Aldo Sambrell

Aldo Sambrell — Biography

Aldo Sambrell, born Alfredo Sánchez Brell, was one of the most recognisable supporting players of the 1960s spaghetti western. He is remembered for the bandits and henchmen he played in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy; across a career from 1961 to 1996 he appeared in more than 150 films, mostly as the villain. He died in 2010, but his films are still watched by fans of the European western.

Before cinema he was a footballer. He went to Mexico with his exiled family and played in Puebla and Monterrey, then on his return to Spain wore the shirts of Alcoyano and Rayo Vallecano. His first big step in acting came with Leone: Bir Avuç Dolar, Birkaç Dolar İçin (as Cuchillo) and İyi, Kötü ve Çirkin. He then worked in Sergio Corbucci's Navajo Joe and in westerns such as Faccia a faccia, A Bullet for the General, Bad Man's River and The Man Called Noon. Outside the genre he appeared in Superargo and the Faceless Giants and the Turkish production Süpermenler, was one of Sinbad's crew in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and played a villain in Jackie Chan's Operation Condor. Later work included Tuareg – The Desert Warrior and Hamam, shot in Turkey; he also directed under the name Alfred S. Brell.

He was born in 1931 in the Vallecas district of Madrid. He died in Alicante on 10 July 2010, aged 79, of a cerebral infarction, and his ashes were scattered at Fort Bravo in Tabernas.