Bud Spencer

For the American sprinter, see Emerson Spencer.
Bud Spencer

Spencer in June 2015
Born Carlo Pedersoli
(1929-10-31)31 October 1929
Naples, Italy
Died 27 June 2016(2016-06-27) (aged 86)
Rome, Italy
Other names Bud Spencer
Occupation Actor
Professional swimmer
Water polo
Years active 1951–2010
Height 194 cm (6 ft 4 in)[1]
Spouse(s) Maria Amato (m. 1960–2016)
Children 3

Carlo Pedersoli (31 October 1929 – 27 June 2016), professionally known as Bud Spencer, was an Italian actor, professional swimmer and water polo player. He is known for action-comedy roles with his long-time film partner Terence Hill. The duo "garnered world acclaim and attracted millions to theater seats".[2] Spencer and Hill appeared in, produced and directed over 20 films together.

A successful swimmer in his youth, he obtained a degree in law and registered several patents. Spencer also became a certified commercial airline and helicopter pilot, and supported and funded many children's charities, including the Spencer Scholarship Fund.[3]

Early life

Son of Alessandro Pedersoli and Rosa Facchetti, Carlo Pedersoli was born on 31 October 1929 in Santa Lucia, a historical rione in Naples[4] and in the same building as the writer Luciano De Crescenzo. Pedersoli started school in 1935, along with De Crescenzo. He played several sports and showed an aptitude for swimming, winning prizes. In 1940, due to his father's work, he moved to Rome, where he attended high school and joined a swimming club. He finished school before his seventeenth birthday with the highest marks and enrolled at Sapienza University of Rome, where he studied chemistry. In January 1947, the family moved to South America[5] and Pedersoli discontinued his studies. From 1947 to 1949, he worked in the Italian consulate in Recife, Brazil,[6] where he learned fluent Portuguese.

Swimming and water polo career

Carlo Pedersoli

Carlo Pedersoli in 1950
Personal information
National team  Italy
Born (1929-10-31)31 October 1929
Naples, Italy
Died 27 June 2016(2016-06-27) (aged 86)
Rome
Height 1.92 m (6.3 ft)
Weight 125 kg (276 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle, water polo
Club Società Sportiva Lazio Nuoto

Pedersoli returned to Italy in 1949 to play water polo in Rome for Società Sportiva Lazio Nuoto and won the Italian swimming championships in freestyle and mixed relay teams. As a professional swimmer in his youth, Spencer was the first Italian to swim the 100 m freestyle in less than one minute when on 19 September 1950 he swam the distance in 59.5 s in Salsomaggiore.[7] In 1949 he made his international debut and a year later he was called up for the European championships in Vienna where he swam in two finals, finishing fifth in the 100 m and fourth in the relay 4 × 200 m.

In the 1951 Mediterranean Games in Alexandria (Egypt), he won a silver medal in the same 100 m freestyle event.[1][8] Pedersoli participated in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, reaching the semi-finals in the 100 m freestyle (58.8 s heats, 58.9 s semi final).[9] Four years later, in Melbourne, he also entered the semi-finals in the same category (58.5 s heat, 59.0 s semi final).[1][10]

As a water polo player, he won the Italian Championship in 1954 with S.S. Lazio[1] and the gold medal at 1955 Mediterranean Games in Barcelona with the Italian national team. His swimming career ended abruptly in 1957.[11]

On 17 January 2005, he was awarded the Caimano d'oro (Gold Caiman) by the Italian Swimming Federation.[12] On 24 January 2007, he received swimming and water polo coach diplomas from the Italian Swimming Federation's president Paolo Barelli.[13]

Acting career

Pedersoli's first film role was in Quel fantasma di mio marito, an Italian comedy shot in 1949 and released in 1950.

In 1951 he played a member of the Praetorian Guard in Quo Vadis, an epic film shot in Italy made by MGM and directed by Mervyn LeRoy.[3] During the 1950s and part of the 1960s, Spencer appeared playing minor parts in Italian including Mario Monicelli's movie A Hero of Our Times, with Alberto Sordi and the 1954 war film Human Torpedoes with Raf Vallone.

