born Jan. 3, 1929?, Rome, Italy
died April 30, 1989, Rome
Italian film director.
After working as an assistant to Italian and U.S. directors, he made his directing debut with The Colossus of Rhodes (1961). He won a wide audience with A Fistful of Dollars (1964), the first of the violent Italian-made "spaghetti westerns"; the equally popular For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) also starred Clint Eastwood . Among his other films are the epics Once upon a Time in the West (1968) and Once upon a Time in America (1984). Many of his films were at first poorly received by critics, but Leone was eventually recognized for his meticulous care for historical accuracy and his powerful sense of visual composition.