Clarence Leroy "Lee" Van Cleef, Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989), was an American actor whose sinister features overshadowed his acting skills and typecast him as a minor villain for a decade before he achieved stardom in Spaghetti Westerns such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Hatchet-faced with piercing eyes, he declined to have his hook nose altered to play a sympathetic character in his film debut, High Noon, and was relegated to a non-speaking outlaw as a result. Van Cleef had suffered serious injuries in a car crash, and had begun to lose interest in his apparently waning career by the time Sergio Leone gave him a role in For a Few Dollars More. The film made him a box-office draw, especially in Europe.
Van Cleef was born on January 9, 1925 in Somerville, New Jersey, the son of Marion Levinia (née Van Fleet) and Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef. At the age of 17, he obtained his high school diploma early in his senior year in order to enlist in the United States Navy in September, 1942. After basic training and further training at the Naval Fleet Sound School, he was assigned to a submarine chaser and then to a minesweeper, USS Incredible, on which he worked as a sonarman.
Got a classic Red Ryder at Rocky Camp
Out in ol' Hat Creek
Lookin' for jaybirds left and right
Try and knock 'em up out the tree
Everybody I know's watchin' Clint
They all like watchin' Clint
All the little snypes want to be like Clint
They all want to be like Clint
But I want to be like Lee Van Cleef
Ya know I want to be like Lee
What ever happened to Lee Van Cleef?
What ever happened to Lee?
A yellow Studebaker with a 302
A seat of green naugahyde
I put a couple of dings in that pickup truck
A few more dents in his pride
At Hilltop Drive-in they're watchin' Clint
They all like watchin' Clint
On the big screen they want to see old Clint
They all want to see old Clint
But I want to see Lee Van Cleef
Ya know I like to see old Lee
What ever happened to Lee Van Cleef?
What ever happened to Lee?
Now the Studebaker's gone and Lee's passed on
Clint's still as sharp as can be
The Hilltop Drive-in is an auto mall
But no one's built over Lee
We all get a kick out of watchin' Clint
We all get a kick out of Clint
There ain't never been one quite like Clint
There's really only one Clint
But I really did like Lee Van Cleef
I sure did really like Lee
What ever happened to Lee Van Cleef?
What ever happened to Lee?
We still get a kick out of watchin' Clint
We all get a kick out of Clint
There ain't never been one quite like Clint
There's really only one Clint
I always did like Lee Van Cleef
Always did like Lee
Nobody's steely like Lee Van Cleef
What ever happened to Lee?
What ever happened to Lee Van Cleef?
Clarence Leroy "Lee" Van Cleef, Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989), was an American actor whose sinister features overshadowed his acting skills and typecast him as a minor villain for a decade before he achieved stardom in Spaghetti Westerns such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Hatchet-faced with piercing eyes, he declined to have his hook nose altered to play a sympathetic character in his film debut, High Noon, and was relegated to a non-speaking outlaw as a result. Van Cleef had suffered serious injuries in a car crash, and had begun to lose interest in his apparently waning career by the time Sergio Leone gave him a role in For a Few Dollars More. The film made him a box-office draw, especially in Europe.
Van Cleef was born on January 9, 1925 in Somerville, New Jersey, the son of Marion Levinia (née Van Fleet) and Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef. At the age of 17, he obtained his high school diploma early in his senior year in order to enlist in the United States Navy in September, 1942. After basic training and further training at the Naval Fleet Sound School, he was assigned to a submarine chaser and then to a minesweeper, USS Incredible, on which he worked as a sonarman.
WorldNews.com | 16 Jul 2018