Lee Van Cleef
Birthday: 1925-01-09
Place of Birth: 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".
Movies
High Noon
Will Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has b...
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For a Few Dollars More
Two bounty hunters both pursue the brutal and sadistic bandit, El Indio, who has a large bounty on h...
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Escape from New York
In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison ...
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The Tin Star
An experienced bounty hunter helps a young sheriff learn the meaning of his badge....
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Kansas City Confidential
An ex-convict sets out to uncover who framed him for an armored car robbery....
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Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Lawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Doc Holliday form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their partic...
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The Big Combo
Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice ...
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Pardners
Rich momma's boy Wade Kingsley Jr. an Eastern dude, tries to follow in his murdered father's footste...
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The Octagon
Scott James, a veteran martial arts expert, is recruited as the protector of the wealthy and beautif...
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Barquero
Jake Remy leads a gang of outlaw cutthroats making their escape toward Mexico from a successful robb...
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Speed Zone
An illegal race that takes place over the United States and nothing will stop this bunch of racers e...
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It Conquered the World
An alien from Venus tries to take over the world with the help of a disillusioned human scientist, a...
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Beyond the Law
A thief takes the job as a town sheriff in order to rob a silver shipment before his ex-partner can ...
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Ride Lonesome
On the way to pick up the bounty on a wanted murderer, a bounty hunter stops at a staging post where...
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The Young Lions
The lives of three young men, a German and two Americans, during WWII....
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The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
The controlled explosion of an atomic bomb in the Arctic Circle awakens a frozen dinosaur that will ...
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The Stranger and the Gunfighter
During a hold-up in the Wild West, Dakota kills a rich old Chinese man, Wang. Later, he is captured,...
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Peter Baumgartner, Filmkameramann
Peter Baumgartner talks about his life and work as a DoP for Erwin C. Dietrich and Jess Franco....
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The Lonely Man
Aging gunslinger Jacob Wade hopes to settle down with his estranged son, but his old enemies have ot...
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Accused of Murder
A police detective finds himself entangled in the web of the underworld when he falls in love with a...
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The Magnificent Seven Ride!
Marshal Chris Adams turns down a friend's request to help stop the depredations of a gang of Mexican...
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The Bravados
Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men...
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The Grand Duel
A grizzled ex-sheriff helps a man framed for murder to confront the powerful trio of brothers who wa...
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Take a Hard Ride
After his cattle rancher boss dies, right-hand man Pike is given the job of returning $86,000 to som...
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Ten Wanted Men
When his ward seeks protection with rival cattleman John Stewart, embittered, jealous rancher Wick C...
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The Big Gundown
Unofficial lawman John Corbett hunts down Cuchillo Sanchez, a Mexican peasant accused of raping and ...
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Armed Response
One of Tanaka's underlings has stolen a rare statuette that he had planned to use as a peace offerin...
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Thieves of Fortune
A beautiful woman must perform feats of bravery in order to inherit a $28 million fortune and win th...
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Death Rides a Horse
Bill Meceita, a boy whose family was murdered in front of him by a gang, sets out 15 years later to ...
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Sabata
Several pillars of society have robbed an Army safe containing $100,000 so they can buy the land upo...
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Return of Sabata
Master gunslinger Sabata arrives in Hobsonville, a town completely owned by McIntock, a robber baron...
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Mean Frank and Crazy Tony
There's trouble in Frankie Diomede's criminal empire in Genoa. A French gangster has moved into his ...
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When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion
Some of TV and film's popular western actors reunite in this tribute special hosted by Glenn Ford....
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Tribute to a Bad Man
Jeremy Rodock is a tough horse rancher who strings up rustlers as soon as looks at them. Fresh out o...
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Machete
This 1959 film-noir take on "Othello," filmed in Puerto Rico, stars Mari Blanchard as flirtatious Je...
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Day of Anger
A scruffy garbage boy becomes the pupil of famed gunfighter Talby, and the stage for confrontation i...
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Vice Squad
A Los Angeles police captain (Edward G. Robinson) ties the case of a slain policeman to a bank robbe...
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El Condor
Luke, an escaped convict, and Jaroo, a loner gold prospector, team up with a band of Apache Indians ...
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China Gate
Near the end of the French phase of the Vietnam War, a group of mercenaries are recruited to travel ...
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Kid Vengeance
Tom, a teenager, teams with a black gunfighter named Isaac to avenge his family....
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Killing Machine
After a gang of thugs brands a hard working truck driver a traitor and murders his bride, He retali...
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God's Gun
Priest turned vigilante Father John hunts down a gang of criminals, led by Sam Clayton, who killed a...
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Jungle Raiders
An expedition enters an unexplored jungle to search for a legendary ruby....
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Bad Man's River
Robber Roy King loses his wife, Alicia, to revolutionary Montero. Despite their rivalry they collabo...
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Commandos
Sgt. Sullivan puts together a group of Italian-Americans into disguise as Italian soldiers in order ...
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The Lawless Breed
After being released from prison, ex-gunfighter John Wesley Hardin hopes to have his autobiography p...
