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These days it's all pretty boys. Even the bad guys, the <B>Michael Madsen</B>s and the <B>Tom Sizemore</B>s, are too cute for the roles they're given . . . No actor in cinema today comes close to the steel-eyed snakiness of <B>Lee Van Cleef</B>.
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A veteran of over almost 100 films and countless TV episodes, <B>Van Cleef</B> was actually a New Jersey farmer before being discovered by a local theater. Despite the fact that he had no intention of pursuing acting, he was continually cast in every production he read for. His first big screen break came in 1952 when he played bad guy Jack Colby in the classic <I>High Noon</I>.
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Van Cleef's height, weight, and looks (6' 2", 200lbs, don't-mess-with-him)
landed him consistent work as the bad guy or the bad guy's sidekick in a series of western films. But Van Cleef didn't gain worldwide notoriety until he played the ruthless Mortimer in Sergio Leone's classic <I>For a Few Dollars More</I> in 1965. Lee then became a staple of the "spaghetti western" genre, acting in such classics as <I>The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly</I>, <I>Death Rides a Horse</I> (with <I>Diabolik</i> himself, <B>John Phillip Law</B>), and <I>Sabata</I>.
<a href= "content.html">Lee Van Cleef</a>
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