Born in
Montevideo, he began his career working in radio. In 1955, he moved to Argentina, adopting the pseudonym Jorge Hilton. He soon began to appear in several
soap operas and film production for Argentina's domestic market. In 1963, he moved to Italy, following the footsteps of other famous South American actors such as the Argentines
Jorge Rigaud and
Alberto de Mendoza, who were attracted by the thriving Italian film industry of the 1960s. After Anglicizing his name to George, he got the lead role in
The Masked Man Against the Pirates (Il corsaro nero nell'isola del Tesoro, 1965) and appeared in the
Franco and Ciccio Bond spoof comedy
Due mafiosi contro Goldginger, directed by
Giorgio Simonelli. in ''
The Case of the Scorpion's Tail'' (1971) His career in the Euro-Western genre was launched by director
Lucio Fulci with the film
Massacre Time (1966), starring
Franco Nero, where his supporting role made him an instant icon in the genre. In 1967 he appeared to even greater effect as "Stranger" in
Any Gun Can Play (also known as
Go Kill and Come Back) with
Edd Byrnes and
Gilbert Roland. In the following year he participated in seven productions, enhancing his international reputation and garnering him significant attention, especially in
Spain. Soon Hilton became one of the major stars of spaghetti Westerns, eventually playing
Sartana in the last film of the "Sartana" series, ''
Sartana's Here… Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin, after Gianni Garko left the role. His most famous character is arguably that of the gunslinger Allelujah (or Hallelujah) in They Call Me Hallelujah (1971), created with director Giuliano Carnimeo, who also directed the sequel involving the same character (Return of Hallelujah, 1972) as well as Man Called Invincible (1973), in which Hilton played Tresette, another of his famous roles. Besides Westerns, Hilton starred in numerous "gialli", mostly in the 1970s and many directed by Sergio Martino or Tonino Valerii —who directed Hilton in the classic mystery film My Dear Killer'' (1972)—, as well as more conventional crime and action films after the
spaghetti Western craze ended in the 1980s. During the 1990s, Hilton appeared mostly in television series. In his last years Hilton reduced his film appearances but nevertheless remained active, being still fondly remembered as one of the biggest stars of Italian cinema, along with
Terence Hill, Franco Nero and
Giuliano Gemma. His legacy as a film star also remained intact, with Hilton asked to do many interviews and retrospectives on his film career on a regular basis. On 28 July 2019, Hilton died at a clinic in
Rome, Italy, at the age of 85, after suffering of a long undisclosed illness. The funeral was held the next day at 4.30 pm local time, at the
Santa Maria in Montesanto in
Piazza del Popolo. == Selected filmography ==