Maurizio Merli (Rome, February 8, 1940 – Rome, March 10, 1989) was an Italian actor, particularly known for having starred in numerous police films that were popular in the seventies.
He was a performer in photo-stories for the magazine Grand Hotel. He made his film debut in 1963, as an extra in Il Gattopardo by Luchino Visconti. After a few roles in minor films and in revue theater with Carlo Dapporto (I trionfi, 1964), he began his career in television productions with I grandi camaleonti (directed by Edmo Fenoglio, 1964), while continuing to act in theater (in 1968 he participated in "Orlando furioso" by Luca Ronconi). His great popularity with the audience came, however, with his lead role in the television miniseries Il giovane Garibaldi by Franco Rossi (1974), where he portrayed the Hero of the Two Worlds.
In the seventies, Merli became one of the best-known actors in the poliziottesco genre, with films such as Roma violenta, Roma a mano armata, Napoli violenta, Il cinico, l'infame, il violento, and Da Corleone a Brooklyn.
His debut in the genre occurred in 1975 when he landed the role of Commissioner Betti in Roma violenta, directed by Marino Girolami. It was the director who advocated for his casting to replace Richard Harrison, who was preferred by the producer. The lead was meant to visually resemble Franco Nero, who had enjoyed great success with La polizia incrimina, la legge assolve, so Merli grew a mustache specifically for the role, which would become one of his “trademarks.” The film was a colossal commercial success, grossing over two billion lire and ranking as the twenty-fifth highest-grossing film in the Italian cinema season.
Tall, blonde, athletic, and mustachioed, Merli portrayed tough cop characters rebelling against the injustice and leniency of the law and magistrates. Many of the acrobatic and dangerous scenes in some films were performed directly by him without the use of stunt doubles. The overlap between actor and character brought to the screen was so deep in Merli's case that he was considered the quintessential "iron commissioner." He achieved numerous successes in the second half of the seventies, often brilliantly directed by Umberto Lenzi and Stelvio Massi.
By the end of the seventies, however, the poliziottesco genre began to decline, and it became difficult for Merli to carve out new spaces in the Italian cinema landscape. His attempt to venture into another genre with the spaghetti Western Mannaja by Sergio Martino proved to be a failure.
His last appearance in a feature film was in 1987, in Tango blu, written and directed by Alberto Bevilacqua, who was also a producer along with Merli. In the last years of his career, now marginalized by a hostile film criticism, he participated only in a few entertainment television shows, including an appearance on Pippo Baudo's Festival on Canale 5 alongside the comedy duo Zuzzurro e Gaspare and, in August 1988, on Marco Columbro's program Tra moglie e marito. More notable was the show Crazy Boat, which aired in six episodes on Rai 2 in the summer of 1986. In the last year of his life, he was a frequent guest on the television program Il gioco dei 9 hosted by Raimondo Vianello on Canale 5, and on Giancarlo Magalli's show Domani sposi, where he appeared with his entire family.
A cruel fate, however, was lurking just around the corner: on March 10, 1989, in Rome, while playing tennis at the "Casetta Bianca" club on the Cassia with a friend, and in front of his daughter, the actor was suddenly struck by a heart attack. Although he was promptly assisted and transported to "Villa San Pietro" hospital, he unfortunately arrived already lifeless. He died at only 49 years old, just when the possibility of acting again in a police film, this time as a commissioner, was being considered. He rests in the cemetery of Poggio Catino (Rieti), a town where he loved to spend vacations and free time with his family.
