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