El Pais
Julio Ocampo
July 21, 2015
Along with Terence Hill he formed the most popular film
couple of the Italian cinema of the 1970s and 1980s, but before that he was an
Olympic swimmer and a car salesman. Now he launches his memoir.
Budweiser beer lover and follower of Spencer Tracy, Carlo
Pedersoli (Naples, 1925) with a scratch preserves is almost two meters tall and
140 kilos of history, kindness, humor and generosity. Every day, at his home in
Rome, he receives hundreds and hundreds of letters from all over the world
asking for a response or a signed photo. Fans who added to their requests the
money to the myth not spend a lyre on stamps. Just over a year ago he was about
to die, but as fate would have it he was allowed to live again. Or rather,
never stop. His breathy voice is reconstructed with its own silences, intuitive
and biased. His infinite and exaggerated hands do nothing but deepen the
beautiful irony of his life: Bud, in English, means rose petal.
Let's start from the end. You are singer and writer. Lasciatemi go (Let me go) is his latest book. What is meant by the title?
I’ve lost some memory, but I'm already on my fourth book.
What I want is to be left alone, because everyone always tells me to do
something. I believe in the eternal father, and when he has to come my time
will come. But I do not want you to ask me to reach incredible heights, because
I'm a normal guy. I feel that stands in the way, my way. You included. I'm just
a beginner, nothing more. I need peace.
Everyone was wrong about you, then. Even those who still
believe that he is American. Is it a matter of ignorance?
No, but the truth is that I have many films in Spain with
American actors. But I think now, with 86 years, you know that I was born in
Naples.
Did you miss Naples?
No, although I do feel very Neapolitan. Unfortunately,
little remains of what I left there. It was great, but I remember that I
suffered a lot because I lived during the war, the bombing; and then in Rome
something similar with the slaughter of San Lorenzo. I recently picked up the
award of Honorary Citizen by popular demand, but everything is different. The
harshness of these times leaves its mark ... Then we went to Brazil, Venezuela,
Argentina, which was in full revolution. They hated the Americans, and I was
confused with being one of them and had to carry ID that mad it very clearly
that we were Italians
And then back to his homeland to participate in two
Olympics as a swimmer in the one hundred freestyle…
Yes, I participated in Helsinki 1952 and Mexico 1956. I
was the first Italian to lose a minute and think twenty times won the
championship of Italy. Even my friend Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) congratulated
me several times. It was incredible, but I won. I was selected to play with the
water polo champions of the world, although I was not involved in that feat.
20 years of being an athlete until you entered films at
37, perhaps too late. How did you convince your father?
I married Maria Amato, my guardian angel, 56 years ago.
It was her father (Giuseppe Amato, producer of La Dolce Vita or Don Camillo)
who suggested me. I started when he died, and my first film was in 1967 (God
Forgives ... I Don’t). They needed a big man, and although at first we agreed
on an economic issue, they finally relented and accepted when they could find
no one my size.
It was his debut as an actor, because he had previously
worked in Quo Vadis ?, A Farewell to Arms and Four Flies blue velvet, with
Dario Argento. They were not your thing these genres?
I was part of a troupe, but it is that which followed
that was to make me an actor, nothing else. Terence Hill really is an actor,
because he studied, had even worked before we met. That is why we have never
discussed, even though all couples do film. He acted; I was just a presence. He
is filming three movies a year trying to always learn something new from each.
What budget shuffled?
I do not remember well, but not more than 90,000,000 lire
(46,000 euros). Nor we won a lot of us.
Mario Girotti (Terence Hill) rolled 16 films. And to
think that it was all a coincidence...
I was going to shoot a movie with Peter Martell, but the
day before he suffered an injury that prevented him from doing it. So the film
makers quickly sought another person. They chose Terence, who had worked in The
Leopard, and then he was working with Rita Pavone. From there began a
relationship which is still alive. There was never a clash of egos, because he
was an actor and prepared. I was always a beginner.
Reviewing the Trinity trilogy I have a question, are you
kind and stingy like in the movies?
The only thing I ever wanted to capture in them is
something that I struggle in real life: ending injustice. My violence was
always funny. He was the executive arm of all those minds who wanted to and cannot
rebel against the atrocities against their boss at work.
