Terence Hill

Hill was born on 29 March 1939 in Venice, Italy. Hill's mother, Hildegard Girotti (née Thieme), was from Dresden, Germany; his father, Girolamo Girotti, was Italian from Amelia, Umbria, and a chemist by occupation. During his childhood, Hill lived in the small town of Lommatzsch, Saxony. As a child, he experienced the bombing of Dresden, which was traumatic for him. He was there up to the End of World War II in Europe.

He was discovered at the age of 12 by Italian filmmaker Dino Risi at a swimming meet, and he became a child actor, appearing in Risi's Vacation with a Gangster (1951) as Gianni, the orphan gang leader. "They were looking for a boy gang leader and they found me", he later said.

He had small roles in Voice of Silence (1953) with Jean Marais, Too Young for Love (1953), and It Happened in the Park (1953). He was in Golden Vein (1954) with Märta Torén and Richard Basehart, The Abandoned (1955) and Folgore Division (1955).

Girotti had his first lead in Guaglione (1956). He could also be seen in Mamma sconosciuta (1956), I vagabondi delle stelle (1956), La grande strada azzurra (1956) with Yves Montand and Alida Valli, and Lazzarella (1957).