Lee Van Cleef was born on January 9, 1925, in Somerville, New Jersey,^[2] to Marion Lavinia Van Fleet and Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef. His father was a pharmacist and his mother a concert pianist, both of Dutch descent. Lee graduated from Somerville High School and enlisted in the United States Navy in September 1942.^[3][4]

After completing his military training, Van Cleef was assigned to the submarine chaser USS SC-681, and then to the minesweeper USS Incredible, on which he worked as a sonarman.^[5][6]

The ship initially patrolled the Caribbean, then moved to the Mediterranean, participating in the landings in southern France. In January 1945, Incredible moved to the Black Sea, and performed sweeping duties out of the Soviet Navy base at Sevastopol, Crimea. Afterwards, the ship performed air-sea rescue patrols in the Black Sea before returning to Palermo, Sicily.^[7]

By the time of his discharge in March 1946, he had achieved the rank of sonarman first class (SO1) and had earned his mine-sweeper patch. He also had been awarded the Bronze Star and the Good Conduct Medal. By virtue of his deployments, Van Cleef also qualified for the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.^[8] He was discharged from the Navy in 1946.^[9]

Bronze Star
Good Conduct Medal
European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
American Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal

After leaving the Navy, Van Cleef returned home to Somerville where he played in an amateur dance band.^[10] Van Cleef received his first acting role as George in the play Our Town at the Little Theater Group in Clinton, New Jersey.^[1] His next role was a boxer named Joe Pendleton in the play Heaven Can Wait. A talent scout took him to New York City talent agent Maynard Morris of the MCA agency, who sent him to the Alvin Theater, where he won a role in Mister Roberts.^[11]

During a performance of Mister Roberts in Los Angeles, Van Cleef was noticed by film producer Stanley Kramer, who offered Van Cleef a role in his upcoming film High Noon.^[2] Kramer wanted Van Cleef for the role of the deputy Harvey Pell, but wanted him to have his nose fixed. Van Cleef declined the role, but made his screen debut as the silent gunslinger Jack Colby. He was cast in Kansas City Confidential (1952), Vice Squad (1953), The Big Combo (1955), It Conquered the World (1956) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).^[12][13]

In 1952, he made his television debut when he was cast in the episode "Formula for Fear" of the Western aviation series Sky King. Van Cleef appeared six times between 1953 and 1955 on the children's syndicated Western series The Adventures of Kit Carson. He was cast three times in syndicated Western series, The Range Rider. He appeared in episode 82 of the television series The Lone Ranger in 1952.^[14] In 1954, he appeared as Jesse James in the syndicated series Stories of the Century.^[15]

In 1955, he was cast twice on the syndicated Western series, Annie Oakley and guest-starred on the CBS Western series Brave Eagle. Van Cleef played a villain in an episode of The Adventures of Champion the Wonder Horse in 1955. He played Cherokee Bob in the NBC Western series Tales of Wells Fargo in 1957.^[16] In 1958, he was cast as Ed Murdock, a rodeo performer trying to reclaim the title in the event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, on Richard Diamond, Private Detective.^[17]

Van Cleef played different characters on four episodes of ABC's The Rifleman, with Chuck Connors, between 1959 and 1962 (as Stinger in S2 E31 "The Prodigal" 1960), and twice on ABC's Tombstone Territory. In 1958, he was cast as Deputy Sid Carver in the episode "The Great Stagecoach Robbery" of another syndicated Western series, Frontier Doctor, starring Rex Allen. In 1959, Van Cleef appeared as Luke Clagg in the episode "Strange Request" of the NBC Western series Riverboat, as Jumbo Kane in the episode "The Hostage" on the CBS Western series "Wanted Dead or Alive", and in an episode of Maverick titled "Red Dog" in 1961.

Van Cleef played a sentry on an episode of the ABC sitcom The Real McCoys. Van Cleef was cast with Pippa Scott and again with Chuck Connors in the 1960 episode "Trial by Fear" of the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. A young Van Cleef also made an appearance on The Andy Griffith Show and as Frank Diamond in The Untouchables, in an episode entitled "The Unhired Assassin". He also appeared in an episode of the ABC/Warner Brothers Western series The Alaskans.^[18]

Van Cleef guest-starred on the CBS Western series Have Gun – Will Travel, on the ABC/Warner Bros. series Colt .45, on the NBC Western series Cimarron City and Laramie, and on Rod Cameron's syndicated crime dramas City Detective and State Trooper. He guest-starred in an episode of John Bromfield's syndicated crime drama Sheriff of Cochise. Van Cleef starred as minor villains and henchmen in various Westerns, including The Tin Star and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.^[19]

In 1960, he appeared as a villainous swindler in the Bonanza episode, "The Bloodline" (December 31, 1960), and also made an appearance on Gunsmoke. In 1961, he played a role on episode seven ("The Grave") of the third season of The Twilight Zone starring Lee Marvin. He played a villainous henchman of Lee Marvin's titular character in the 1962 John Ford movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance starring John Wayne and James Stewart. In 1963, he appeared on Perry Mason (episode: "The Case of the Golden Oranges"). That same year, he appeared in "The Day of the Misfits" on The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters.

