Lee Van Cleef

Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of spaghetti Westerns, holding starring roles in the Sergio Leone-directed Dollars Trilogy films, For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). In 1983, he received a Golden Boot Award for his contribution to the Western film and television genre.

Van Cleef served in the United States Navy during World War II aboard the minesweeper USS Incredible, earning a Bronze Star for his actions. After acting on stage in regional theatre, he made his film debut in the Oscar-winning Western High Noon (1952) in a non-speaking outlaw cast role. With distinctive, angular features and a taciturn screen persona, Van Cleef was typecast as minor villain and supporting player in Westerns, film noir, and crime dramas. After suffering serious injuries in a 1958 car crash, Van Cleef needed months of recovery and lingering physical damage changed the types of roles he performed. He achieved stardom when Leone gave him the co-leading role in For a Few Dollars More (1965).

Van Cleef later appeared in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), The Big Gundown (1967), Death Rides a Horse (1967), Day of Anger (1967), Beyond the Law (1968), Sabata (1969) and its sequel Return of Sabata (1971), Barquero (1970), El Condor (1970), Captain Apache (1971),The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972), The Grand Duel (1972), Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1973), The Stranger and the Gunfighter (1974), Take a Hard Ride (1975), The Hard Way (1980), The Octagon (1980), Escape from New York (1981), and Armed Response (1986). He played the lead role of John Peter McAllister on the martial-arts television series The Master (1984).