Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor and activist, remembered for his versatility as a performer, his outspoken left-wing leanings, and fiery temper on- and off-screen. He is perhaps most famous outside Italy for his roles in four Spaghetti Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964), El Indio in Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965), El Chuncho Munoz in Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General (1966) and Professor Brad Fletcher in Sergio Sollima's Face to Face (1967).
Volonté in Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Homage to Gian Maria Volonté (seen in his role as Carlo Levi in Christ Stopped at Eboli) by Reginald Gray
The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most of these Westerns were produced and directed by Italians.
Clint Eastwood as the Man with No Name in a publicity image for A Fistful of Dollars, directed by Sergio Leone
Decorations from the film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by Sergio Leone in Almería, Andalusia, Spain
Sergio Leone, one of the most representative directors of the genre
A Pistol for Ringo by Duccio Tessari