Lee Van Cleef profile
Actor profile

Lee Van Cleef

9th January 1925 Somerville, New Jersey, USA Acting

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".

92 Movies 53 TV Shows 145 Credits
Filmography

Movies & TV Shows

The Squeeze poster
The Squeeze 25th October 1978 as Chris Gretchko / Ray Sloan
God's Gun poster
God's Gun 1st February 1976 as Father John / Lewis
Sabata poster
Sabata 16th September 1969 as Sabata
Arena poster
Arena 24th June 1953 as Smitty
The Master poster
The Master 20th January 1984 as John Peter McAllister
Bonanza poster
Bonanza 12th September 1959 as Appling
Rawhide poster
Rawhide 9th January 1959 as Deck Sommers
Lawman poster
Lawman 5th October 1958 as Deputy Clyde Wilson
Bronco poster
Bronco 23rd September 1958 as Shanghai Williams
Cheyenne poster
Cheyenne 20th September 1955 as Harry Bittercreek Bartender
Gunsmoke poster
Gunsmoke 10th September 1955 as Ike Jeffords