Lee Van Cleef Overview:

Character actor, Lee Van Cleef, was born Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr. on Jan 9, 1925 in Somerville, NJ. Van Cleef died at the age of 64 on Dec 16, 1989 in Oxnard, CA and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills) Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA.

MINI BIO:

Lean, dark-haired, narrow-eyed American actor, almost entirely confined to westerns. After he switched to acting instead of taking over his father's accountancy business, he spent more than a decade in films as ugly villains (with the occasional American Indian thrown in) with itchy trigger fingers. Then he lost his hair, grew a mustache and, recovered from a severe car crash in 1959, pleasantly surprised his fans by becoming a star of spaghetti westerns in the wake of Clint Eastwood. Died from a heart attack.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Film Character Actors: an Illustrated Directory).

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Lee Van Cleef Quotes:

Monco: You mind telling me how you got here?
Col. Douglas Mortimer: I just reasoned it out. I figured you'd tell Indio to do just exactly the opposite of what we agreed, and he's suspicious enough to figure out something else. Since El Paso was out of the question, well, here I am!


Teresa: [Showing off the earings she wants him to buy as 'souvenirs'] Tony, you're not even looking at how pretty they are and only 11 American dollars!
Tony Romano: [Looking at her knowingly] Everything around here's 11 bucks!
Teresa: Tony, you like?
Tony Romano: Charge it with the rest.
Teresa: [Happily] Gracias, Tony!
Tony Romano: [Knowingly] See ya later!


[Indio and his gang have been dispatched]
Col. Douglas Mortimer: My boy, you've become rich.
Monco: You mean *we've* become rich, old man.
Col. Douglas Mortimer: No, it's all yours. I think you deserve it.
Monco: What about our partnership?
Col. Douglas Mortimer: [smiles] Maybe next time.


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Lee Van Cleef Facts
He had almost given up his acting career in the mid-'60s and turned to painting when he was cast by Sergio Leone in For a Few Dollars More (1965). It made him a superstar in Europe and restarted his career in the US, making him again a recognizable and bankable name.

He had three children from his first marriage: Deborah, Alan and David.

Was on the short list of actors under consideration for arms dealer Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights (1987).

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