10 Movie Scenes More Real Than You Think
4. Arch Stanton's Skeleton - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
In Sergio Leone's impossibly iconic western, Blondie (Clint Eastwood) tells Tuco (Eli Wallach) that the gold they're seeking out is located in the grave of an individual named "Arch Stanton."
However when Tuco opens the grave at Sad Hill Cemetery, he finds nothing but a human skeleton, because of course Blondie lied to him about the gold's real resting place.
While you'd be forgiven for assuming that the production simply used a prop skeleton from a local fancy dress store, in fact the skeleton of Arch Stanton was really that of an actual dead person.
Because Leone didn't like the look of the original prop skeleton, set decorator Carlo Leva did some scouting and found a woman living in Madrid with a skeleton for hire.
The skeleton was of the woman's mother, a former actress who wished before she died that her skeleton be used in movies, allowing her acting career to continue posthumously. Creepy, but also weirdly touching.