Lee Van Cleef - Movies, Bio & Filmography

Meet Lee Van Cleef

★ Acting🎥 92 films📺 71 TV shows📅 1949–2024🔥 2

Also known as: Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr., 李·范克里夫, 리 밴 클리프

Born in Somerville, New Jersey, USA

1925-01-09 (age 64 at death)

Died 1989-12-16

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 overshadowing his acting skills. After suffering serious injuries in a car crash, Van Cleef began to lose interest in his apparently waning 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.

Despite suffering from heart disease from the late 1970s and having a pacemaker installed in the early 1980s, Van Cleef continued to work in films until his death on December 16, 1989, at age 64. 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".From Wikipedia
Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of spaghetti Westerns, holding starring roles in the Sergio Leone-directed Dollars Trilogy films, For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). In 1983, he received a Golden Boot Award for his contribution to the Western film and television genre.
Van Cleef served in the United States Navy during World War II aboard the minesweeper USS Incredible, earning a Bronze Star for his actions. After acting on stage in regional theatre, he made his film debut in the Oscar-winning Western High Noon (1952) in a non-speaking outlaw cast role. With distinctive, angular features and a taciturn screen persona, Van Cleef was typecast as minor villain and supporting player in Westerns and Crime Dramas. After suffering serious injuries in a car crash, Van Cleef's acting career started to decline. He achieved stardom when Leone gave him the co-leading role in For a Few Dollars More (1965).
Van Cleef later appeared in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), The Big Gundown (1967), Death Rides a Horse (1967), Day of Anger (1967), Beyond the Law (1968), Sabata (1969) and its sequel Return of Sabata (1971), Barquero (1970), El Condor (1970), Captain Apache (1971),The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972), The Grand Duel (1972), Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1973), The Stranger and the Gunfighter (1974), Take a Hard Ride (1975), The Hard Way (1980), The Octagon (1980), Escape from New York (1981), and Armed Response (1986). He played the lead role of John Peter McAllister on the martial-arts television series The Master (1984).

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