When I was a young girl, I had an uncle who was obsessed with spaghetti westerns. His entire man cave looked like a set from Bonanza and on the rare occasion that we visited, he would talk about whatever spaghetti western was on the tube. I don't remember a lot from these visits but I do remember one with him showing me the standoff between Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and the unforgettable Lee Van Cleef in The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly. Lee's beady eyes and cold demeanor were burned into my mind and when I was finally old enough to appreciate the slow burn of a western, I grew to admire the man for his gritty performances. Lee passed away a long time ago but that doesn't mean we can't talk about the Legend of Lee Van Cleef and his lifetime of playing the steely gunslinger.

Lee Van Cleef's Early Life

Lee Van Cleef was born on January 9, 1925, with a pair of beady eyes in Somerville, New Jersey, to Marion Lavinia Van Fleet and Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef. His father was a local pharmacist and his mother a concert pianist, with both being of Dutch descent. Not much is known about Lee's early life but we do know he graduated from Somerville High School and that he was a lover of the sea. He volunteered as both an air warden and plane spotter in high school and after graduating, enlisted in the United States Navy in September 1942 at the age of 17.

Lee went through basic training and was assigned to a submarine chaser and then to a minesweeper called the USS Incredible, where he worked as a sonarman. The Incredible was initially patrolling the Caribbean before moving to the Mediterranean and then doing a brief performance in Operation Dragoon on August 15, 1944. In January 1945, the Incredible moved to the Black Sea, and performed mine sweeping duties out of the Soviet Navy base at Sevastopol, Crimea, with the ship performing air-sea rescue patrols in the Black Sea before turning to Palermo, Sicily.

In March 1946, Lee was discharged; he had achieved the rank of sonarman first class and had earned his mine sweeper patch. Additionally, he'd be awarded the Bronze Star and the Good Conduct Medal, and due to the nature of his deployments, Lee 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.

In the midst of his service, in 1943, Lee married Patsy Ruth Kahle, and together the couple had three children before divorcing in 1958.

Lee Van Cleef's Acting Career and Rise to Prominence

After leaving the Navy, Lee returned home to Somerset, where he would work several odd jobs as a farmer, gas station attendant, painter, and accountant before being cast in an amateur dance band and dabbling with acting. His first role was as George in the play Our Town at the Little Theater Group in Clinton, New Jersey. His next would be as the boxer Joe Pendleton in the play Heaven Can Wait. At some point, Lee caught the eye of a talent scout who took him to New York City talent agent Maynard Morris of the MCA agency, who sent Lee to the Alvin Theater, where he would score a role in Mister Roberts.

During a performance of Mister Roberts in Los Angeles, he was noticed by the famed film producer Stanley Kramer, responsible for many of Hollywood's most famous "message films." He was an independent producer and director, and brought special attention to topical social issues that most studios avoided, like creationism vs evolution, the cause and effects of fascism, racism, nuclear war, and greed. Kramer was serving as the producer for High Noon and offered Lee a role as deputy Harvey Pell, but wanted Lee to have his nose fixed. Lee declined the role in favor of the part of the silent gunslinger Jack Colby.

By all accounts, High Noon was a success, and propelled Lee into being cast in Kansas City Confidential (1952), Vice Squad (1953), and The Big Combo (1955). 1952 would also see Lee's first television debut in the Western aviation series Sky King.

In 1965, Sergio Leone cast Lee, whose career had not yet risen to international prominence, as the main protagonist alongside Clint Eastwood in For a Few Dollars More. Leone loved working with Lee, and would cast him again with Eastwood, as Angel Eyes, the primary antagonist in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in 1966. Lee's middle finger on his right hand lost the last joint and is prominent in the film and a popular object of speculation as to what happened, with rumors of a barfight or other mundane forms of badassery. In reality, Lee lost the last joint while building a playhouse for his daughter.

From this point forward, the majority of Lee's career would be spent in spaghetti westerns, type-cast as beady-eyed villains or anti-heroes with unconventional methods. Lee was quoted as saying, "Bad guys have always been my bag . . . I look mean without even trying. Audiences just naturally hate me on screen. I could play a role in a tuxedo, and people would think I was rotten. You can do much more with a villain part. Movies are full of leading men, most of whom aren't working. It's much harder to find a good villain."

While Lee didn't mind playing the villain, he was always adamant about showing real violence in his roles. In his own words, "Real violence turns you off because you know it's not the thing to do. If you show violence realistic enough, people don't want to do it."

By the start of the '80s, Lee was slowing down. He starred alongside internet punchline Chuck Norris in The Octagon in 1980 and would have a supporting role in John Carpenter's cult classic Escape from New York in 1981. From this point, he would slip out of the limelight. He would be cast as the main star in the NBC adventure series The Master as a ninja master, but it was canceled after 13 episodes. Lee continued working until his death on December 16, 1989. He collapsed from a heart attack in his home in Oxnard, California, with throat cancer being the secondary cause of death.

His agent Tom Jennings reflected on Lee's career in the aftermath of his death: ″I think he could have been a greater movie star, as big as Charles Bronson or Clint Eastwood, had he come back from Europe sooner than he did. But he liked working abroad, he wasn't the ambitious killer-type star, always going after the gold ring. He did his own thing.″ Lee has been laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Hollywood Hills, California, with the tombstone reading, "Best of the Bad." Lee Van Cleef has been credited with 90 movie roles and 109 television appearances over his 38-year career.

Lee Van Cleef the Pipe and Cigar Smoker

Lee Van Cleef was never far from the pipe in his on-screen performances. He's been seen with an array of pipes, including a William Demuth & Company Wellington in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Another one of his famed on-screen pipes was a WDC Meerschaum, which judging from its well-worn character, was a favorite of Lee's for some time. He's also been spotted smoking cigars in Beyond the Law and Sabata. In terms of tobacco, Lee was fond of a Tinder Box blend named The Philosopher, a hearty blend of Virginia and Oriental tobaccos.

Lee's legacy continues to this day, inspiring all manners of artists. The band Primus has a song called Lee Van Cleef on their album Green Naugahyde. Lee's characters inspired all sorts across film and books, like Cad Bane of the Star Wars franchise. In Shanghai Noon, the 2000 comedy-western's main villain is named Marshal Nathan Van Cleef after Lee. The list goes on and on.

Lee Van Cleef left a legacy that's kept generations entertained. His beady eyes continue to inspire to this day and serve as a testament to the man's staying power. As you settle in for a rest today, raise your pipe to old Lee and celebrate the legacy he left behind.

Bibliography

• Lee Van Cleef Biography. TheBad.net - The Lee Van Cleef Blog. (n.d.).
• Clarence Leroy (Lee) van Cleef [1925-1989]. Clarence Leroy (Lee) Van Cleef: New Netherland Institute. (n.d.).
• Staff, A. (1989, December 17). Actor Lee Van Cleef, villain in hundreds of westerns. AP News.
• Ap. (1989, December 17). Lee Van Cleef, actor, dies at 64; played villains in many westerns. The New York Times.
• Greg Hatala | For NJ Advance Media. (2013, August 26). Glimpse of history: "being born with a pair of Beady Eyes was the best thing that ever happened to me" - Lee Van Cleef. nj.