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Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef

Birthday: 1925-01-09 | Place of Birth: Somerville, New Jersey, USA

Clarence LeRoy "Lee" Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor best known for his roles in Spaghetti Westerns such as For A Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Hatchet-faced with piercing eyes, he had declined to have his nose altered to play a sympathetic character in his film debut, High Noon, and was relegated to a non-speaking outlaw as a result. For a decade he was typecast as a minor villain, his sinister features[peacock term] overshadowing his acting skills. After suffering serious injuries in a car crash, Van Cleef began to lose interest in his apparently waning[peacock term] career by the time Sergio Leone gave him a major role in For a Few Dollars More. The film made him a box-office draw, especially in Europe. Military service: After basic training and further training at the Naval Fleet Sound School, Van Cleef was assigned to a submarine chaser and then to a minesweeper, USS Incredible, on which he worked as a sonarman. fter leaving the Navy, Van Cleef read for a part in Our Town at the Little Theater Group in Clinton, New Jersey and received his first stage role.[7] From there, he continued to meet with the group and audition for parts. The next biggest part was that of the boxer, Joe Pendleton, in the play Heaven Can Wait. During this time, he was observed by visiting talent scouts, who were impressed by Van Cleef's stage presence and delivery. One of these scouts later took him to New York City talent agent Maynard Morris of the MCA agency, who then sent him to the Alvin Theater for an audition. The play was Mister Roberts.[citation needed] Van Cleef's screen debut came in High Noon. During a performance of Mister Roberts in Los Angeles, he was noticed by film director Stanley Kramer, who offered Van Cleef a role in his upcoming film. Kramer originally wanted Van Cleef for the role of the deputy Harvey Pell, but as he wanted Van Cleef to have his "distinctive nose" fixed, Van Cleef declined the role in favor of the part of the silent gunslinger Jack Colby. He was then cast mostly in villainous roles, due to his sharp cheeks and chin, piercing eyes, and hawk-like nose,[citation needed][peacock term] from the part of Tony Romano in Kansas City Confidential (1952), culminating 14 years later in Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) Despite suffering from heart disease from the late 1970s and having a pacemaker installed in the early 1980s,[14] Van Cleef continued to work in films until his death on December 16, 1989, at age 64.[15] He collapsed in his home in Oxnard, California, from a heart attack.[16] Throat cancer was listed as a secondary cause of death.[17] He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Hollywood Hills, California, with an inscription on his grave marker referring to his many acting performances as a villain: "BEST OF THE BAD". CLR Description above from the Wikipedia article Lee Van Cleef, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1990
Thieves of Fortune

as    Sergio Danielo Christophero

1988
The Commander

as    Col. Mazzarini

1986
Code Name: Wild Geese

as    Archie 'China' Travers

1986
Armed Response

as    Burt Roth

1984
The Master

as    John Peter McAllister

1984
Killing Machine

as    Julot

1981
Escape from New York

as    Police Commissioner Bob Hauk

1980
The Octagon

as    McCarn

1978
The Squeeze

as    Chris Gretchko / Ray Sloan

1977
God's Gun

as    Father John / Lewis

1977
The Perfect Killer

as    Harry Chapman

1977
Kid Vengeance

as    McClain

1976
1975
Beyond the Law

as    Billy Joe Cudlip

1975
Mean Frank and Crazy Tony

as    Frankie

1975
Take a Hard Ride

as    Kiefer

1974
Bad Man's River

as    Roy King

1972
The Magnificent Seven Ride!

as    Marshal Chris Adams

1971
Captain Apache

as    Capt. Apache

1970
El Condor

as    Jaroo

1970
Sabata

as    Sabata

1970
Barquero

as    Travis

1968
Death Rides a Horse

as    Ryan

1967
For a Few Dollars More

as    Col. Douglas Mortimer

1967
The Big Gundown

as    Jonathan Corbett

1967
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

as    Sentenza / Angel Eyes

1960
The Slowest Gun in the West

as    Sam Bass

1959
Ride Lonesome

as    Frank

1959
Guns Girls and Gangsters

as    Mike Bennett