Bud Spencer died five years ago. In Berlin, a new museum commemorates the Italian film star, who has long become a veritable cult figure in Germany.
Bud Spencer in 'The night before Christmas'Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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"Mr. Pedersoli, do you like Bud Spencer?" — "No, I don't like him. But I respect him for the money he has made, as he has achieved much more than Carlo Pedersoli," the very Carlo Pedersoli himself said in an interview with the German Focus magazine in 2011 — jokingly, because he was actually referring to himself:
Naples-born Carlo Pedersoli, Olympic swimmer, musician and self-taught actor was chiefly known professionally as Bud Spencer. He was famous all over the world, and presumably made a fortune for his roles featuring in over a hundred western movies.
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Role of the good-natured strong-arm man
Back in 1967, Pedersoli had a role in his first so-called Spaghetti Western film, God Forgives... I don't!
He needed an English alias for his name that was regarded to be too unwieldy for the international film market at that time. The actor made up a name from his favorite beer, Budweiser, and his favorite actor, Spencer Tracy. And voila, Bud Spencer was born.
Bud Spencer grumbled and beat his way through countless films over the next few decades, mostly alongside his Venetian compatriot Mario Girotti, aka Terence Hill.
Box office hits and later TV successes include Western parodies like They Call Me Trinity (1970), Trinity Is Still My Name (1971) and All the Way, Boys (1972).
Farewell Bud Spencer: an Italian actor with many talents
Best known for his spaghetti Westerns, actor Bud Spencer was also an Olympic swimmer, lawyer and politician. He died on June 27, 2016, at the age of 86.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/S.Esposito
A multi-talented man
Italian spaghetti Western actor Bud Spencer, who passed away on June 27, 2016, at age 86, began his film career late in life. Before he became an actor, he earned a law degree and became the first Italian to swim 100 meters freestyle in under a minute. He swam for Italy at the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games. Spencer was born on October 31, 1929, in Naples as Carlo Pedersoli.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/D.Castello
From sports to film
Bud Spencer, pictured here on a German talk show in 1983, was also a world-class water polo player. He began his acting career with "Quo Vadis" in 1951. In the 50s and early 60s, he played in smaller Italian productions. It wasn't until he changed his name to Bud Spencer that he gained international fame.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Bud was born
Pedersoli became Bud Spencer in 1967, allegedly a tribute to actor Spencer Tracy and the American beer Budweiser. That marked the beginning of his international career. Alongside Italian actor Terence Hill, he made a string of action-packed spaghetti Westerns known for their fight scenes. The pair made 18 films together and are pictured here in "Trinity Is Still My Name" from 1971.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Fotoreport
Never boring with Bud
Apparently all that film action wasn't quite enough for Spencer. In the 1970s, Bud learned to become a jet airplane and helicopter pilot. He also owned his own air transportation company for a short time in the 80s. He balanced this work with many film appearances - sometimes without Terence Hill. He's pictured here in the 1980 film, "Buddy Goes West."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/United Archives
Inseparable duo
"Miami Supercops" (1985) was the second-to-last film Spencer made with Hill. ("Troublemakers" would come in 1994.) He once likened his relationship with Hill to that of siblings, explaining that brothers don't always agree. The pair were particularly popular across Europe.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/United Archives
End of a spaghetti Western era
Spencer also wrote or contributed to the screenplays of some of the movies he appeared in. "The Troublemakers," also known as "The Fight Before Christmas" (pictured) was his final film with Terence Hill in 1994.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
All in the family
After the Spencer-Hill era, the actor continued making some films for television, including the six-part Italian-French series "Noi siamo angeli" in 1996. It was produced by Spencer's son, Giuseppe Pedersoli, and co-starred "Miami Vice" actor Philip Michael Thomas.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Rtl
Spencer, the politician
Bud Spencer once said, "In my life, I've done everything. There are only three things I haven't been - a ballet dancer, a jockey and a politician." So, in 2005, he decided to pursue the third at the personal request of Italy's then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. However he lost his bid to become a regional counselor in Lazio for the Forza Italia party. Bud Spencer died in Rome on June 27, 2016.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/S.Esposito
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Worshiped in East and West Germany
With an impressive number of such films, the Spencer-Hill duo played their way deep into the cultural memory of two postwar generations in Germany, both in West and East Germany.
The extent of the cult around the two figures is exemplified by a fairly recent debate about a two-kilometer long tunnel planned in the southern German city of Schwäbisch-Gmünd that was intended to be named the Bud Spencer Tunnel. In the end, the city council changed its mind and instead renamed a local open-air swimming pool the Bud Spencer Bad.
In 1998, authorities in the city of Lommatsch in the eastern German state of Saxony also renamed a sports facility the Terence Hill Outdoor Pool; Hill had actually lived in the town for a while in the 1940s. Along with the first chancellor of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck, Terence Hill is even an honorary citizen of the town.
There's also a bridge that was to be named after Terence Hill in the city of Worms, but the mayor revised the decision at the last moment. The Terence Hill Bridge spanning the Rhine River, however, is listed on maps and Google Maps all the same.
Bud Spencer and Terence Hill in 'Trinity Is Still My Name'Image: picture alliance / United Archives
Apart from tunnels, pools and bridges, a small museum in Berlin honoring Bud Spencer will now open its doors on June 27 in Berlin, marking the fifth anniversary of the actor's death.
The exhibition shown through June 30, 2022 is titled "Flatfoot in Berlin – the big Bud Spencer exhibition" and will feature 400 exhibits showcasing the man beyond the actor — Carlos Pedersoli, the world-class swimmer, lawyer, airline owner, composer, inventor — and global icon.
Celebrating the Spaghetti Western in Saxony
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This article was translated from its German original.
