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. He 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 features overshadowing his acting skills.
About Lee Van Cleef in brief
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. He 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, he had begun to lose interest in his declining career by the time Sergio Leone gave him a major role in For a Few dollars More. He was born of partial Dutch, English and German ancestry on January 9, 1925, in Somerville, New Jersey. At age 17, he obtained his high school diploma early in his senior year at Somerville High School in order to enlist in the United States Navy in September 1942. After leaving the Navy, he read for a part in Our Town at the Little Theater Group in Clinton, New York and received his first stage role.
His screen debut came in High Noon. In 1958, he was cast as Ed Murdock on The Adventures of the Wonder Horse. In 1952, he appeared in the episode 82 of the Western aviation series Sky King, The Lone Ranger. He also appeared twice on the syndicated series Stories of the Century. In 1954, he played Jesse James in the episodes Brave Eagle and The Brave Eagle Brave Eagle. In the same year, he guest-starred on the CBS Western series, Brave Eagle, The Private Detective, Richard Diamond, Private Detectiveman, Private Richard, and Private Detective Richard Diamond. He played four different characters on ABC’s The Rifleman’s Rifleman. He appeared six times between 1951 and 1955 on the children’s syndicated Western series The Adventures of Kit Carson, starring Bill Williams. His early major roles were in noir films, Kansas City Confidential, Vice Squad and The Big Combo.
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