Born Antônio 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
Counts (von Hoonholtz) originally from
Prussia; his great-grandfather was Admiral
Antônio Luiz von Hoonholtz, Baron of Teffé. Steffen was the first born among children (followed by Mário Frederico de Teffé and Melissa Bianca de Teffé), who was a race car driver and later a Brazilian
ambassador. Steffen's great-aunt was
Nair de Teffé, the first female caricaturist of Brazil, wife of Brazilian President
Hermes da Fonseca. He was also a great-grandson of the . Additionally, he was a nephew to Marchioness Maria Luiza de Teffé Berlingieri and a great-grandnephew to Jorge João Dodsworth, 2nd Baron of Javary. His grandfather, Ambassador Oscar de Teffé von Hoonholtz, was a first cousin to Maria Leocádia Dodsworth de Frontin, Countess of Frontin, the wife of . While still a teenager Steffen, then known as Antonio, fought in
World War II among the
Italian partisans against the
Nazis. Later, and under the name Antonio de Teffé, he worked behind the scenes in several Italian productions in the early 1950s 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. From 1965 to 1975, the newly named Anthony Steffen achieved considerable fame in
Europe, amassing cult status, starring in 27 Spaghetti Westerns. Considered to be an "Italian
Clint Eastwood", he was sometimes criticized for being a stiff or wooden actor. Several of his movies were sizeable box office hits in Europe.
Django the Bastard (aka ''Stranger's Gundown'', 1969) a movie that was produced and written by Steffen, is considered to be an inspiration for Clint Eastwood's
High Plains Drifter. In several of his movies, Steffen starred alongside other actors known for Spaghetti Westerns, including
Gianni Garko,
Peter Lee Lawrence, and
William Berger. Outside of the Spaghetti western genre, Steffen also appeared in several
Giallo movies including
The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971). His roles and status diminished as the Spaghetti Western genre fell into decline. Amassing a considerable fortune from his career as an actor, Steffen embarked on a
jet set lifestyle. In his career Steffen performed alongside
Sophia Loren,
Gina Lollobrigida,
Claudia Cardinale,
Elke Sommer,
Giuliano Gemma,
Franco Nero,
Gian Maria Volonté,
Esmeralda Barros and many other stars of the American and Italian cinema. Always considered a huge star in Brazil because of the Spaghetti Western popularity in the South American country, Steffen returned to
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the decade of 1980, until dying of cancer in 2004. He has maintained cult-status among fans of
Italian Cinema for being perhaps the most prolific Spaghetti Western Leading actor. ==Selected filmography==