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:

Stengel: [Believing he's got Sabata beat] Before you die, you should know that those men with superior talents... and consequently with superior powers... always have one last card to play.
Sabata: You know, Stengel, I wouldn't bet a dollar on that last card.


Frank Talby: All right Scott, you can come with me, but don't get your hopes up to high, 'cause it's a dirty life.


[after Mortimer opens safe, Indio declares a cooling off time for the loot]
El Indio: [to Mortimer] And you will wait a month to get your share.
Col. Douglas Mortimer: Naturally!... I'll be in the tavern.


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Lee Van Cleef Facts
Was the inspiration for the character Revolver Ocelot in the "Metal Gear" series of games.

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

Son of Clarence Leroy Van Cleef and wife Maria Lavinia Van Fleet, both mostly of Dutch ancestry.

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