Clarence Leroy Van Cleef

 Clarence Leroy Van Cleef, Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989)

Van Cleef best known for his roles in Spaghetti Westerns such as For A Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He also appeared in films like The Big Gundown (1966), Death Rides a Horse (1967), Day of Anger (1967), and The Grand Duel (1972). He played the title role in Sabata (1969) and Return of Sabata (1971). Hatchet-faced with piercing eyes, he had declined to have his nose altered to play a sympathetic character in his film debut, High Noon, and was relegated to a non-speaking outlaw as a result. For a decade he was typecast as a minor villain, his sinister features overshadowing his acting skills. After suffering serious injuries in a car crash, Van Cleef began to lose interest in his apparently waning career by the time Sergio Leone gave him a major role in For a Few Dollars More. The film made him a box-office draw, especially in Europe. Van Cleef later had a supporting role in John Carpenter's cult film Escape from New York (1981). Despite suffering from heart disease from the late 1970s and having a pacemaker installed in the early 1980s, Van Cleef continued to work in films until his death on December 16, 1989, at age 64. He died from a heart attack, but was also suffering from throat cancer. Van Cleef is buried at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills.