Lee Van Cleef

Acting · 2.7 popularity

Age

101

Movies

Born: January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989
From: Somerville, New Jersey, USA

Biography

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".

Works

92 films

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

19668.5

For a Few Dollars More

19658.0

High Noon

19527.7

Escape from New York

19817.0

How the West Was Won

19627.0

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

19627.8

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

19577.0

The Tin Star

19577.0

The Bravados

19586.6

The Young Lions

19586.8

Death Rides a Horse

19677.0

Speed Zone

19894.6

The Magnificent Seven Ride!

19725.6

The Octagon

19805.1

Sabata

19696.3

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

19536.6

Last Stagecoach West

19575.5

Ride Lonesome

19596.7

It Conquered the World

19564.9

The Big Combo

19557.0

Commandos

19685.7

The Conqueror

19563.6

The Big Gundown

19677.2

Day of Anger

19677.1

Mean Frank and Crazy Tony

19734.6

God's Gun

19765.1

Vice Squad

19536.2

Posse from Hell

19616.2

Ten Wanted Men

19555.9

The Stranger and the Gunfighter

19745.4

When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion

1979

Kansas City Confidential

19527.1

China Gate

19576.2

Barquero

19706.2

Take a Hard Ride

19755.3

Beyond the Law

19685.8

The Lonely Man

19576.1

El Condor

19705.4

Princess of the Nile

19547.3

A Man Alone

19555.8

The Grand Duel

19726.0

Machete

19586.7

The Yellow Tomahawk

19546.6

Joe Dakota

19576.7

Treasure of Ruby Hills

19555.0

Tribute to a Bad Man

19567.0

The Lawless Breed

19526.7

Pardners

19566.7

Return of Sabata

19715.9

Bad Man's River

19714.8

Untamed Frontier

19527.3

Captain Apache

19714.7

The Slowest Gun in the West

19604.5

Rails Into Laramie

19546.5

Day of the Badman

19586.9

The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout

20245.3

Killing Machine

19844.7

Jungle Raiders

19854.4

Code Name: Wild Geese

19845.3

The Quiet Gun

19576.6

Armed Response

19865.2

Kid Vengeance

19765.4

The Commander

19885.6

The Naked Street

19556.2

Dawn at Socorro

19547.2

Master Ninja II

19847.2

Raiders of Old California

19575.4

Arrow In The Dust

19546.3

Tumbleweed

19536.3

The Desperado

19547.2

The Perfect Killer

19774.3

Gypsy Colt

19547.2

The Road to Denver

19557.0

Accused of Murder

19564.8

I Cover the Underworld

19556.5

The Squeeze

19785.9

The Nebraskan

19533.8

Guns Girls and Gangsters

19595.9

Master Ninja

19844.4

The Vanishing American

19556.7

Thieves of Fortune

19903.8

The Hard Way

19806.1

Jack Slade

19537.0

Klaus Kinski: I'm not an actor

2000

Gun Battle at Monterey

19575.2

The Master Ninja 5

198510.0

The Bandits of Corsica

19536.4

The Badge of Marshal Brennan

19576.5

White Lightning

19537.5

Peter Baumgartner, Filmkameramann

2014

Nowhere to Hide

19777.5

Arena

19535.0