Early life and career

Hill was born on 29 March 1939 in Venice, Italy. Hill's mother, Hildegard Girotti (née Thieme), was a German, from Dresden; his father, Girolamo Girotti, was Italian, and a chemist by occupation.

Hill lived in the small town of Lommatzsch, Germany, during his childhood years, including during the end of World War II, 1943-1945, and survived the Dresden Bombing.

He was discovered by Italian filmmaker Dino Risi at a swimming meet at the age of 12, and became a child actor, appearing in Vacanze col Gangster (Holiday with the Gangster, 1951). His early roles also included Gli sbandati (The Abandoned, 1955).

Career as an adult

At one time among Italy's highest-paid actors, Hill's most widely seen films include comic and standard Westerns all´ Italiana ("Italian style Westerns," also known as "Spaghetti Westerns"), some based on popular novels by German author Karl May about the American West.

After 27 movies in Italy, Hill secured a major film role in Luchino Visconti's The Leopard (Il Gattopardo, 1963).

In 1964, he returned to Germany and there appeared in a series of Heimatfilmen, adventure and western films, made after novels by German author Karl May.

In 1967, he returned to Italy to act in God Forgives... I Don't! (Dio perdona... Io no!, 1968). His film Django, Prepare a Coffin was also shot in 1968, by director Ferdinando Baldi; it co-starred Horst Frank and George Eastman (and would be featured, much later, at the 64a La Biennale di Venezia (64th Venice Film Festival, in 2007).

Hill changed his name from Mario Girotti to Terence Hill the same year, a name made up as a publicity stunt by the film producers; he had to choose from a list of twenty names and picked the one with his mother's initials. In a question and answer session, he dismissed as a journalist's invention the rumor that it might have been taken from the Roman playwright Terence and his wife's surname. (His wife's maiden name was Zwicklbauer.)

In the following years, he starred in many action and Spaghetti Westerns, together with longtime colleague and friend Bud Spencer. The pair made a large number of Italian Westerns and other films together, and were notable for their comedy films, successful not only in Italy, but also abroad. Many of these have alternate titles, depending upon the country and distributor. Possibly their most famous film is the 1971 western Lo chiamavano Trinità (They Call Me Trinity) and the 1972 sequel Continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità (Trinity Is Still My Name). Hill has stated in interviews that Il mio nome è Nessuno (My Name Is Nobody, 1973), in which he co-starred with Henry Fonda, is his personal favorite of all his films.

His first American films were Mr. Billion and March or Die (both 1977), after which he divided his time between Italy and the US.

Hill later went on to a television career in Italy; in 2000, he landed the leading role in the Italian television series Don Matteo, about an inspirational parish priest who assists the Carabinieri in solving crimes local to his community. This role earned Hill an international "Outstanding Actor of the Year" award at the Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo 42e (42nd Monte Carlo Television Festival), alongside ones for the series, and for producer Alessandro Jacchia at that festival.

In the summer of 2010, Hill filmed another Italian television series for the Italian state television channel Rai Uno, this time entitled Un passo dal cielo (One Step from Heaven), playing a local chief of the foresters in the region of Alto Adige, the Italian Tyrol, with a second season filmed in 2012.

Personal life

He was married to Lori Hill née Zwicklbauer.

Hill had an adoptive son, Ross, who was killed in an accident in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1990 while the actor was preparing to film Lucky Luke (1991) on the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Filmography