In 1960, after the Summer Olympic games, Pedersoli married Maria Amato, daughter of Italian film producer Giuseppe Amato.[14] He signed a contract with RCA Records to write lyrics for singers such as Ornella Vanoni and Nico Fidenco and soundtracks. In the following years, his son Giuseppe was born (1961), followed by Cristiana (1962), his contract with RCA expired and his father-in-law died (1964). Pedersoli became a producer of documentaries for the national public broadcasting company RAI.[15]

In 1967 film director Giuseppe Colizzi offered him a role in God Forgives... I Don't!. On the set Pedersoli met another unknown young actor, Mario Girotti (Terence Hill). Although Spencer had met Girotti before on the set of Hannibal in 1959, this was the moment they went on to become a film duo. The film director asked the two actors to change their names, deeming them to be too Italian-sounding for a Western movie: Pedersoli chose Bud Spencer, with Bud inspired by Budweiser beer and Spencer by the actor Spencer Tracy.[16]

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".[17] Overall, Hill and Spencer worked together on over 20 films, including (named using their most common U.S. titles):

  1. God Forgives... I Don't! (1967), first time as Bud Spencer together with Terence Hill
  2. Ace High (1968)
  3. Boot Hill (1969)
  4. They Call Me Trinity (1970)
  5. Trinity Is Still My Name (1971)
  6. All the Way, Boys (1972)
  7. Watch Out, We're Mad (1974)
  8. Two Missionaries (1974)
  9. Crime Busters (1977)
  10. Odds and Evens (1978)
  11. I'm For the Hippopotamus (1979)
  12. Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure (1981)
  13. Go For It! (1983)
  14. Double Trouble (1984)
  15. Miami Supercops (1985)
  16. Troublemakers (1994)

Films with Spencer alone include:

  1. The Five Man Army (1969)
  2. The Fifth Day of Peace (1969)
  3. It Can Be Done Amigo (1972)
  4. Flatfoot (1973)
  5. They Call Him Bulldozer (1978)
  6. The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid (1979)
  7. Everything Happens to Me (1980)
  8. Banana Joe (1982)
  9. Bomber (1982)
  10. Superfantagenio (1986)

Many of these have alternative titles, depending upon the country and distributor. Some have longer Italian versions that were edited for release abroad. These films gathered popularity for both actors, especially in Europe.[3]

The voice of Bud Spencer on Italian film soundtracks is Glauco Onorato.[18] Sergio Fiorentini dubbed Spencer in Troublemakers, To the Limit (1997) and the series of Detective Extralarge, (1991–93).[19][20]

Spencer wrote the complete or partial screenplay for some of his movies. His feature film career slowed down after 1983, shifting more toward television. In the 1990s, he acted in the television action-drama Extralarge. His autobiography was published in 2011. In addition, Spencer also published a recipe book including his favorite dishes.[21]

Political career

In 2005 he entered politics, unsuccessfully standing as regional councillor in Lazio for the Forza Italia party. Spencer stated: "In my life, I've done everything. There are only three things I haven't been – a ballet dancer, a jockey and a politician. Given that the first two jobs are out of the question, I'll throw myself into politics."[3] The opposition criticised him for engaging in "politica spettacolo" ("showbiz politics").[3]

Personal life

Spencer married Maria Amato in 1960, with whom he had three children: Giuseppe (1961), Cristiana (1962) and Diamante (1972). After appearing in Più forte, ragazzi!, Spencer became a jet airplane and helicopter pilot.[3] He founded Mistral Air in 1984, an air-mail company that also transports pilgrims, but later sold it to Poste Italiane.[22]

Death

Funeral of Spencer in Rome
Bud Spencer graffiti

Spencer died aged 86 on 27 June 2016 in Rome. As son Giuseppe Pedersoli stated, his father "died without pain in presence of his family and his last word was 'grazie'".[23][24] He was survived by his wife, three children, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.[16][25]

