Editing Sergio Leone (section)

== Early life ==
Born on 3 January 1929<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2019/01/03/UPI-Almanac-for-Thursday-Jan-3-2019/1811546209344/|title= UPI Almanac for Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019|work=[[United Press International]]|date=3 January 2019|access-date=3 September 2019|archive-date=3 January 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190103223323/https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2019/01/03/UPI-Almanac-for-Thursday-Jan-3-2019/1811546209344/|url-status=live|quote=Italian film director Sergio Leone in 1929}}</ref> in [[Rome]], Leone was the son of the cinema pioneer [[Vincenzo Leone]] (known as Roberto Roberti or Leone Roberto Roberti) and [[silent film]] actress [[Edvige Valcarenghi]] (known as Bice Waleran). His mother was of [[Milan]]ese and remote [[Austrians|Austrian]] descent.<ref>M. Garofalo, ''Tutto il cinema di Sergio Leone'', Baldini & Castoldi, 1999, p. 25</ref> During his schooldays, Leone was a classmate of his later musical collaborator [[Ennio Morricone]] in third grade.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Al cinema "Sergio Leone-l'italiano che inventò l'America". Ecco il frame con Morricone: "Compagni alle elementari" |url=https://video.corriere.it/al-cinema-sergio-leone-l-italiano-che-invento-l-america-ecco-frame-morricone-compagni-elementari/672e1736-5047-11ed-9fe8-4b642e287986 |access-date=29 May 2023 |website=Video: ultime notizie - Corriere TV |language=it-IT}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Al cinema "Sergio Leone-l'italiano che inventò l'America". Ecco il frame con Morricone:... | date=20 October 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om9fvcS4eQ8 |access-date=29 May 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone pose together in the primary school year book|date=2 March 2016|url=https://weirditaly.com/2016/03/02/ennio-morricone-sergio-leone-pose-together-primary-school-year-book/|website=weirditaly.com|access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref> 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.

Working in [[Cinema of Italy|Italian cinema]], he began as an assistant to [[Vittorio De Sica]] during the production for the movie ''[[Bicycle Thieves]]'' in 1948. Leone began writing screenplays during the 1950s, primarily for the "[[sword and sandal]]" (or ''peplum'') historical epics, popular at the time. He also worked as an assistant director on several large-scale international productions shot at the [[Cinecittà|Cinecittà Studios]] in Rome, notably ''[[Quo Vadis (1951 film)|Quo Vadis]]'' (1951) and ''[[Ben-Hur (1959 film)|Ben-Hur]]'' (1959), financially backed by the American studios.<ref name="Frayling" />

When director [[Mario Bonnard]] fell ill during the production of the 1959 Italian epic ''[[The Last Days of Pompeii (1959 film)|The Last Days of Pompeii]]'' (''Gli Ultimi Giorni di Pompei''), starring [[Steve Reeves]], Leone was asked to step in and complete the film.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kinnard |first1=Roy |last2=Crnkovich |first2=Tony |title=Italian Sword and Sandal Films, 1908-1990 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1476662916 |year=2017 |page=106}}</ref> 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), Leone was well-equipped to produce low-budget films that looked like larger-budget Hollywood movies.