The external heavy atom induced phosphorescence of C60 and C70 is obtained at 77 K in a glass containing ethyl iodide and gives 12 690 +/- 30 cm-1 as a precise lower limit for thc energy of triplet C60. Triplet lifetime measurements show that the heavy atom effect is relatively much greater on the S1 --> T1 than on the T1 --> S0 radiationless transitions, as expected from the smaller Franck-Condon constraints in the former process.