Have you been back to the desert of Tabernas (Almería)?
It does not have the glamor of Arizona or Utah, but cheaper out.
I returned to Madrid and Barcelona, but not to Almería.
There was nothing then. I remember we had to catch a train from the capital
that never happened. It was the end of a yet sparsely populated Spain. Of
course, its people were extraordinary, magnificent, true, kind, sensible,
friendly, unique. Now, as in Italy, there is much difference between north and
south. Also I shot a lot in Africa, but Spain was wonderful, affordable,
economical and nearby.
Did you know Fernando Sancho?
Number one. I also did something with him in South
America. The best of its kind without any doubt. He was valued very highly.
His westerns were all bent because the tower of Babel
that made actors, directors, filmmakers and producers. Do you know that in
Spain was twice José María Blanco?
I did not know, I did not know it. Honestly, I lost some
memory and cannot remember if I ever met him. Of course, I could speak in any
language, because I mastered many languages.
In Italy is an art dubbing. The great Ferruccio Amendola
was as important as some world famous actors twice (Al Pacino or Robert De Niro).
After his death, nothing was the same in the belpaese.
It is true that both here and in Germany still prevail
large schools with excellent dubbers. In Italy, Glauco Mauri dubbed me.
If Sergio Leone was the father of the spaghetti western,
the director and screenwriter Enzo Barboni he was the inventor of comic
western. Did he think it would be so successful?
It was a world invention. The type of the West where
there is no blood, no one dies ... And there are many, many smite. He thinks no
one wanted to do this film, because they saw his future. The Trilogy of Trinity,
for example, was rejected by many producers reduced because of excessive
dialogue and little action. Zingarelli was the only one willing to risk. I also
tell you that, over time, the success has been increasing.
And so did the soundtracks. Ennio Morricone was (and is)
the Eternal God, but Franco Micalizzi was known and has had a more than
acceptable future. He even composed some scores for police films with Tomas Milian
(Roma a mano armata). Did he like your songs?
I did not understand music and did not know if it was
good or bad. Every day I got out of bed and did what they said without looking
around. I cannot judge anyone.
Terence, who keeps rolling on northern Italy today, worked
with Leone, but you never. Did he ever propose anything?
I do not remember, but I do not care. He thinks we were
not as famous earlier as we are now. I enjoyed what I've done. And Terence,
too, I guess. Occasionally he comes home to Rome.
Are they eating beans in tin kettles?
No, those that we ate were only in the movies, with the
heat of Almeria.
Would you have liked to have worked for big directors
like Peckinpah or the classics, Ford, Walsh, Hawks Huston?
No not much, really.
And Tarantino? His black humor, irony and sarcasm fill a
lot of his films.
I know. I saw some of his films, and I liked them. But I
hate one thing that confused us as spaghetti western actors getting into the
same basket as those who worked with Leone. We develop something unusual, never
seen until now. The comedy brought to the far west
Have you ever coincided with Clint Eastwood?
No. We had several hours of shooting. I never saw him,
honestly. Now you ask me this question, look back and maybe yes, eventually I
became an actor by repeating many times the same.
Is Neapolitan, the land of artists: Pino Daniele, Curzio
Malaparte, Eduardo de Filippo, Toto, Troisi ... Some of the main Italian
songwriters (Domenico Modugno or Lucio Dalla) composed some songs in this
dialect because it is what comes closest to poetry, to perfection. They did it
even without being born there How do you feel about them?
I was a beginner, also in music.
I guess also in politics as I failed when I appeared at
Berlusconi's bid in 2005. When realized he did not like this world?
The same day I showed up, but I do not regret having done
so. My philosophy of life is futtetinne (Neapolitan dialect), meaning that
almost all the same to me. When events happen you cannot avoid. There are two
or three things that have no solution in life. The rest, yes.
Were ever was a fixture in the Via Veneto to live La
Dolce Vita Rome?
I worked opposite the Café Paris (frequented by Fellini).
He did it in a clandestine business where I had to sell cars, but I was only
one that did not fit anymore. There I was; Hollywood in front of the Tiber.
Always away from the lights, the bustle, the frivolous
and empty bourgeoisie as Alberto Sordi.
A wonderful person.
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