Lee van Cleef on Sergio Leone

Lee van Cleef on Sergio Leone

Lee Van Cleef meets Sergio Leone

“Leone came here in 1965 looking for a couple of actors he wanted for his second Western. The moment we met he decided,” There he is, this is the guy who will play Colonel Mortimer in Per Un Pugno di Dollari. “

Well, I certainly wasn’t arguing with him. Heck, at the time I couldn’t even pay my phone bill! I went there and shot it. I paid my bill, and exactly one year later, on April 12, 1966, I was called back to do “The Good, The Ugly and the Bad”. And I also did “La Resa dei Conti,” one after the other. So at the time, instead of $ 17,000 I was making over $100,000… Thanks to Sergio, not me. 

 Lee Van Cleef