Clint Eastwood in the 1960s already becoming very popular in France, labelled as the "new Gary Cooper". In Paris, he met Pierre Rissient and had an affair with actress Catherine Deneuve. Two months later Eastwood began working on "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", the final film of the Dollars trilogy, in which he again played the mysterious Man With No Name character. Lee Van Cleef was brought in again to play a ruthless fortune seeker, while Eli Wallach, a character actor noted for his appearance in "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), was hired to play the cunning Mexican bandit "Tuco", although the role was
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly side of my character, I'd be nearer "il Biondo" ("Blondie"): but my most profound sympathy always goes towards the "Tuco" side ... He can be touching with all that tenderness and all that wounded humanity." Film director Alex Cox suggests that the cemetery-buried gold hunted by the protagonists may have been inspired by rumours surrounding the anti-Communist Gladio terrorists, who hid many of their 138 weapons caches in cemeteries. Eastwood received a percentage-based salary, unlike the first two films where he received a straight fee salary. When Lee Van Cleef was again cast for another "Dollars" film, he joked "the