GIROTTI, MARIO

(1939-)

Actor. Born in Italy of an Italian father and a German mother, Girotti was first enticed into the film industry at the age of 12 byDino Risi, who gave him a small part inVazanze col gangster(Vacation with a Gangster, 1951). He then went on to study classics at the University of Rome but soon abandoned academic studies in order to act in films.

After minor roles inMauro Bolognini'sLa vena d'oro(The Golden Vein, 1955) andGillo Pontecorvo'sLa grande strada azzurra(The Wide Blue Road, 1957), he appeared as Count Cavriaghi inLuchino Visconti'sIl gattopardo(The Leopard, 1963).There followed a drift toward the European Western, first with parts in a number of the German Westerns adapted from the novels of Karl May, which includedWinnetou 2.Teil(Winnetou:Last of the Renegades, 1964), directed by Harald Reinl, andDer Olprinz(Rampage at Apache Wells, 1965), directed by Harald Philipp, and then with a small role in the Italian musical WesternRita nel West(Crazy Westerners, 1967). This led to the role of Cat Stevens inDio perdona. . .io no(God Forgives. . .I Don't, 1967), the first film in which he adopted the Anglo-Saxon pseudonymTerence Hill, and teamed up withBud Spencer. As Hill, and with Spencer, he went on to make a long series of knockabout comedies beginning withLo chiamavano Trinita(My Name Is Trinity, 1971) and continuing with . . .continuavano a chiamarlo Trinita(Trinity Is Still My Name, 1972), andAltrimenti ci arrabbiamo(Watch Out! We're Mad, 1974).

Having achieved an international reputation with the Trinity films, in the mid-1970s Girotti moved to Hollywood, where he madeMarch or Die(1977) with Gene Hackman andMr.Billion(1977), directed by Jonathan Kaplan. After directing himself in an updated version ofDon Camillo(The World of Don Camillo, 1983) and following the death of his teenage son in a car accident, Hill largely withdrew from the cinema for a number of years but returned to prominence playing the popular priest-detective in the long-running Italian television seriesDon Matteo(2000-2006).