Lee Van Cleef was born on January 9, 1925, in Somerville, New Jersey, to Marion Lavinia Van Fleet and Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef. His father was a pharmacist and his mother a concert pianist, both of Dutch descent. Le… See more

After completing his military training, Van Cleef was assigned to a submarine chaser and then to a minesweeper called the USS Incredible, on which he worked as a sonarman.
The ship ini… See more

After leaving the navy, Van Cleef received his first acting role as a reader for the play Our Town at the Little Theater Group in Clinton, New Jersey. From there, he continued to meet with the group and audition for … See more