He was in Golden Vein (1954) with Märta Torén and Richard Basehart, The Abandoned (1955) and Folgore Division (1955). He had small roles in Voice of Silence (1953) with Jean Marais, Too Young for Love (1953), and It Happened in the Park (1953), and had a particularly good part in Vacation with a Gangster (1953) with an imported star, Marc Lawrence. "They were looking for a boy gang leader and they found me," he later said. He was discovered by Italian filmmaker Dino Risi at a swimming meet at the age of 12, and became a child actor, appearing in Risi's Il viale della speranza (1953), billed as "Girolamo Girotti". He was there through the end of World War II (1943–1945) and survived the Bombing of Dresden.
ĭuring his childhood, Hill lived in the small town of Lommatzsch, Saxony. Hill's mother, Hildegard Girotti ( née Thieme), was German, from Dresden his father, Girolamo Girotti, was Italian, and a chemist by occupation. Hill was born on 29 March 1939 in Venice, Italy. Hill, whose stage name was the product of a publicity stunt by film producers, also went on to a successful television career in Italy. His film Django, Prepare a Coffin, shot in 1968 by director Ferdinando Baldi, and co-starring Horst Frank and George Eastman, was featured at the 64th Venice Film Festival in 2007. Of these, the most famous are Lo chiamavano Trinità ( They Call Me Trinity, 1970) …continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità (… they kept calling him Trinity, 1971), the highest grossing Italian film to date and Il mio nome è Nessuno ( My Name Is Nobody, 1973), co-starring Henry Fonda. Hill's most widely seen films include comic and standard Westerns all'Italiana ("Italian-style Westerns", colloquially called " Spaghetti Westerns"), some based on popular novels by German author Karl May about the Wild West. During the height of his popularity Hill was among Italy's highest-paid actors. Hill started his career as a child actor and gained international fame for starring roles in action and comedy films, many with longtime film partner and friend Bud Spencer. Terence Hill (born Mario Girotti 29 March 1939) is an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer.