Lee Van Cleef

Highest Rated: 100% I Giorni dell'ira (Blood and Grit) (Day of Anger) (Gunlaw) (Days of Wrath) (1967)

Lowest Rated: 0% Speed Zone (1989)

Birthday: Jan 9, 1925

Birthplace: Somerville, New Jersey, USA

Following a wartime tour with the Navy, New Jersey-born Lee Van Cleef supported himself as an accountant. Like fellow accountant-turned-actor Jack Elam, Van Cleef was advised by his clients that he had just the right satanic facial features to thrive as a movie villain. With such rare exceptions as The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1954), Van Cleef spent most of his early screen career on the wrong side of the law, menacing everyone from Gary Cooper (High Noon) to the Bowery Boys (Private Eyes) with his cold, shark-eyed stare. Van Cleef left Hollywood in the '60s to appear in European spaghetti Westerns, initially as a secondary actor; he was, for example, the "Bad" in Clint Eastwood's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Within a few years, Van Cleef was starring in blood-spattered action films with such titles as Day of Anger (1967), El Condor (1970), and Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1975). The actor was, for many years, one of the international film scene's biggest box-office draws. Returning to Hollywood in the late '70s, He starred in a very short-lived martial arts TV series The Master (1984), the pilot episodes of which were pieced together into an ersatz feature film for video rental. Van Cleef died of a heart attack in 1989.

Highest Rated Movies

I Giorni dell'ira (Blood and Grit) (Day of Anger) (Gunlaw) (Days of Wrath)
100%
The Bravados
100%
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
97%
High Noon
97%

Filmography

MOVIES

RATING	TITLE	CREDIT	BOX OFFICE	YEAR
No Score Yet	Code Name Wild Geese	Actor	—	2015
No Score Yet	The Heist	Actor	—	1989
0%	Speed Zone	Grandfather	—	1989
No Score Yet	Thieves of Fortune	Sergio	—	1989
No Score Yet	Der Commander	Col. Mazzarini	—	1988
No Score Yet	Armed Response	Burt Roth	—	1986
No Score Yet	Kommando Leopard (Commando Leopard)	Actor	—	1985
No Score Yet	Jungle Raiders	Inspector Warren	—	1985
No Score Yet	Killing Machine	Maitre Julot	—	1985
No Score Yet	Geheimcode: Wildgänse (Code Name: Wild Geese)	China	—	1984
86%	Escape from New York	Bob Hauk	—	1981
33%	The Octagon	McCarn	—	1980
No Score Yet	The Hard Way	Actor	—	1980
No Score Yet	The Squeeze (The Rip-Off)	Chris	—	1978
No Score Yet	Crime Boss	Actor	—	1977
No Score Yet	Take a Hard Ride (Kid Vengeance)	Kiefer	—	1977
No Score Yet	God's Gun (A Bullet from God) (Diamante Lobo)	Father John	—	1977
No Score Yet	Kid Vengeance	McClain	—	1977
No Score Yet	The Perfect Killer	Harry Chapman	—	1977
No Score Yet	Nowhere to Hide	Ike Scanlon	—	1977
No Score Yet	Mean Johnny Barrows	Actor	—	1975
No Score Yet	Mean Frank and Crazy Tony	Actor	—	1975
No Score Yet	El kárate, el Colt y el impostor (Blood Money)	Actor	—	1974
No Score Yet	Bad Man's River	Roy King	—	1974
No Score Yet	Escape from Death Row	Frankie Diomede	—	1973
No Score Yet	The Grand Duel (Il Grande duello)	Sheriff Clayton	—	1972
No Score Yet	Return of Sabata	Sabata / Major	—	1972
No Score Yet	The Magnificent Seven Ride!	Marshal Chris Adams	—	1972
No Score Yet	Crime Boss	Actor	—	1972
No Score Yet	Storm Rider	Actor	—	1972
No Score Yet	Captain Apache (The Guns of April Morning) (Deathwork)	Capt. Apache	—	1971
No Score Yet	Indio Black, sai che ti dico: Sei un gran figlio di..(Adios Sabata)	Actor	—	1971
No Score Yet	Deserter	Actor	—	1971
No Score Yet	Hunt the Man Down (Bad Man's River)	Actor	—	1971
No Score Yet	El Condor	Jaroo	—	1970
No Score Yet	Barquero	Travis	—	1970
No Score Yet	Ehi amico... c'è Sabata, hai chiuso! (Sabata)	Sabata	—	1969
No Score Yet	Beyond The Law	Billy Joe Cudlip	—	1968
No Score Yet	Commandos	Sgt. Sullivan	—	1968
100%	I Giorni dell'ira (Blood and Grit) (Day of Anger) (Gunlaw) (Days of Wrath)	Frank Talby	—	1967
40%	Da uomo a uomo (Death Rides A Horse) (As Man to Man)	Ryan	—	1967
97%	The Good, the Bad and the Ugly	Angel Eyes	—	1966
No Score Yet	The Big Gundown	Jonathan 'Colorado' Corbett	—	1966
92%	For a Few Dollars More (Per Qualche Dollaro in Più)	Col. Douglas Mortimer	—	1965
86%	How the West Was Won	Marty	—	1963
94%	The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance	Reese	—	1962
No Score Yet	Posse from Hell	Leo	—	1961
No Score Yet	The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery	Actor	—	1959
86%	Ride Lonesome	Frank	—	1959
No Score Yet	Guns, Girls & Gangsters	Actor	—	1959
71%	The Young Lions	Sgt. Rickett	—	1958
100%	The Bravados	Alfonso Parral	—	1958
No Score Yet	The Lonely Man	Faro	—	1957
No Score Yet	The Badge of Marshal Brennan	Shad Donaphin	—	1957
No Score Yet	China Gate	Maj. Cham	—	1957
83%	Gunfight at the O.K. Corral	Ed Bailey	—	1957
83%	The Tin Star	Ed McGaffey	—	1957
No Score Yet	Raiders of Old California	Sgt. Damon Pardee	—	1957
No Score Yet	Pardners	Gus	—	1956
80%	It Conquered the World	Dr. Tom Anderson	—	1956
No Score Yet	Tribute to a Bad Man	Fat Jones	—	1956
No Score Yet	The Conqueror	Chepei	—	1956
No Score Yet	Accused of Murder	Police Sgt. Emmett Lackey	—	1956
No Score Yet	A Man Alone	Clantin	—	1955
93%	The Big Combo	Fante	—	1955
No Score Yet	Ten Wanted Men	Al Drucker	—	1955
No Score Yet	Treasure of Ruby Hills	Emmett	—	1955
No Score Yet	Dawn at Socorro	Earl Ferris	—	1954
No Score Yet	The Yellow Tomahawk	Fireknife	—	1954
No Score Yet	Arrow in the Dust	Crew Boss	—	1954
No Score Yet	Gypsy Colt	Hank	—	1954
No Score Yet	The Nebraskan	Reno	—	1953
No Score Yet	Tumbleweed	Mary	—	1953
No Score Yet	Arena	Smitty	—	1953
95%	The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms	Cpl. Stone	—	1953
No Score Yet	The Lawless Breed	Dirk Hanley	—	1953
86%	Kansas City Confidential (The Secret Four)	Tony Romano	—	1952
97%	High Noon	Jack Colby	—	1952
17%	Untamed Frontier	Dave Chittun	—	1952

