Lee Van Cleef

He married Joan Marjorie Drane on April 9, 1960, but the marriage culminated into divorce in 1974. They had an adopted daughter, Denise.

Meanwhile in 1958 he met with a severe car accident that almost ended his life. He had to take a hiatus from acting thereafter and during such time he ventured into an interior decoration business along with his second wife, Joan.

Lee Van Cleef was born on January 9, 1925, in Somerville, New Jersey, US to Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef and Marion Van Fleet (née Levinia). He was of partial Dutch ancestry.

He attended Somerville High School and received high school diploma at 17, a bit early in his senior year to enlist in the United States Navy (USN) in September 1942.

After enlisting in the USN, Cleef completed his basic and other trainings at the Naval Fleet Sound School and was thereafter delegated to a submarine chaser. After a stint there, he was inducted as a sonarman in the Admirable-class minesweeper ‘USS Incredible’.

Thereafter, he travelled with a minesweeper and performed several war duties before returning to Palermo, Sicily, on February 20, 1945.

Cleef was discharged from duties in March 1946 when he was holding the rank of Sonarman First Class (S01) and garnered his mine sweeper patch.

Following his tenure with the USN, Cleef, who also worked for a while as an accountant, got associated with the entertainment industry. He became involved with ‘Little Theater Group’ in Clinton, New Jersey, doing parts for them in plays including ‘Our Town’ and ‘Heaven Can Wait’ while also auditioning for other roles.

Around this time he was noticed by several visiting talent scouts, and one of whom introduced him to MCA agency’s talent agent Maynard Morris in New York City. Cleef was sent for an audition at the Alvin Theater by Morris where he landed up with the play ‘Mister Roberts’. He remained part of its original production and travelled to many cities performing in the play’s national touring production.

Film director Stanley Kramer spotted him at a ‘Mister Roberts’ stage production in Los Angeles and wanted to cast him in the role of Deputy Harvey Pell in the American Western film ‘High Noon’. However, when Cleef declined to alter his "distinctive nose" as Kramer wanted, he landed up with the non-speaking role of henchman Jack Colby in the 1952 film, marking his screen debut.

He had heterochromatic eyes - one being green and the other blue. However, his sinister features with hook nose, steely eyes and sharp cheeks and chin soon typecast him in minor villainous roles in films of different genres for the next 13 years or so.

Some of these films include the 1952 noir crime film ‘Kansas City Confidential’; the 1956 CinemaScope epic film ‘The Conqueror’; the 1957 western film ‘The Tin Star’; and the 1958 CinemaScope war drama film ‘The Young Lions’.