In 1965, Leone cast Van Cleef, whose career had yet to take off, as a main protagonist alongside Clint Eastwood in For a Few Dollars More.^[20] Leone then chose Van Cleef to appear again with Eastwood, this time as the primary antagonist, Angel Eyes, in the now seminal Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).

With his roles in Leone's films, Van Cleef became a major star of spaghetti Westerns, playing central, and often surprisingly heroic, roles in films such as The Big Gundown (1966), Death Rides a Horse (1967), Day of Anger (1967), and The Grand Duel (1972). He played the title role in Sabata (1969) and Return of Sabata (1971). Van Cleef starred in the Kung fu Spaghetti Western The Stranger and the Gunfighter (1974) and co-starred with Jim Brown in an Italian-American co-production, Take a Hard Ride (1975). In his two final Westerns, he co-starred with Leif Garrett in God's Gun (1976) and Kid Vengeance (1977), both of which were filmed mainly in Israel. During the 1970s, Van Cleef also had leading roles in American Westerns, such as Barquero (1970), El Condor (1970) and The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972).

Van Cleef would later star alongside Patrick McGoohan in the John Boorman produced crime thriller The Hard Way (1980). Van Cleef starred alongside Chuck Norris in the martial-arts film The Octagon (1980). Van Cleef later had a supporting role in John Carpenter's cult film Escape from New York (1981).^[21] He slipped out of the limelight in his later years.^[22] In 1984, he was cast as a ninja master in the NBC adventure series The Master, but it was canceled after 13 episodes. Van Cleef also supported Lewis Collins in Code Name: Wild Geese (1984) and appeared alongside David Carradine in Armed Response (1986). In all, Van Cleef is credited with 90 film roles and 109 television appearances over a 38-year span.

Van Cleef married Patsy Ruth Kahle in 1943 and the couple had three children before divorcing in 1958.^[23] In 1960, he married Joan Marjorie Drane, and they divorced in 1974.^[24] He married Barbara Havelone in 1976, who survived him upon his death in 1989.^[25]

He lost the last joint of his right-hand middle finger while building a playhouse for his daughter.^[26]

Despite suffering from heart disease from the 1970s and having a pacemaker installed in the 1980s,^[27] Van Cleef continued to work in films until his death on December 16, 1989.^[28] He collapsed from a heart attack in his home in Oxnard, California.^[29][30][31] Throat cancer was listed as a secondary cause of death.^[32]

He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Hollywood Hills, California, with an inscription on his grave marker reading "BEST OF THE BAD", referring to his many notable acting performances as a villain.^[33]

This article may contain irrelevant references to popular culture. Please help improve it by removing such content and adding citations to reliable, independent sources. (May 2018)

• Lee Van Cleef's characters in the Sergio Leone movies inspired the creation of the characters Elliot Belt of the Lucky Luke comic album The Bounty Hunter,^[34] and Cad Bane of the Star Wars franchise.^[35]
• The band Primus has a song about Lee Van Cleef on their album Green Naugahyde.^[36]
• Guitarist and ex-Guns N' Roses member Ron Thal recorded an instrumental piece titled "The Legend of Van Cleef".
• The Warcraft universe features the villain Edwin Van Cleef, inspired by Lee Van Cleef.
• The Black Library magazine Inferno! featured several short stories, within the Necromunda setting, starring a bounty hunter named Nathan Creed, who was written as a homage to Lee Van Cleef; writer Jonathan Green described the character as "Lee Van Cleef, Clint Eastwood, The Man With No Name and John Wayne all rolled into one",^[37] and illustrations in the magazine clearly showed Creed as physically nearly identical to Van Cleef.
• Philip Pullman, author of the bestselling trilogy His Dark Materials, stated that the first name of his fictional American explorer, airman, and crack marksman Lee Scoresby was a reference to Van Cleef, with the character's surname as an homage to the famous Arctic explorer William Scoresby.
• Van Cleef was parodied in GLC: The Carnage Continues..., a short British comedy film of the late 1980s that humorously joined British politics with Hollywood action stars. Van Cleef is portrayed by the film's director Peter Richardson, though it rather suggests Van Cleef the personage is unrealistically playing Tony Benn, a British member of Parliament.
• Hungarian musician Tamás Cseh wrote the song "Lee van Cleef".^[38][39]
• British singers Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott mention Lee and Clint Eastwood in the song, "When I Get Back to Blighty".
• The Fugees song "The Score" includes the line, "I'm more magnificent than Lee Van Cleef".
• Stargate SG-1 has references to Lee Van Cleef in Season 4, Episode 20 "Entity". The 'Entity' is searching through personnel files on a projected computer screen, with the first listed name that shows up as Lee Van Cleef, with team designation "SG-1" and a rank of "Master". His name appears several more times with pictures of different people.^[40]
• In the 2000 comedy-western film Shanghai Noon, actor Xander Berkeley portrays an antagonistic character named Marshal Nathan Van Cleef.
• Serbian band S.T.R.A.H. has the song "Li Van Klif" (Lee Van Cleef in Serbian transcription) on their album "Kvog!"(Mascom,2019.)
• Another Serbian band took their name The LVC'z after Lee Van Cleef's initials.