Lee Van Cleef

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Van Cleef in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Lee Van Cleef (January 9 1925 – December 16 1989) was an American film actor, who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes made him an ideal "bad guy," though he was occasionally cast in a hero's role.

1 Biography
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Van Cleef was born in Somerville, New Jersey to Marion Lavinia Van Fleet and Clarence Leroy Van Cleef, Sr; the family's ancestry was mostly Dutch, Swedish, Belgian and English.[1] Van Cleef served in the United States Navy during World War II and became an actor after a brief career as an accountant. His first film was the classic Western High Noon, in which he played a villain. He also had a bit part as the sharpshooter in the climax of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms around the same time.

[edit] Career

Van Cleef played different minor characters on four episodes of the TV series The Rifleman between 1959 and 1962. He played one of Lee Marvin's villainous henchmen in the 1962 John Ford classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, with James Stewart and John Wayne. He had a small, uncredited role as one of the river pirates in 1962's How the West Was Won.

Van Cleef appeared in several Spaghetti westerns, including For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (both co-starring Clint Eastwood), as well as The Big Gundown and The Sabata Trilogy. Van Cleef also had a supporting role in John Carpenter's cult hit Escape from New York. He also appeared as a villainous swindler in the Bonanza episode, The Bloodline (December 31, 1960), along with 90 movie roles and 109 other television appearances over a 38-year span.

In the early 1980s he played John Peter McCallister, the "first Occidental to become a ninja" in NBC's The Master. His last television appearance was in 1984 when he left the show The Master.<ref>La mort de Lee Van Cleef, Le Monde. Mardi 19 décembre 1989, p. 17. accessed on October 7, 2006.</ref> Episodes of the show were later remarketed as made-for-TV movies (by editing two episodes together), two of which were featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

[edit] Personal life

Lee Van Cleef died from a heart attack in Oxnard, California and was interred in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. His gravestone says "Lee Van Cleef Jan 9, 1925 - Dec 16, 1989 'Best of the Bad' Love and Light".

He lost the tip of his middle finger on his right hand while building a playhouse for his daughter. This can be seen in the close-up shots of his hand during the gunfights in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

[edit] Popular Culture

The gun toting villain "Revolver Ocelot" from the popular videogame series Metal Gear Solid is said to have been loosely based on Lee Van Cleef.
The character from the same videogame series, "Old Snake", that appears in Metal Gear Solid 4, is also based on Lee Van Cleef.
In another game "World of Warcraft", there is a pirate boss named "Van Cleef".
The Simpsons used a character rather like Van Cleef in their spoof of the Clint Eastwood musical (which was an adaptation of a stage show), Paint Your Wagon.
In the Lucky Luke comic book story Chasseur de primes (Bounty hunter), the bounty hunter Elliot Belt is an easily identifiable caricature of Van Cleef.
Van Cleef was listed as one of the dedicatees at the end of Quentin Tarantino's 2004 film Kill Bill Vol. 2.