Lee Van Cleef

Acting · 2.4 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

High Noon

19527.7

Escape from New York

19817.0

For a Few Dollars More

19658.0

How the West Was Won

19627.0

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

19627.8

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

19577.0

Speed Zone

19894.6

The Tin Star

19577.0

The Bravados

19586.6

The Magnificent Seven Ride!

19725.6

The Young Lions

19586.8

Death Rides a Horse

19677.0

Mean Frank and Crazy Tony

19734.6

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

19536.6

Last Stagecoach West

19575.5

The Conqueror

19563.6

The Octagon

19805.1

Sabata

19696.3

It Conquered the World

19564.9

Commandos

19685.7

The Big Combo

19557.0

God's Gun

19765.1

The Big Gundown

19677.2

When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion

1979

Day of Anger

19677.1

Barquero

19706.2

Ride Lonesome

19596.7

China Gate

19576.2

Machete

19586.7

Kansas City Confidential

19527.1

Posse from Hell

19616.2

Take a Hard Ride

19755.3

The Stranger and the Gunfighter

19745.4

Princess of the Nile

19547.3

El Condor

19705.4

Vice Squad

19536.2

Ten Wanted Men

19555.9

A Man Alone

19555.8

Pardners

19566.7

Bad Man's River

19714.8

Captain Apache

19714.7

Beyond the Law

19685.8

The Lonely Man

19576.1

Return of Sabata

19715.9

The Grand Duel

19726.0

Treasure of Ruby Hills

19555.0

Tribute to a Bad Man

19567.0

The Yellow Tomahawk

19546.6

The Lawless Breed

19526.7

The Naked Street

19556.2

Joe Dakota

19576.7

The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout

20245.3

Code Name: Wild Geese

19845.3

Rails Into Laramie

19546.5

Day of the Badman

19586.9

Kid Vengeance

19765.4

Jungle Raiders

19854.4

Armed Response

19865.2

The Slowest Gun in the West

19604.5

Killing Machine

19844.7

Master Ninja II

19847.2

The Road to Denver

19557.0

Master Ninja

19844.4

Untamed Frontier

19527.3

Raiders of Old California

19575.4

The Commander

19885.6

Dawn at Socorro

19547.2

Guns Girls and Gangsters

19595.9

I Cover the Underworld

19556.5

The Nebraskan

19533.8

Tumbleweed

19536.3

Accused of Murder

19564.8

The Desperado

19547.2

The Perfect Killer

19774.3

The Hard Way

19806.1

The Badge of Marshal Brennan

19576.5

The Quiet Gun

19576.6

Arrow In The Dust

19546.3

The Bandits of Corsica

19536.4

The Squeeze

19785.9

Arena

19535.0

The Vanishing American

19556.7

Gypsy Colt

19547.2

Klaus Kinski: I'm not an actor

2000

The Master Ninja 5

198510.0

Jack Slade

19537.0

Thieves of Fortune

19903.8

Nowhere to Hide

19777.5

Gun Battle at Monterey

19575.2

Peter Baumgartner, Filmkameramann

2014

White Lightning

19537.5