Terence Hill, why was he dubbed in the movies with Bud Spencer? You would never imagine

Gazzettino del Golfo

By Giuseppe F.

January 9 January 2025 by Giuseppe F.

For years we have been wondering why Terence Hill has always been dubbed in his most iconic films shot with Bud Spencer. Here's why.

Bud Spencer (pseudonym of Carlo Pedersoli) and Terence Hill (pseudonym of Mario Girotti) made seventeen films together from 1967 to 1985, plus an eighteenth, Troubleshooters, shot in 1994 directed by Girotti himself. Their collaboration has produced some of the most loved and appreciated films in Italian cinema. Champions of the spaghetti western genre, Spencer and Hill have become an iconic duo of adventure comedy with fistfights.

[Terence Hill, why was he dubbed in the movies with Bud Spencer? You would never imagine (Photo: YouTube @mediasetinfinity) – gazzettinodelgolfo.it]

As is well known, Bud Spencer and Terence Hill were almost always dubbed in their films. Spencer was often voiced by Glauco Onorato, while Terence Hill was voiced mainly by Pino Locchi. To be precise, Locchi gave the voice to Hill in They Call Me Trinity..., ... Trinity is Still My Name, ... louder guys!... otherwise we get angry!, Turn the other cheek, The two almost flat sueprfoots, Odd and even, I'm with the hippos, Who finds a friend finds a treasure and Born with a shirt.

Why Terence Hill has always been dubbed

In three other films, the deputy is by Sergio Graziani (God Forgives... I Don't!, Ace High and Boot Hill).

Michele Gammino dubbed Hill in No Two Without Four, Miami Supercops and Christmas Barrel. But for Italian viewers, Onorato and Locchi are the "official" voices of the duo Spencer & Hill. And even today they are celebrated as voice actors capable of transmitting great pathos and irony.

[Why Terence Hill has always been dubbed (Photo: Ansa) – gazzettinodelgolfo.it]

 Bud Spencer and Terence Hill's films were often shot in Italian, even though their films had international distribution. But the two actors were still dubbed. Because? Pedersoli, as the actor himself has repeatedly recalled, had a too Neapolitan accent... And even the original voice of Terence Hill did not seem suitable.

The audience later learned to familiarize themselves with the real voice of Terence Hill when the actor played, for many years, the role of Don Matteo. At that point in his career, however, the actor had taken on an almost American accent: after living for many years away from Italy, Girotti had lost some confidence with his mother tongue.

When he worked with Bud Spencer from the mid-1960s to 1985, his voice was instead characterized by a strong Venetian accent. A very fragile trace of that accent remains today. After living in the United States of America for more than thirty years with his wife, Hill has a more American accent. After settling permanently in Umbria, it seems that the actor has returned to being more familiar with his first language.