Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef

Clarence LeRoy "Lee" Van Cleef Jr. 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. 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. After 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. 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. 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, 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, 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". Description above from the Wikipedia article Lee Van Cleef, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For: Acting
Birthday: 1925-01-09
Place of Birth: Somerville, New Jersey, USA
Also Known As: Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr., 李·范克里夫, 리 밴 클리프

Movies List of Lee Van Cleef

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High Noon

1952 Movie
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Escape from New York

1981 Movie
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The Tin Star

1957 Movie
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The Big Combo

1955 Movie
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Pardners

1956 Movie
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The Octagon

1980 Movie
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Barquero

1970 Movie
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Speed Zone

1989 Movie
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Beyond the Law

1968 Movie
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Ride Lonesome

1959 Movie
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The Young Lions

1958 Movie
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The Lonely Man

1957 Movie
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Accused of Murder

1956 Movie
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The Bravados

1958 Movie
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The Grand Duel

1972 Movie
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Take a Hard Ride

1975 Movie
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Ten Wanted Men

1955 Movie
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The Big Gundown

1967 Movie
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Armed Response

1986 Movie
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Thieves of Fortune

1990 Movie
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Death Rides a Horse

1967 Movie
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Sabata

1969 Movie
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Return of Sabata

1971 Movie
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Tribute to a Bad Man

1956 Movie
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Machete

1958 Movie
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Day of Anger

1967 Movie
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Vice Squad

1953 Movie
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El Condor

1970 Movie
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China Gate

1957 Movie
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Kid Vengeance

1976 Movie
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Killing Machine

1984 Movie
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God's Gun

1976 Movie
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Jungle Raiders

1985 Movie
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Bad Man's River

1971 Movie
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Commandos

1968 Movie
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The Lawless Breed

1952 Movie
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Captain Apache

1971 Movie
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Arena

1953 Movie
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Gypsy Colt

1954 Movie
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The Hard Way

1980 Movie
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The Commander

1988 Movie
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Arrow In The Dust

1954 Movie
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Code Name: Wild Geese

1984 Movie
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Dawn at Socorro

1954 Movie
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Princess of the Nile

1954 Movie
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The Perfect Killer

1977 Movie
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Untamed Frontier

1952 Movie
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The Yellow Tomahawk

1954 Movie
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Joe Dakota

1957 Movie
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The Quiet Gun

1957 Movie
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The Nebraskan

1953 Movie
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Rails Into Laramie

1954 Movie
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Jack Slade

1953 Movie
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Last Stagecoach West

1957 Movie
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The Squeeze

1978 Movie
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Tumbleweed

1953 Movie
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Posse from Hell

1961 Movie
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A Man Alone

1955 Movie
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How the West Was Won

1962 Movie
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The Conqueror

1956 Movie
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The Master Ninja 5

1985 Movie
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The Desperado

1954 Movie
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The Road to Denver

1955 Movie
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Master Ninja

1984 Movie
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Nowhere to Hide

1977 Movie
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White Lightning

1953 Movie
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Day of the Badman

1958 Movie
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Master Ninja II

1984 Movie
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The Naked Street

1955 Movie