Career

After starting a career in the United States, Milian went to Italy in 1958 to take part in a theatre festival in Spoleto.^[6] He eventually decided to relocate to Italy, where he lived for over 25 years, becoming a very successful performer. His first film part in Italy was in the 1959 picture La notte brava. Although his voice was usually dubbed due to his accent, Milián performed his lines in Italian (or in English, depending on the film). He initially starred in arthouse movies and worked with directors such as Mauro Bolognini and Luchino Visconti.^[4]

After five years of making what he deemed "intellectual" movies, Milián was unhappy with his contract with producer Franco Cristaldi and thought of going back to the United States. Needing money to start over, he took the opportunity to star as a bandit in a Spaghetti Western called The Bounty Killer. The film boosted his career,^[7] and ultimately resulted in his staying in Italy. He became a star of the Spaghetti Western genre,^[8] where he often played Mexican bandits or revolutionaries, roles in which he spoke in his real voice. He starred in The Ugly Ones (1966), The Big Gundown (1966), Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! (1967), Face to Face (1967), Run, Man, Run (1968), Death Sentence (1968), Tepepa (1969), Compañeros (1970), Sonny and Jed (1972), Life Is Tough, Eh Providence? (1972) and Four of the Apocalypse (1975).

As the Spaghetti Westerns dwindled, Milián remained a star in many genre films, playing both villains and heroes in various polizieschi movies. He starred with Barbara Bouchet in the giallo Don't Torture a Duckling.^[3] In addition to his role in Almost Human (1974) and appearances in Emergency Squad (1974), The Tough Ones (1976) and The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist (1977), he also appeared in two film series - Bruno Corbucci's Nico Giraldi series (1976-1984, beginning with The Cop in Blue Jeans) and Umberto Lenzi's Er Monnezza films (1976-1980, beginning with Free Hand for a Tough Cop). His other films during this period include the giallo Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) and the non-genre films The Last Movie (1971), Luna (1979), Identification of a Woman (1982) and Monsignor (1982).

He later turned to comedy, playing the recurrent characters of petty thief Monnezza and Serpico-like police officer Nico Giraldi in a variety of crime-comedy pictures. Although his voice was dubbed most of the time by Ferruccio Amendola, Milián wrote his own lines in Roman slang. Milián's inventive use of romanesco (Roman dialect) made him a cult performer in Italy. Bruno Corbucci, the director of many of these films commented, "At the cinemas as soon as Tomás Milián appeared on the screen, when he made a wisecrack and in the heaviest situations, then it was a pandemonium, it was like being at the stadium." As Milián used similar makeups and accents in portraying both characters, Monnezza and Nico were occasionally confused by Italian audiences, who sometimes referred erroneously to them both as Monnezza, or Er Monnezza (Da trash in Roman slang ), and still closely associate Milián with these performances.^[9]

Milián also appeared in non-genre pictures, such as Bernardo Bertolucci's La Luna, for which he won a Nastro d'Argento for Best supporting Actor, and Michelangelo Antonioni's Identification of a Woman.^[10]

As he grew older, Milián decided to go back to the United States. He appeared in Sydney Pollack's Havana, Steven Spielberg's Amistad, Steven Soderbergh's Traffic as well as Andy García's The Lost City, about Revolutionary Cuba. He has also played many roles on stage. In 2005, he portrayed Generalisimo Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina in the film version of Mario Vargas Llosa's novel The Feast of the Goat.^[11]

Milian was found dead from a stroke at his home in Miami on 22 March 2017.^[12][13]

On October 11, 2017 he received the Leone in Memoriam award at the 7º Almería Western Film Festival.^[14] It was picked up by his friend Luis Santeiro.^[15]