Italo Zingarelli was born in Lugo in 1930 and died in Rome in 2000. He was a film producer and director.
Zingarelli is also known as Ike Zingarmann and is famous for having created the celebrated cinematic duet of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, protagonists of popular Western films for all ages.
Zingarelli debuted in the world of cinema thanks to his physique; he was a stuntman in Quo Vadis? and produced innumerable films such as historical films (Le legioni di Cleopatra – 1960, Il Gladiatore invincibile – 1961, I sette gladiatori – 1962) and spaghetti-westerns (Sfida a Rio Bravo – 1965, L’uomo della pistola d’oro – 1966, Un esercito di cinque uomini – 1968, amongst the others).
Some of his greatest successes came with the films played by Bud Spencer and Terence Hill: Lo chiamavano Trinità (1971),…continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità (1972), …Più forte ragazzi! (1972) and Io sto con gli ippopotami (1979) (written and directed by Zingarelli.
His success led him to work with renown actors and actresses such as Ingmar Bergman, Ettore Scola, Martin Scorsese and Marcel Carné.
