Terence Hill was born in Venice on March 29, 1939 and christened Mario Girotti by his Italian father and German mother. He was the second of their three children. When he was two and an half years old, they left Venice to live in Lommatzsch, the Saxon town where his mother was born, and moved in with his maternal grandparents.

While living in Germany, Terence learned German as his first language, but he can recall his father reading him “The Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi” and “Saint Francis of Assisi’s The Canticle of the Creatures” to teach him Italian and values such as love and peace. Terence took these values immediately to heart, especially after surviving with his family the firebombing at the end of World War Two that destroyed nearby Dresden and other German cities. He remembers how horrible it was to be there during the bombing, so horrible that the terrible memories haunted him throughout his childhood.

When Terence was five years old, his family returned to Italy. After a few months in Venice, the Girotti family moved to Amelia in Umbria, his father’s hometown. Terence says that even at that young age he dreamed of becoming either a military

ot or an actor, even though he was not too sure what it meant to be an actor. As a child he was always very active in sports and like to read the stories of King Arthur, and any book he cold find on nature. He grew up on the John Ford’s western films and was a fanatical fan of Pecos Bill and Oklahoma. Terence recalls that as a child he had a divided soul: one was quiet and reserved, the other was hyperactive. That may explain why as an adult he has pursued a passion for very active sports like skiing and motor cross.

His mother sensed he had talent as an actor even at the young age of four, when she noticed a unique creativity in his vivacity and in his childhood games. It was when the family later moved to Rome that Terence had an opportunity to enter into the world of cinema. His mother heard from a friend that the director Dino Risi was looking for young actors for a film. She took Terence and his brother to the auditions just to see what would happen, and Terence got the part of the gang leader Gianni in the 1952 film Vacation with a Gangster. It’s interesting to note that in that period, Terence used to go swimming with the same swim team (Lazio) as Bud Spencer, who was already the well-known swimming champion Carlo Pedersoli, his real name. Terence, who was ten years younger than Carlo, was a great admirer of the champion. Interestingly, the assistant director under Dino Risi swam at the same pool, and he suggested Terence try out for a part in the Risi film, but by that time Risi had already given Terence the part, just the day before.

Terence recalls that his first acting experience was very difficult, mainly because of his perfectionism which made him wake up at dawn every morning to review his lines, petrified that he would forget them. After his first film, it was again his mother who encouraged Terence to take horseback-riding lessons and English lessons, almost as if she could foresee her son’s future. Terence says that after his first acting experience at the age of twelve, he continued to act, but without being certain it was the career for him, mainly because he was timid and, already then, valued his privacy. This is why his agents at the time were convinced that, with his character, Terence would never succeed as an actor. Terence says that what helped him the most in those following two years was attending the

who was already the well-known swimming champion Carlo Pedersoli, his real name. Terence, who was ten years younger than Carlo, was a great admirer of the champion. Interestingly, the assistant director under Dino Risi swam at the same pool, and he suggested Terence try out for a part in the Risi film, but by that time Risi had already given Terence the part, just the day before.

Terence recalls that his first acting experience was very difficult, mainly because of his perfectionism which made him wake up at dawn every morning to review his lines, petrified that he would forget them. After his first film, it was again his mother who encouraged Terence to take horseback-riding lessons and English lessons, almost as if she could foresee her son’s future. Terence says that after his first acting experience at the age of twelve, he continued to act, but without being certain it was the career for him, mainly because he was timid and, already then, valued his privacy. This is why his agents at the time were convinced that, with his character, Terence would never succeed as an actor. Terence says that what helped him the most in those following two years was attending the Actor’s Studio that Gloria Guerrieri, a student of Elia Kazan, had just opened in Rome. A real enjoyment with acting came much later, when he made the westerns with Bud Spencer and was allowed to show his lighter, more playful side. But in those early years he was offered mainly parts in films like It Happened in the Park in 1953, and Folgore Division / El Alamein in 1954, and in 1955 a prominent role in La vena d’oro. When he was eighteen, Terence was the star of Guaglione, a film inspired by the song of the same title by Claudio Villa. This is when a period of light musicals began in which he played the handsome young man who falls in love for the first time. He played this part in Lazzarella in 1957 together with the famous singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno, and again in Cerasella in 1959. In both these films Terence felt a bit left out, even if they did garner him much fame. Actually, these films were a great success with the public, especially Lazzarella which earned him the title of “Italy’s little fiancé”. But the truth was that Terence had still not decided that acting was to be his career. In 1960 Terence began at the University studying Literature. To pay for his studies, he continued to work at Cinecittà, and in the next few years, he made films in just about every genre. For example, in 1960 he made the comedy Un militare e mezzo, and the historical film Carthage in Flames. In 1961 he played prince Moluk in the film The Wonders of Aladdin, and in 1962 he was in another adventure Seven Seas to Calais. But a defining moment came in 1963. Terence got a small part in a big film, The Leopard, directed by Luchino Visconti. This experience made Terence decide to stop his University studies, already three years into his study of the classics, to dedicate himself full-time to a career as an actor.

By that time, Terence had achieved a good level of fame, but he felt typecast in teenager parts. This is why in 1964 he moved to Germany, hoping to act in the first European westerns. He remained abroad for nearly four years, acting in dozens of films, many of them westerns based on the series of books by Karl May, a German writer of wild-west stories, similar to the Italian writer Emilio Salgari. It is thanks to these films that Terence was able to leave behind the image of a young boy. However, Terence says that while he was in Germany, he sta