Filmography

Title Date Role
Quo Vadis (as Carlo Pedersoli) 1951 Imperial Guard
Siluri umani (English title: Human Torpedoes) (as Carlo Pederzoli) 1954 Magrini
Un Eroe dei nostri tempi (English title: A Hero of Our Times) (as Carlo Pedersoli) 1955 Fernando
Il Cocco di Mamma (English title: Mamma's Boy) (as Carlo Pedersoli) 1957 Oscar
A Farewell to Arms (as Carlo Pedersoli) 1957 Carabiniere
Annibale (English title: Hannibal) (as Carlo Pedersoli) 1960
Dio perdona... io no! (English title: God Forgives... I Don't!) 1967 Hutch Bessy
Oggi a me... domani a te (English title: Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die) 1968 O'Bannion
Al di là della legge (English title: Beyond the Law) 1968 James Cooper
Ace High (Italian title: I quattro dell'Ave Maria) 1968 Hutch Bessy
Gott mit uns (Dio è con noi) (English title: The Fifth Day of Peace) 1969 Cpl. Jelinek
Un esercito di 5 uomini (English title: The Five Man Army) 1969 Mesito
La collina degli stivali (English title: Boot Hill) 1969 Hutch Bessy
Lo chiamavano Trinità... (English title: They Call Me Trinity) 1970 Bambino
Il corsaro nero (English title: Blackie the Pirate) 1971 Skull
...continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità (English title: Trinity Is Still My Name) 1971 Bambino
4 mosche di velluto grigio (English title: Four Flies on Grey Velvet) 1971 Godfrey "God"
Torino nera (English title: Black Turin) 1972 Rosario Rao
...più forte ragazzi! (English title: All the Way Boys) 1972 Salud
Si può fare... amigo (English title: It Can Be Done Amigo) 1972 Hiram Coburn
Una ragione per vivere e una per morire (English title: A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die) 1972 Eli Sampson
Anche gli angeli mangiano fagioli (English title: Even Angels Eat Beans) 1973 Charlie Smith
Piedone lo sbirro (English title: Flatfoot) 1973 Inspector "Flatfoot" Rizzo
Porgi l'altra guancia (English title: Two Missionaries) 1974 Father/Padre Pedro
...altrimenti ci arrabbiamo! (English title: Watch Out, We're Mad) 1974 Ben
Piedone a Hong Kong (English title: Flatfoot in Hong Kong) 1975 Inspector "Flatfoot" Rizzo
Il soldato di ventura (English title: Soldier of Fortune) 1976 Hector Fieramosca
Charleston 1977 Charleston
I due superpiedi quasi piatti (English title: Crime Busters) 1977 Wilbur Walsh
Piedone l'africano (English title: Flatfoot in Africa aka The Knock-Out Cop) 1978 Inspector "Flatfoot" Rizzo
Lo chiamavano Bulldozer (English title: They Called Him Bulldozer) 1978 Bulldozer
Pari e dispari (English title: Odds and Evens) 1978 Charlie Firpo
Uno sceriffo extraterrestre... poco extra e molto terrestre (English title: The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid) 1979 Sceriffo Scott (Sheriff Hall)
Piedone d'Egitto (English title: Flatfoot in Egypt) 1979 Inspector 'Flatfoot' Rizzo
Io sto con gli ippopotami (English title: I'm for the Hippopotamus) 1979 Tom
Chissà perché... capitano tutte a me (English title: Everything Happens to Me) 1980 Sheriff Hall
Occhio alla penna (English title: Buddy Goes West) 1981 Buddy
Chi trova un amico trova un tesoro (English title: Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure) 1981 Charlie O'Brien
Cane e gatto (English title: Cat and Dog) 1982 Sergeant Parker
Banana Joe 1982 Banana Joe
Bomber 1982 Bud Graziano
Nati con la camicia (English title: Go for It) 1983 Doug O'Riordan alias Mason
Double Trouble (Italian title: Non c'è due senza quattro) 1984 Greg Wonder/Antonio Coimbra de la Coronilla y Azevedo
Miami Supercops (Italian title: Miami Supercops (I poliziotti dell'8ª strada)) 1985 Steve Forest
Superfantagenio (USA title: Aladdin) 1986 Genie
Big Man (TV Series) 1988–1989 Jack Clementi
Detective Extralarge (TV Series) 1990–1993 Jack "Extralarge" Costello
Un piede in paradiso (English title: Standing in Paradise aka Speaking of the Devil) 1991 John "Bull" Webster
Botte di Natale (English title: The Fight Before Christmas aka Troublemakers) 1994 Moses
Noi siamo angeli (English title: We Are Angels) (Mini TV Series) 1997 Orso
Fuochi d'artificio (English title: Fireworks) 1997 The blind singer
Al limite (English title: To the Limit) 1997 Elorza
Hijos del viento (English title: Sons of the Wind) 1999 Quintero
Tre per sempre (English title: 3–4 Ever) 2002 Bops
Cantando dietro i paraventi (English title: Singing Behind Screens) 2003 Il vecchio capitano
Padre Speranza (English title: Father Hope) (TV) 2005 Padre Speranza
Mord ist mein Geschäft, Liebling (English title: Murder Is My Business, Honey) 2009 Pepe
I delitti del cuoco (TV Series) 2010 Carlo Banci

