Terence Hill and Bud Spencer
Terence Hill (born 1939) and Bud Spencer (1929–2016) are Italian actors who made numerous action-comedy and Spaghetti Western films together. They "garnered world acclaim and attracted millions to theater seats". While Hill's characters were agile and youthful, Spencer always played the "phlegmatic, grumpy strong-arm man with a blessed, naive child's laughter and a golden heart". Background Hill and Spencer's birth names are Mario Girotti and Carlo Pedersoli, respectively. They first worked together under their real names in Hannibal (1959), but not as a duo, as they only appeared in supporting roles and had no scenes in common. Their first movie as a duo was God Forgives... I Don't! Peter Martell was originally chosen as the leading actor next to Spencer, but the day before the first shoot Martell broke his foot and was replaced by Hill, which launched their partnership. The film director asked the two actors to change their names, deeming them to be too Italian-sounding for a Western movie. At the time cast and crew in Italian Westerns frequently adopted American names to give the film a better chance of selling in non-Italian speaking countries; Girotti changed his name to "Terence Hill" and Pedersoli chose "Bud Spencer", with Bud inspired by Budweiser beer and Spencer by the actor Spencer Tracy. History Most of their early films were "Spaghetti Westerns", beginning with God Forgives... I Don't! (1967), the first part of a trilogy, followed by Ace High (1968) and Boot Hill (1969). They had a huge hit with the comedy Western They Call Me Trinity (1970). When the film was first announced, Peter Martell was set to play Trinity and George Eastman Bambino. The two characters were later portrayed by Hill and Spencer, who became a popular comic duo following the release of God Forgives... I Don't! The sequel of They Call Me Trinity (1970), Trinity Is Still My Name (1971), was even more popular than the original. The film was a huge financial success, becoming the top-grossing Italian film up to then, with 14,554,172 admissions in Italy - a distinction previously held by its predecessor, They Call Me Trinity. With 12,267,000 viewers, this movie is the seventh most successful film in Germany to date. The film also had a successful release in the USA. Troublemakers (1994), their last screen pairing, were in the same genre. Hill played the title swashbuckler in Blackie the Pirate (1971), in which Spencer had a small role. Filming for this film took place shortly after the filming for They Call Me Trinity (1970) ended and before that movie was released and it became known how successful that movie, and its formula, would become. Shortly after filming for Blackie the Pirate (1971) was finished, the production for Trinity Is Still My Name (1971) started. ... All the Way, Boys! (1972) was the first film set in a modern context, although many other slapstick elements of the earlier films were carried over. They starred in more non-Westerns: Watch Out, We're Mad! (1974), Two Missionaries (1974),