Actor

• Vacanze col gangster (Vacation with a Gangster, 1951)
• Un Amore per te (1952)
• La voce del silenzio (Voice of Silence, 1953)
• Villa Borghese (It Happened in the Park, 1953)
• Divisione Folgore (Folgore Division, 1954)
• Gli sbandati (Abandoned, 1955)
• La vena d'oro (1955)
• I vagabondi delle stelle (1956)
• Mamma sconosciuta (1956)
• Lazzarella (1957)
• Guaglione (1957)
• La grande strada azzurra (The Wide Blue Road, 1957)
• La spada e la croce (The Sword and the Cross, 1958)
• Il Novelliere: Il ritratto di Dorian Gray (1958, TV)
• Anna di Brooklyn (Anna of Brooklyn, 1958)
• Cerasella (1959)
• Spavaldi e innamorati (1959)
• Il padrone delle ferriere (1959)
• Primo Amore (1959)
• Giuseppe venduto dai fratelli (The Story of Joseph and His Brethren, 1960)
• Un militare e mezzo (1960)
• Cartagine in fiamme (Carthage in Flames, 1960)
• Annibale (Hannibal, 1960)
• Juke box urli d'amore (1960)
• Pecado de amor
• Le meraviglie di Aladino (The Wonders of Aladdin, 1961)
• Il Giorno più corto (The Shortest Day, 1962)
• Il Dominatore dei sette mari (Seven Seas to Calais, 1962)
• Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963)
• Winnetou - 2. Teil (Last of the Renegades, 1964)
• Unter Geiern (Among Vultures, 1964)
• Duell vor Sonnenuntergang (Duel at Sundown, 1965)
• Schüsse im Dreivierteltakt (Shots in Threequarter Time, 1965)
• Der Ölprinz (1965)
• Ruf der Wälder (1965)
• Old Surehand (Flaming Frontier, 1965)
• Die Nibelungen, Teil 1: Siegfried (1966)
• Little Rita nel West (Rita of the West, 1967)
• La Feldmarescialla (The Crazy Kids of the War, 1967)
• Io non protesto, io amo (1967)
• Die Nibelungen, Teil 2: Kriemhilds Rache (1967)
• Dio perdona... Io no! (God Forgives... I Don't!, 1967)
• Preparati la bara! (Django, Prepare the Coffin, 1968)
• I quattro dell'Ave Maria (Ace High, 1968)
• Barbagia (The Tough and the Mighty, 1969)
• La collina degli stivali (Boot Hill, 1969)
• The Wind's Fierce (1970)
• Lo chiamavano Trinità (They Call Me Trinity, 1970)
• Il corsaro nero (Blackie the Pirate, 1971)
• ...continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità (Trinity Is Still My Name, 1971)
• Più forte, ragazzi! (All the Way, Boys, 1972)
• Il vero e il falso (The Hassled Hooker, 1972)
• E poi lo chiamarono il magnifico (Man of the East, 1972)
• Il mio nome è Nessuno (My Name Is Nobody, 1973)
• Porgi l'altra guancia (Two Missionaries, 1974)
• ...altrimenti ci arrabbiamo (Watch Out, We're Mad!, 1974)
• Un genio, due compari, un pollo (A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe, 1975)
• I due superpiedi quasi piatti (Crime Busters, 1977)
• Mr. Billion (1977)
• March or Die (1977)
• Pari e dispari (Odds and Evens, 1978)
• Io sto con gli ippopotami (I'm with the Hippos, 1979)
• Poliziotto superpiù (Super Fuzz, 1980)
• Chi trova un amico, trova un tesoro (A Friend Is a Treasure, 1981)
• Nati con la camicia (Go for It, 1983)
• Don Camillo (The World of Don Camillo, 1983)
• Non c'è due senza quattro (Double Trouble, 1984)
• Miami Supercops - I poliziotti dell'ottava strada (Miami Supercops, 1985)
• Renegade - Un osso troppo duro (They Call Me Renegade, 1987)
• Lucky Luke (1991)
• Lucky Luke (8 episodes, 1992)
• Botte di Natale (Troublemakers, 1994)
• Virtual Weapon (Cyberflick, 1997)
• Don Matteo (10 seasons/194 episodes, 2000-2016)
• L'uomo che sognava con le aquile (2006, TV)
• L'uomo che cavalcava nel buio (2009)
• Doc West (2009)
• Un passo dal cielo (46 episodes, 2010-2015)

Director

He has directed several films as well as several television productions.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]