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.
Acted Movies
Director: John Carpenter
Writers: Nick Castle,
Cast: Adrienne Barbeau, Charles Cyphers, Donald Pleasence, Ernest Borgnine, Harry Dean Stanton, Isaac Hayes, Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Season Hubley, Tom Atkins,
Director: Eric Karson
Writers: Leigh Chapman,
Cast: Art Hindle, Carol Bagdasarian, Chuck Norris, Karen Carlson, Kim Lankford, Larry D. Mann, Lee Van Cleef, Richard Norton, Tadashi Yamashita, Yuki Shimoda,
Director: Giancarlo Santi
Writers: Ernesto Gastaldi,
Cast: Alberto Dentice, Alessandra Cardini, Antonio Casale, Dominique Darel, Horst Frank, Jess Hahn, Klaus Grünberg, Lee Van Cleef, Marc Mazza,
Director: Tonino Valerii
Writers: Renzo Genta,
Cast: Andrea Bosic, Christa Linder, Ennio Balbo, Giorgio Gargiullo, Giuliano Gemma, José Calvo, Lee Van Cleef, Lukas Ammann, Walter Rilla, Yvonne Sanson,
Director: Sergio Sollima
Writers: Sergio Donati,
Cast: Antonio Casas, Benito Stefanelli, Fernando Sancho, Frank Braña, Gérard Herter, Lee Van Cleef, Manolita Barroso, Nieves Navarro, Tomas Milian, Walter Barnes,
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Writers: Edward Anhalt,
Cast: Barbara Rush, Dean Martin, Dora Doll, Hope Lange, Lee Van Cleef, Liliane Montevecchi, Marlon Brando, Maximilian Schell, May Britt, Montgomery Clift,
Director: Anthony Mann
Writers: Dudley Nichols,
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Betsy Palmer, Henry Fonda, John McIntire, Lee Van Cleef, Mary Webster, Michel Ray, Neville Brand, Peter Baldwin, Richard Shannon,
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writers: Philip Yordan,
Cast: Brian Donlevy, Cornel Wilde, Earl Holliman, Helen Walker, Jay Adler, Jean Wallace, John Hoyt, Lee Van Cleef, Richard Conte, Robert Middleton,
Director: Eugène Lourié
Writers: Fred Freiberger,
Cast: Cecil Kellaway, Donald Woods, Jack Pennick, Kenneth Tobey, Lee Van Cleef, Paul Hubschmid, Paula Raymond, Ray Hyke, Ross Elliott, Steve Brodie,
Director: Phil Karlson
Writers: George Bruce,
Cast: Carleton Young, Coleen Gray, Dona Drake, Howard Negley, Jack Elam, John Payne, Lee Van Cleef, Mario Siletti, Neville Brand, Preston Foster,