Sergio Grieco (13 January 1917 – 30 March 1982) was an Italian film director and screenwriter.^[1]

Biography

Sergio's father was the Italian Communist Ruggero Grieco.

Grieco first started in film in the Soviet Union in 1931, working as an assistant to Nikolai Ekk on the first Soviet sound film Road to Life.^[2] He began his Italian film career as a script supervisor in 1939, working his way up to an assistant director the following year. In 1949 he worked as an assistant to René Clément on his film The Walls of Malapaga (1949).

His directorial debut was Il sentiero dell'odio (1950), beginning a prolific career in a variety of genres. He met his wife Teresa Terrone (renamed Susan Terry by her agent), who appeared in several of his films, beginning with The Mysterious Swordsman/Lo spadaccino misterioso in 1955.^[3]

He directed nearly 40 films between 1950 and 1977, often also writing his own screenplays. Grieco is best known for his adventure, swashbuckler, sword and sandal and Eurospy films with Ken Clark, including the Secret Agent 077 series of imitation James Bond films, which he directed under the pseudonym 'Terence Hathaway' (see filmography). His final film was The Mad Dog Killer (1977). Grieco also co-wrote the screenplay for The Inglorious Bastards (1978).

His nephew is David Grieco, who has worked as a writer, producer and director.^[4]

Filmography as director