Lee Van Cleef

Known for ActingBorn 1925-01-09Died 1989-12-16Somerville, 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 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".Read more

Movies & web series

The Master Ninja 5

Wire Service

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Twilight Zone

For a Few Dollars More

Studio 57

The Untouchables

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Nowhere to Hide

Perry Mason

The Ford Television Theatre

The Andy Griffith Show

High Noon

Bonanza

Zorro

Master Ninja II

White Lightning

City Detective

The Big Gundown

Law of the Plainsman

Have Gun, Will Travel

Escape from New York

Princess of the Nile

Rawhide

Untamed Frontier

Gypsy Colt

Dawn at Socorro

The Desperado

Stories of the Century

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

77 Sunset Strip

The Rifleman

Death Rides a Horse

Day of Anger

How the West Was Won

The Tin Star

Kansas City Confidential

Wanted: Dead or Alive

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Tribute to a Bad Man

The Big Combo

The Road to Denver

Jack Slade

Maverick

Trackdown

Branded

Day of the Badman

Richard Diamond, Private Detective