Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and directed by Italians. The term for these films in Italy is western all'italiana (Italian-Style Western); British critics tended to use the label Continental Western to describe these films, and the phrase 'Spaghetti Western' according to actor Aldo Sambrell was originally created by Italian journalist Alfonso Sancha as a derogatory name for this group of films, but has over time become accepted by fans of the films. The language in which the movies were originally released was Italian as well, but as most of the films featured multilingual casts and sound was invariably post-synched, most Westerns all'Italiana do not have an official dominant language.

As many of these films were shot in Spain they were also called paella westerns.

Anthony Steffen (July 21, 1930 – June 4, 2004), pseudonym of Antônio Luiz de Teffé von Hoonholtz, was an Italian Brazilian actor who achieved fame as a leading man in over 25 Spaghetti Westerns.

Born Antonio Luiz de Teffé von Hoonholtz at the Brazilian embassy in Rome, in the Pamphilj Palace, his family had noble blood of a long lineage of Count (von Hoonholtz) originally from Prussia. His great grandfather was the Great Baron of Tefé. First born among Manoel de Teffe' von Hoonholtz children (Federico de Teffe' and Melissa de Teffe'), a Formula One racing champion and Brazilian Ambassador and his grandaunt was Nair de Tefé von Hoonholtz. While still a teenager, Antonio fought in World War II along the partisans against the Nazis.

Under the name Antonio de Teffé, he worked behind the scenes in several Italian productions in the early 50's and later acted in several movies, but never really achieving stardom. In 1962, he had a bit part in Sodom and Gomorrah.

An early appearance of his was in the 1955 Gli Sbandati.

Mark Damon (born Alan Harris on April 22, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American film actor and producer.

He started his career in his native country first appearing on several television shows. He signed a contract with 20th Century Fox and their Regal Pictures affilliate appearing in such films as Between Heaven and Hell (1956) and Young and Dangerous (1957).

During the 1960s he was featured in Roger Corman's House of Usher. In an attempt to boost his career, he relocated to Italy, where he starred in several spaghetti westerns and B-movies, playing either the hero or the antagonist. He was the only actor to appear in both The Longest Day and The Shortest Day.

He eventually gave up acting in the mid-1970s to become a film producer. His production and releasing company Producers Sales Organization distributed several American films such as The Final Countdown and Prizzi's Honor in foreign markets and distributed Das Boot in the United States. As a production company Damon's company helped finance Never Say Never Again and Once Upon a Time in America.

Brett Halsey (born Charles Oliver Hand June 20, 1933, in Santa Ana, California), is an American film actor, sometimes credited as Montgomery Ford. He had a prolific career in B pictures and in European-made feature films, and created the role of John Abbott on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, a role he held from May 1980 to March 1981, before being replaced by Jerry Douglas. Halsey is the great-nephew of the famous US Navy Admiral Bull Halsey; Universal Pictures selected his acting name from the Admiral.

Interested in acting since he was a child, Brett was employed as a page at CBS Television studios, where he met Jack Benny and his wife Mary Livingstone. They introduced him to the head of Universal Pictures, who placed him in a school with other aspiring actors for the studio.

In 1958 Halsey guest-starred in the episode "The Imposter" of Richard Carlson's syndicated western television series Mackenzie's Raiders, a fictional account of cavalry Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie. Also in 1958, Halsey had the lead role of a life-saving sailor in an episode of Highway Patrol. Halsey also appeared in Wendell Corey's Harbor Command, a military drama about the United States Coast Guard. In 1959 he had a co-starring role in the science-fiction film The Atomic Submarine with Arthur Franz and Dick Foran. Halsey appeared in the episode "Thin Ice" in 1959 of Paluzzi's NBC espionage series, Five Fingers, starring David Hedison.

Bud Spencer (born Carlo Pedersoli; 31 October 1929) is an Italian actor, filmmaker and former swimmer (he was the first Italian to swim 100m in less than a minute). He is known for past roles in action-comedy films together with his long time film partner Terence Hill. Growing from a successful swimmer in his youth, he got a degree in law, and has registered several patents.

Spencer was born in Santa Lucia, a historical rione of the city of Naples. He married Maria Amato in 1960, with whom he had three children: Giuseppe (1961), Christine (1962) and Diamante (1972). From 1947 to 1949 he worked in the Italian consulate in Recife, Brazil, where he learned fluent Portuguese. He changed his screen name in 1967 reportedly chosen to pay homage to Spencer Tracy as well as his favorite beer, Budweiser. Other sources report that he found it funny to call himself "bud" despite his weight and his imposing height at almost 6 ft 4 in (192 cm).

A successful swimmer in his youth, Spencer was the first Italian to swim the 100 m freestyle in less than one minute. He achieved this on 19 September 1950, when he swam the 100 m in 59.5 s. In the 1951 Mediterranean Games, he won a silver medal in the same 100 m freestyle event.