A distinguished-looking genre actor, Altamura was noted for his many appearances in Italian spaghetti westerns, peplum and swashbuckling adventure films in the 50s and 60s. Born and raised in Rome, the son of a military officer, Altamura was educated at the prestigious Liceo Classico, where he was able to study Latin, as well as history, literature and philosophy. After graduating, he began his career as a part-time animator and freelance journalist. He also did some voice acting on radio before making his motion picture debut in 1954. A first stage appearance followed seven years later in a production of Sacco and Vanzetti, in which he co-starred with Gian Maria Volontè.

On the screen, Altamura found himself often cast as men with gravitas, as in aristocrats, senators, governors, priests, scientists and bankers. On several occasions, he used his nom de plume of 'Tor Altmayer'. Many of his films starred international actors, tough guys like Gordon Mitchell (Atlas Against the Cyclops (1961)), Gordon Scott (Hero of Rome (1964)), Lex Barker (Pirates of the Coast (1960)), Guy Madison (Women of Devil's Island (1962)) and Pierre Brice (Invincible Masked Rider (1963)). Another frequent co-star in a slew of Hercules adventures was the Italian-American bodybuilder Mark Forest. Altamura's more high profile roles have included the Babylonian monarch Assur in Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon (1964), the playwright and philosopher Seneca in the comedic Le calde notti di Poppea (1969), chief of police Ostermeyer in the giallo thriller A Black Veil for Lisa (1968) and 'Peter' in the Italo-western Blood for a Silver Dollar (1965) (a film which firmly established Giuliano Gemma as one of the leading protagonists of the genre).

Latterly active as a documentary film maker, Altamura was awarded a prize at a Salerno Film Festival in the early 70s for his documentary Itinerario differente.