Writer

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Carlo Pedersoli. sports-reference.com
  2. ↑ "Bud Spencer, Italian Spaghetti Western Star, Dies at 86". Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bud Spencer on imdb.com
  4. ↑ Ilaria Galateria (2015-04-16). "Pronto, parlo con Bud Spencer?" (in Italian).
  5. ↑ "Carlo Pedersoli: Cartão de imigração". familysearch.org (in Portuguese).
  6. ↑ Edgar Welzel (2012-06-21). "Meu encontro com Bud Spencer". revistabula.com (in Portuguese). Bula Revista.
  7. ↑ "Italian swimming records". agendadiana.com. Archived from the original on 18 March 2007.
  8. ↑ Mediterranean Games, 1951. agendadiana.com
  9. ↑ Helsinki 1952 official report. la84foundation.org.
  10. ↑ Melbourne 1956 official report Archived 12 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine.. la84foundation.org.
  11. ↑ Bud Spencer: Biography, citation: "Ein Jahr nach seinen zweiten olympischen Spielen beendet Carlo plötzlich seine Schwimmerkarriere (...)"
  12. ↑ Fomiconi e Pedersoli Caimano d'Oro. federnuoto.it (17 January 2005) (Italian)
  13. ↑ Coach Spencer Le foto più belle. federnuoto.it (30 January 2007) (Italian)
  14. ↑ "Bud Spencer :" Totò è diventato uno scenziato di tutto ciò"". libero.it (in Italian).
  15. ↑ "Fear of dying ? So Bud Spencer thought about death". budterence. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  16. 1 2 "Italian actor Bud Spencer dies at 86". Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  17. ↑ Translated from German: pflegmatischen, bärbeißigen Haudrauf mit dem selig-naiven Kinderlächeln und dem goldenen Herzen Tagesspiegel
  18. ↑ Andrea Francesco Berni (31 December 2009). "E' morto Glauco Onorato, voce di Bud Spencer". Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  19. ↑ "IL MONDO DEI DOPPIATORI - La pagina di SERGIO FIORENTINI". Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  20. ↑ "IL MONDO DEI DOPPIATORI - La pagina di FERRUCCIO AMENDOLA". Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  21. ↑ "BUD SPENCER". Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  22. ↑ "Mistral Air - ERA". Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  23. ↑ "Angst vor dem Sterben? So dachte Bud Spencer über den Tod" (in German). www.budterence.de. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  24. ↑ "Cinema, è morto Bud Spencer, il grande buono del cinema italiano". La Repubblica. June 27, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Actor Bud Spencer Dies at 86". Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  26. ↑ "Banana Joe (1982)". IMDb. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
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