Every western I did and will do; I will do it for the never ending young kid inside of me.

His character though Italian was based on Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He studied briefly at the Economy and Trade faculty of the local university before leaving to study at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano.

He is best known for his roles of the title character in Sergio Corbucci's Django (1966) Sir Lancelot in Joshua Logan's Camelot (1967) Horacio in Luis Buñuel's Tristana (1970) the title character in Enzo G. He had a cameo appearance in Django Unchained (2012). Castellari's Keoma (1976) Captain Nikolai Lescovar/Colonel von Ingorslebon in Guy Hamilton's Force 10 from Navarone (1978) Cole in Menahem Golan's Enter the Ninja (1981) his reprising role again as the title character in Nello Rosatti's Django 2 (1987) General Ramon Esperanza in Renny Harlin's Die Hard 2 (1990) Gianni Versace in Menahem Golan's The Versace Murder (1998) General Francini in Brian Trenchard-Smith's Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 (2001) and Lorenzo Bartolini in Gary Winick's Letters to Juliet (2010).