Do you have this retrospective moments when you think about an event in the past, the decisions that have been made and what the consequences of them were? The circumstances of how the cinematographic duo Bud Spencer and Terence Hill was born, is one of those moments that changed my quite well going career as an actor at that time dramatically and is memory I always like to remember. Carlo and Mario before Bud and Terence In contrary to everyone's expectations, luck sometimes is not that far away to be found, but just around the corner. That was also my case. Carlo Pedersoli (Bud Spencer) and I used to be members of the same swimming club in Rome / Italy when I was a teenager. I was an admirer of him because as a swimmer he had already broken italian records and participated at the Olympic games.

• Venice, Italy

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Venice, Italy

Sometimes I pursued his training sessions at the border of the swimming pool. But we did not know us personally and never had a conversation at that time. Our paths overlap a second time in 1959 After some successful years as an actor, in 1959 I was chosen to be part of the movie “Hannibal” directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia playing the role of “Quintilius”. Carlo was casted to play the part of a soldier in the same movie.

We were playing in the same movie, but we still didn’t know each other. Our shootings were done in separate days. But our time had still to come, eight more years had to pass until our career would change dramatically. During this eight years Carlo worked as composer and songwriter and later in a movie production company.

I continued the already well going career as an actor and had the opportunity to play roles in great movies with famous actors. For example in “The Wonders of Aladdin” with Vittorio de Sica or “The Leopard” with Burt Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale and later the Karl May saga of “Winnetou”. Coincidences and the vision of E.B. Clucher In 1967 I was hired by the director Giuseppe Colizzi shortly before the start of the shooting of “God Forgives, I Don't (Dio perdona. The co-star actor had an accident and broke his foot shortly before the start of the shooting and I was as hired as his replacement.

In this movie I played the role of “Cat Stevens”. Because I was hired as a last minute replacement, I had to quickly pack my stuff and fly from Italy to Almeria / Spain, the location where the movie was shot. Carlo played the role of “Earp Hutch” in the same movie, we met the first time on the set in Spain. Pretty funny considering that our paths had crossed so many times in Italy until that day.

In our first encounter we had a very formal chat - “Hello, I’m Mario. I play the role of Cat. Hi I’m Carlo.”.

Do you remember, at the beginning of this story when I was talking about going back and evaluating events in the retrospective? This was one of those unbelievable lucky moments. Neither one of us could ever imagine that this was the beginning of a new wonderful chapter of our lives. A chapter made of overwhelming professional success and the beginning of a sincere personal friendship.

Bud and I have always felt the same about our encounter under fortunate circumstances: It was truly a blessing for both of us! For me personally stories and facts around the duo “Bud Spencer and Terence Hill” still surprise me today. It’s incredible how much love and affection we receive. In messages from fans it is interesting to learn that each one has its favorite among the 17 movies that Bud and I have made together. Each person has its own story to tell, why and how a certain movie has become a favorite. Among lots of stories, there are those of families that like a ritual come together to watch our movies together in front of the tv, persons who retrieve personal inspiration and motivation to solve matters of their life, fathers who introduce their children to Bud & Terence movies, or just the fans who say 'thank you' for the wonderful entertainment we gave them.

Realizing that we are not only “entertainers” on the screen but as well part of so many families is something the touches me very much. I would like to thank all fans out there for all the support over all these years. Bud Spencer and Terence Hill movies.