TV

RATING	TITLE	CREDIT	YEAR
No Score Yet	Gunsmoke 1955-1975	Jeffords John Hooker Rad	1966 1965 1960
No Score Yet	The Andy Griffith Show 1960-1968	Skip	1965
No Score Yet	Rawhide 1959-1965	Grant	1964
No Score Yet	Perry Mason 1957-1966	Edward Doyle	1963
No Score Yet	Maverick 1957-1962	Wolf McManus	1961
82%	The Twilight Zone 1959-1964	Gambler (Steinhart)	1961
No Score Yet	Bonanza 1959-1973	Appling	1960
No Score Yet	Zorro 1957-1961	Castillo	1958

Quotes from Lee Van Cleef's Characters

Col. Douglas Mortimer:	This Train Will Stop At Tucumcari!
Col. Douglas Mortimer:	This train will stop in Tucumcari.

The Man With No Name:	[counting reward sums of outlaws he just killed] Ten thousand... twelve thousand... fifteen... sixteen... seventeen... twenty-two. Twenty-two? [a cowboy comes from behind, Monco turns and shoots him dead] ...Twenty-seven.
Col. Douglas Mortimer:	Any trouble, boy?
The Man With No Name:	No, old man. Thought I was having trouble with my adding. It's all right now.

Bob Hauk:	There was an accident. About an hour ago, a small jet went down inside New York City. The President was on board.
Snake Plissken:	The president of what?

Bob Hauk:	We'd make one hell of a team Snake
Bob Hauk:	We'd make one hell of a team Snake.
Snake Plissken:	It's Plissken
Snake Plissken:	It's Plissken.
Snake Plissken:	The name's Plissken.

The Bad:

People with ropes around their necks don't always hang. Even a filthy beggar like that has a protecting angel. A golden-haired angel watches over him.

Bob Hauk:	You going to kill me, Snake?
Snake Plissken:	Not now, I'm too tired. [pause] Maybe later.

Bob Hauk:	Remember, once you're inside you're on your own.
Snake Plissken:	Oh, you mean I can't count on you?
Bob Hauk:	No.
Snake Plissken:	Good!

Bob Hauk:	Plissken? Plissken, what are you doing?
Snake Plissken:	Playing with myself! I'm going in.

Bob Hauk:	I'm not a fool, Plissken!
Snake Plissken:	Call me "Snake."
Snake Plissken:	Call me 'Snake.'

The Good:	[counting The Bad's men] One, two, three, four, five, and six. Six, the perfect number.
The Bad:	I thought three was the perfect number.
The Good:	I've got six more bullets in my gun.