Mario Girotti (born 29 March 1939 in Venice), better known as Terence Hill, is an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer.
Filmmaker Dino Risi noticed him at a swimming meet at the age of 12 and made him a child actor, appearing in Risi's Il viale della speranza in 1953. He would get his first leading role in Guaglione in 1956. The 1967 Spaghetti Western God Forgives... I Don't! paired him for the first time with one Carlo Pedersoli, better known as Bud Spencer, and a prolific screen collaboration between the two would ensue. They became friends and ended up headlining seventeen movies together, mostly spaghetti westerns and action comedies.
He chose an American pseudonym for himself to give the films he starred in a better chance of selling in English speaking countries. He took "Hill" from his wife's mother's name and "Terence" from a book on Roman poets.
A Beat 'em Up video game titled Slaps and Beans has been made in homage to Spencer and Hill's most famous collaborations.
Partial filmography:
- Winnetou II (1964)
- God Forgives... I Don't! (1967)
- Ace High (1968)
- They Call Me Trinity (1971)
- Trinity Is STILL My Name! (1972)
- My Name Is Nobody (1973)
- Watch Out, We're Mad! (1974)
- Go For It (1983)
- Don Camillo (1983, also directed, written and produced by him)
- Lucky Luke (1991, also directed and produced by him)
His roles provide examples of:
- Fat and Skinny: Whenever he paired up with Bud Spencer, he played the lithe, athletic guy next to Spencer's big burly guy.
- Fragile Speedster: Again paired with Bud Spencer, where Spencer's fighting style was Mighty Glacier, Hill's character would bob and weave through the melee, dodging everything coming his way and deal out quick punches.
- Odd Couple: Stock part of his movies with Bud Spencer, as the two almost always played stock characters: Bud's characters tend to be level-headed, talk little and are content to take things slow and steady. Hill's characters are often quick-witted talkers, and usually his eagerness to jump in the middle of a situation and drag Bud along is what sets off the plot.
- Production Posse: Many of his action comedies with Bud Spencer were directed by Enzo Barboni.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Bud Spencer's blue.
