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Lee Van Cleef

Jan 09, 1925 - Dec 16, 1989 (64 years old) in Somerville, New Jersey, USA

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.

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".

Known For

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Perry Mason
Edward Doyle
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Bonanza
Appling
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Maverick
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The Andy Griffith Show
Skip
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Have Gun, Will Travel
Golias
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The Rifleman
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The Twilight Zone
Steinhart
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Zorro
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Four Star Playhouse
Bob Wheeler aka Sonora Kid
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Wagon Train
Rufe Beal

Credits

Images

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