Lee Van Cleef Biography

Following a wartime tour with the Navy, New Jersey-born Lee Van Cleef supported himself as an accountant. Like fellow accountant-turned-actor Jack Elam, Van Cleef was advised by his clients that he had just the right satanic facial features to thrive as a movie villain. With such rare exceptions as The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1954), Van Cleef spent most of his early screen career on the wrong side of the law, menacing everyone from Gary Cooper (High Noon) to the Bowery Boys (Private Eyes) with his cold, shark-eyed stare. Van Cleef left Hollywood in the '60s to appear in European spaghetti Westerns, initially as a secondary actor; he was, for example, the "Bad" in Clint Eastwood's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Within a few years, Van Cleef was starring in blood-spattered action films with such titles as Day of Anger (1967), El Condor (1970), and Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1975). The actor was, for many years, one of the international film scene's biggest box-office draws. Returning to Hollywood in the late '70s, He starred in a very short-lived martial arts TV series The Master (1984), the pilot episodes of which were pieced together into an ersatz feature film for video rental. Van Cleef died of a heart attack in 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

• 1. Bob Hauk: You going to kill me, Snake?
  2. Snake Plissken: Not now, I'm too tired. [pause] Maybe later.
  From Escape from New York. Submitted by Francis L (3 months ago)

• 1. Bob Hauk: Remember, once you're inside you're on your own.
  2. Snake Plissken: Oh, you mean I can't count on you?
  3. Bob Hauk: No.
  4. Snake Plissken: Good!
  From Escape from New York. Submitted by Francis L (3 months ago)

• 1. Bob Hauk: Plissken? Plissken, what are you doing?
  2. Snake Plissken: Playing with myself! I'm going in.
  From Escape from New York. Submitted by Francis L (3 months ago)

• 1. Bob Hauk: I'm not a fool, Plissken!
  2. Snake Plissken: Call me 'Snake.'
  From Escape from New York. Submitted by Francis L (3 months ago)

• 1. The Good: [counting The Bad's men] One, two, three, four, five, and six. Six, the perfect number.
  2. The Bad: I thought three was the perfect number.
  3. The Good: I've got six more bullets in my gun.
  From The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo.). Submitted by Christopher H (11 months ago)

• 1. The Bad: Even a filthy beggar like that has got a protecting angel. [Referencing Tuco]
  From The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo.). Submitted by Christopher H (11 months ago)

• 1. The Bad: Oh I almost forgot. He payed me a thousand. I think his idea was that I kill you. [Laugh] But you know the pity is when I'm paid, I always follow my job through. You know that.
  From The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo.). Submitted by Christopher H (11 months ago)