MovieChat Forums > The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) Discussion > Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef

posted 17 years ago by richsass
12 replies | jump to latest

After playing Jack Colby in High Noon and Tony Romano in K.C. confidential, LVC plays Cpl. Stone in a heroic role. Lee was one of the great supporting actors of that era.

[–] Half_Dohm 17 years ago

Don't forget 'Angel Eyes' in "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly".

[–] Forgotten_Hero 16 years ago

He was the sharpshooter, right? I kept looking for him during the film, but I didn't recognize him without his mustache.

[–] Big G-2 16 years ago

He was the sharpshooter, right?

Indeed he was! "I pick my teeth with it" he says after Professor Nesbitt hands him a rifle and asks if he's handled one before.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] TheEnigmaticRonin 16 years ago

Don't forget Col. Douglas Mortimer in For a few dollars more, that was simply BadAss!

" Look, there's two women fuc*ing a polar bear!" - Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas 1998

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] el_realisator 15 years ago

Cleef plays bad @ss cowboy who gets floored by Jerry Lewis in a Jerry Lewis/Dean Martin western vehicule called "Pardners". He looks like Angel Eyes... if Angel Eyes would be less of a bad @ss than Jerry Lewis...

You come from nothing, you're going back to nothing...what have you lost? NOTHING! -Eric Idle

[–] mmolitz-871-92225 14 years ago

LVC was from a very prominent New Jersey family. His relatives went back to New Jersey's Dutch settlers. He came from Somerville, NJ and my family owned a notable restaurant in Somerville called The Far Hills Inn and LVC and his family used to have dinner there quite a bit. When High Noon played the Court Theater in Somerville, LVC got top billing on the marquee over Gary Cooper! When I was a kid, we had a local Lincoln-Mercury dealer have a new car introduction in our ballroom, with cars on display and models. The dealer also contracted Lee to come and make a special appearance in his western costume and sign autographs. So my uncle brings me to our restaurant to meet him. I'm a little kid and Lee shakes my hand and says, Hiya Kid...he looked ten feet tall. He posed for pictures with many of our waitresses and staff.

[–] richsass 14 years ago

What a great story.

What are you gonna do? Kill me? Every body Dies. John Garfield (Body and Soul)

[–] heelmaster2000 13 years ago

at the time I was watching the film I didn't realize that was Van Cleef.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] jwlube 11 years ago

Another Lee Van Cleef story. My Uncle and Aunt lived next door to his mother in Somerville. My Aunt would do a family picnic every Memorial Day wich coincided with the "Kugler-Anderson Tour of Somerville" bicycle race. Lee was in town for the parade as the parade marshal. Afterward he was at his mother's house and my aunt invited them over for the picnic. He and his mom came over and while he was there he pitched horseshoes in my uncle's driveway with my uncle, dad, and a neighbor. He was very pleasant and not at all like the baddies that he played on screen. Many years later in doing a genealogy searh on my dad's ancestry I found out that Lee Van Cleef and my father were 7th cousins. My brother resembled him in that he also had the eyes, nose, and cheekbones--a Van Cleef gene it seems as the Wright brothers--also Van Cleef descendents--also had the eyes, nose, and cheekbones.