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Captain Apache
The title character is a US army Captain of Native American descent who is asked to investigate the ...
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The Bandits of Corsica
Siamese twins separated at birth retain a psychic link; each feels the other's pain and happiness....
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Arena
Left by his wife, a vain rodeo star picks up a floozy and rides a bad Brahman bull....
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Gypsy Colt
In this trans-species remake of Lassie, Come Home, a faithful horse undertakes a perilous journey to...
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The Hard Way
John Connor is a soon-to-retire hitman that agrees to take on one last job. After years plying his d...
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Raiders of Old California
A villainous cavalry officer is trying to force the owner of a hacienda to give him his land when a ...
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The Commander
Lewis Collins is back to leading mercenaries on the move in Southeast Asia. This time the cast is un...
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Arrow In The Dust
A cavalry deserter poses as a major and leads a wagon train with a hidden cargo of repeating rifles....
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Code Name: Wild Geese
Commander Robin Wesley, leader of a group of mercenaries, go to the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asi...
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Dawn at Socorro
Brett Wade, gambler, gunslinger, and classical pianist, is wounded in a gunfight with the Ferris cla...
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Princess of the Nile
Shalimar, an Egyptian princess, striving to rid her country of its Bedouin conquerors, forms an alli...
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The Perfect Killer
Betrayed by his girl and best friend, thief Harry Chapman takes the fall for a racetrack robbery. Wh...
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Untamed Frontier
The Denbow family denies access across their land to homesteaders. To evade a murder charge, Glenn D...
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The Yellow Tomahawk
When the army insists on building a fort on Indian land, in defiance of a treaty, the warnings of a ...
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Joe Dakota
A stranger rides into town and says he is looking for a local Indian. Told he left town, the truth e...
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The Vanishing American
A woman arrives in New Mexico to claim property she's inherited and receives an education in the gre...
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The Badge of Marshal Brennan
Jim Davis is a man on the run. He comes across the body of a dead man wearing the badge of a marshal...
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The Quiet Gun
A mild mannered sheriff must fight both a hired gun and local anti-Indian bigotry in a small frontie...
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The Nebraskan
War looms on the horizon when an Army officer's American Indian aide is accused of murdering a triba...
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Gun Battle at Monterey
An outlaw saved by a Mexican girl hunts the holdup partner who shot him in the back....
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Rails Into Laramie
A federal agent arrives in Laramie to try to find out who is behind the efforts to stop the construc...
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Jack Slade
A young boy witnesses his father murdered by bandits and grows into adulthood vowing revenge....
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Last Stagecoach West
The coming of the railroad to Cedar City spells the end of the stagecoach as the government gives th...
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The Squeeze
A retired safe cracker is recruited by a young conman to return to the "business" for a million doll...
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The Slowest Gun in the West
The town of Primrose, Arizona is beset by outlaws, so the towns people hire Fletcher Bissell III (A....
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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Questions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a sma...
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Tumbleweed
Jim Harvey is hired to guard a small wagon train as it makes its way west. The train is attacked by ...
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Posse from Hell
Banner Cole is a tough sheriff's deputy who forms a small posse to go after 4 death cell escapees wh...
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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
While the Civil War rages on between the Union and the Confederacy, three men – a quiet loner, a rut...
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A Man Alone
A gunfighter, stranded in the desert, comes across the aftermath of a stage robbery, in which all th...
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Klaus Kinski: I'm not an actor
Klaus Kinski is one of the few German actors who has achieved international fame. He made headlines....
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How the West Was Won
The epic tale of the development of the American West from the 1830s through the Civil War to the en...
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The Conqueror
Mongol chief Temujin battles against Tartar armies and for the love of the Tartar princess Bortai. T...
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The Master Ninja 5
Lee Van Cleef stars as John Peter McAllister, who as a reverend master of the Ninja warrior society,...
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I Cover the Underworld
Gunner O'Hara is about to be released from prison after serving a five-year sentence, and receives a...
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The Desperado
"Only a fool sticks his neck out for somebody else. Don't get in the habit of it." Outlaw gunslinger...
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The Road to Denver
The Mayhew brothers flee from one Texas town to another as older brother Bill repeatedly attempts to...
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Master Ninja
Aging skilled master ninja, John Peter McAllister, and his young apprentice search for John's long l...
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Nowhere to Hide
A special unit of the U.S. Marshal's Service is assigned to protect a syndicate hitman who is to tes...
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White Lightning
The Red Devils, a professional ice hockey team, owned by Jack Monohan, is in the midst of a long los...
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Day of the Badman
Judge Jim Scott must contend with the vicious relatives of a murderer he's about to sentence...and h...
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Master Ninja II
Lee Van Cleef and Timoty Van Patten are back in this "sequel" to their last "movie" about a ninja an...
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Guns, Girls and Gangsters
Chuck Wheeler gets out of the Pen and sets up an elaborate heist of Vegas casino money travelling by...
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The Naked Street
To make an honest woman of his pregnant sister, Rosalie, callous New York mobster Phil Regal intimid...
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The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout
The story of one of the great environmental disasters to befall the United States, and the terrible ...
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