Leone, Sergio

Leone, Sergio (1929-1989), Italian film director who specialized in “spaghetti Westerns“. Leone was born in Rome, the son of a film director. After acting in Ladri di Biciclette (1948; Bicycle Thieves) by Vittorio De Sica, he worked as an assistant and second-unit director on American and Italian productions, and wrote two screenplays, one of which resulted in a film that he co-directed, Gli Ultimi Giorni di Pompeii (1960; The Last Days of Pompeii).

Leone's popular films about the American West—sometimes referred to as “spaghetti Westerns”—include Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964; A Fistful of Dollars), based on Yojimbo by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, and its sequels, Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965; For a Few Dollars More) and Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo (1966; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), all starring Clint Eastwood; C'era una Volta il West (1968; Once Upon a Time in the West); and Giù la Testa (1971; A Fistful of Dynamite or Duck, You Sucker). His last major project, Once Upon a Time in America (1984), was a gangster epic. All the films mentioned have distinctive musical scores by Ennio Morricone. Leone died in Rome on April 30, 1989.