Sergio Leone: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:05, 19 April 2007

Revision as of 09:30, 29 April 2007

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Born in [[Rome]], he was the son of the cinema pioneer [[Vincenzo Leone]] (known as director [[Roberto Roberti]]), and the actress [[Edvige Valcarenghi]] ([[Bice Waleran]]), and started working in the film industry himself at the age of eighteen.

He began writing screenplays in the 1950s, primarily for the so-called "[[sword and sandal]]" or "peplum" historical epics which were popular at the time. He also worked as an assistant director on several large-scale, high-profile [[Hollywood]] productions, a.k.a. [[runaway productions]], filmed at [[Cinecittà|Cinecittà Studios]] in [[Rome]], notably ''[[Quo Vadis (1951 film)|Quo Vadis]]'' (1951) (in which a teenaged [[Sophia Loren]] appeared in a small role) and ''[[Ben-Hur (1959 film)|Ben-Hur]]'' (1959).

When director [[Mario Bonnard]] fell ill during the production of the 1959 Italian epic ''Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei'' (''[[The Last Days of Pompei]]'') starring [[Steve Reeves]], Sergio Leone was asked to step in and complete the film. As a result, when the time came to make his solo directorial debut with ''[[Il Colosso di Rodi|The Colossus of Rhodes]]'' (''Il Colosso di Rodi'', 1961), he was well equipped to produce low-budget films which looked and felt like Hollywood spectaculars.