy of the comic strip created by Morris and Goscinny. After a 10 year absence, he returned to Italy in 1994 to work with Bud Spencer in "Botte di Natale" which he also directed.
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