Summary

• Clint Eastwood’s role in
  The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  cemented his status as an icon of the Western genre.
• Lee Van Cleef’s portrayal of the ruthless Angel Eyes added depth to the Spaghetti Western trilogy.
• Eli Wallach’s comedic performance as Tuco balanced out the serious tone of the cult film.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an outstanding film whose cast made it something great and is the third film in Sergio Leone’s iconic For a handful of dollars Trilogy. The trilogy began with For a handful of dollars in 1964 and was followed by For a few dollars more the next year, before starting in 1966 with The Good, the Bad and the UglyThe films are part of the Spaghetti Western tradition, which is aSubgenre of the Western in which Italian teams shot American Western films.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is probably the most iconic film of the Spaghetti Western genre, as it is still appreciated today. The Leone trilogy is experiencing a second upswing, as a remake of For a handful of dollars was announced earlier this year. Although the remake does not match the heyday of the spaghetti western, it will allow a new audience to appreciate the qualities of the classic film. In the lead-up to the remake of the first film, it is fascinating to take another look at the cast of The Good, the Bad and the Uglyand what happened to them after the film.

The good: Clint Eastwood as the Man with No Name / Blondie

Born on May 31, 1930

Return to the series after For a handful of dollars And For a few dollars moreClint Eastwood further expanded his western career through his performance in this film. Eastwood began his career in the 1950s and was already known for the western genre at that time The Good, the Bad and the Ugly rolled around, and the 1966 film only further cemented that status. Eastwood continued to act in western films for years afterward, The Good, the Bad and the Uglyincluding films of the 60s Coogan’s Bluff And Paint your car and later westerns like Unforgiven.

Notable roles of Clint Eastwood:

In addition to his work in front of the camera, Eastwood also became a prolific Hollywood personality behind the scenes. Five years after his appearance in The Good, the Bad and the UglyEastwood would make his first feature film with Play Misty for Me. He made dozens more films, even won an Oscar for Best Director in 2005 for his emotional 2004 film Million Dollar BabyIn 2023, the 90-year-old announced his official retirement from the film industry.

The Bad: Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes / Sentenza

Born on January 9, 1925; died on December 16, 1989

Lee Van Cleef took on the role of the “evil” mercenary in The Good, the Bad and the UglyLike Eastwood, Van Cleef was no newcomer to the Western genre when he starred in Leone’s film. He had also had a previous role in the Spaghetti Western trilogy, in which he played For a few dollars moreand also played a role in the John Ford classic The man who shot Liberty Vance.

Notable roles of Lee Van Cleef:

After The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Van Cleef immediately made a whole series of other spaghetti westerns and played in The big gundown, Death rides on a horse, Day of Wrath, Beyond the lawAnd Saturday all between 1967 and 1969. He had a successful career as an outlaw and gunslinger and appeared in almost 200 projects throughout his career. Van Cleef died of a heart attack at the age of 64. His last screen appearance was in the posthumously released drama parody film Thieves of happiness.

The Ugly: Eli Wallach as Tuco, also known as “The Rat”

Born on December 7, 1915; died on June 24, 2014

Wallach’s quick-witted character provided some comical variety in the otherwise serious The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Unlike Eastwood and Van Cleef, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Was Wallach’s Leone Trilogy debutas the actor was reportedly convinced to play the role after Leone showed him the opening sequence of For a few dollars more. When he The Good, the Bad and the UglyAlready notorious for his method acting style and iconic character roles, Wallach turned his attention to another spaghetti western after the Leone film, playing Cat Stevens in Ace High.

Eli Wallach also won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama and Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1967 and 2010 for
The poppy is also a flower
And
Nurse Jackie
respectively.

Although Wallach did not remain strictly limited to the Western and Spaghetti Western genres, his characters were mostly in the genre film area. These roles ranged from thrillers such as The depth to action gangster films like FirepowerWallach continued playing until his last years and received a Honorary Award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Governers’ Awards 2011His last feature film appearance before his death in 2014 was in 2010 in Wall Street: Money never sleeps.

Supporting actors and characters from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”

Wallach, Eastwood and Van Cleef grounded the film

The titular trio of “The Good”, “The Bad” and “The Ugly” were the main characters of the spaghetti western. They received most of the film’s screen time, and the tensions and cooperation between the members of the main trio make up most of the The Good, the Bad and the UglyPlot. However, there are a few supporting characters in the film who contribute to parts of the film and have their own acting legacy.

Antonio Casas plays Stevens, a former Confederate soldier, in the filmBorn in Spain, Casas began his professional career as a football player before switching to acting in 1942. The actor starred in a number of Spanish-language films before The Good, the Bad and the Uglyand followed his Leone film role with roles in The big gundown, The young rebelAnd The great Tony Carrera. Casas worked on almost 200 projects until his death in 1982.

Other supporting actors in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly including Aldo Giuffrè as Union Captain Clinton, Luigi Pistilli as Father Pablo Ramirez and Rada Rassimov as Maria. Unlike Casas and the Hollywood actor trio in the center of The Good, the Bad and the UglyGiuffrè, Pistilli and Rassimov were all Italian-born actors. Pistilli had previously worked with Leone in For a few dollars moreand spent the rest of his career acting, mostly in Italian-language works. Tragically, he committed suicide in 1996 at the age of 66.

Giuffrè was born in Naples in 1924 and had a career that included over 100 roles. After The Good, the Bad and the UglyGiuffrès roles included Ghosts in Italian And When women had tailsHe retired from acting in 2004 and died in 2010. Rassimov is still alive, but ended her acting career in 2003. Like Pastilli, her later works included mostly Italian-language titles.