Maurizio Merli (8 February 1940 in Rome – 10 March 1989) was an Italian film actor. Merli got his first starring role in 1974 in the film White Fang to the Rescue due to his resemblance to the highly popular cult actor Franco Nero, who played the lead in the first two films. Merli later became one of the most prominent actors of the poliziotteschi genre by starring in almost a dozen films. He died in 1989 of myocardial infarction after a tennis match.