His father was an army general under a Cuban dictatorship. In 1933 the
dictatorship was overthrown and his father arrested. He committed suicide in 1945 in his home, with Tomas as an
eyewitness.
In the 1970s he specialized in playing lone-wolf anti-heroes in giallos
and crime features. He started an extremely successful series of tough,
violent films as the small-time crook Er. Monnezza (three times) and
police detective Nico Giraldi (12 times).
In most of his Italian comedies from the 1970s, his voice was dubbed by
Ferruccio Amendola, who provided a strong Roman accent. However, Milian had real
knowledge of Roman slang and generally wrote his own lines.