- published: 23 Aug 2011
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Alfredo Sánchez Brell (23 February 1931 – 10 July 2010), known as Aldo Sambrell, was a Spanish actor, director and producer who appeared in over 150 films between 1961 and 1996.
He was best known in the world of cinema for his roles as henchmen in Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western films, portraying gang members in the trilogy of films A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More, (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), as well as in Once Upon a Time in the West in 1968, and 100 Rifles in 1969. He also played the part of firing squad leader in A Fistful of Dynamite (1971), and a member of Sinbad's crew in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973).
He acted in many other westerns, including Sergio Corbucci's Navajo Joe. He appeared in several international productions as an extra or bit actor, including Doctor Zhivago and The Wind and the Lion.
Aldo Sambrell was born in Madrid, Spain on 23 February 1931, and died in Alicante, Spain on 10 July 2010, at age 79, the result of three strokes he suffered in early June 2010.
Sergio Leone (Italian: [ˈsɛrdʒo leˈɔːne]; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.
Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots. His movies include the sword and sandal action films The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) and The Colossus of Rhodes (1961), the Dollars Trilogy of Westerns featuring Clint Eastwood (A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)), the Western Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), the epic buddy Zapata Western Duck, You Sucker! (1971) and the epic crime drama Once Upon a Time in America (1984).
Born in Rome, Leone was the son of the cinema pioneer Vincenzo Leone (known as director Roberto Roberti or Leone Roberto Roberti) and the silent film actress Edvige Valcarenghi (Bice Waleran). During his schooldays, Leone was a classmate of his later musical collaborator Ennio Morricone for a time. After watching his father work on film sets, Leone began his own career in the film industry at the age of 18 after dropping out of law studies at the university.