Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr (1925-1989) (original) (raw)

Born 9 Jan 1925 in Somerville, New Jersey, United States

Ancestors

[sibling(s) unknown]

Husband of [private wife (1950s - unknown)]

Father of[private son (1960s - unknown)]

Died 16 Dec 1989 at age 64in Oxnard, California, United States

Profile last modified 4 Oct 2024| Created 21 Apr 2018

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Biography

Lee Van Cleef Jr is Notable.

After basic training and further training at the Naval Fleet Sound School, Van Cleef was assigned to a submarine chaser and then to a minesweeper, USS Incredible, on which he worked as a sonarman.


USS Incredible

The ship initially patrolled the Caribbean, then moved to the Mediterranean, participating in the landings in southern France. In January 1945, Incredible moved to the Black Sea, and performed sweeping duties out of the Soviet Navy base at Sevastopol, Crimea. Afterwards the ship performed air-sea rescue patrols in the Black Sea before returning to Palermo, Sicily. By the time of his discharge in March 1946, he had achieved the rank of Sonarman First Class (SO1) and had earned his mine sweeper patch. By virtue of his deployments Van Cleef also qualified for the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal

Born January 9, 1925 in Somerville, New Jersey, USA
Died December 16, 1989 in Oxnard, California, USA (heart attack)
Birth Name Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr.
Height 6' 2" (1.88 m)
Connects to: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Kleef-22
Father: Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Sr; BIRTH 27 FEB. 1895 • Belle Mead, Somerset, New Jersey, USA; DEATH 1948 • Somerville, Somerset, New Jersey, USA
Mother: Marion Lavinia Van Fleet; BIRTH 6 AUG. 1897 • Hillsborough, Somerset, New Jersey, USA; DEATH 28 OCT. 1987 • Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, USA
Wives:
First Wife: Patsy Ruth Kahle (from 10 December 1943 to 1960 - divorced - had 3 children together)
Second Wife: Joan Marjorie Drane (from 9 April 1960 to 1974 - divorced - no known children together)
Third Wife: Barbara Havelone (from 13 July 1976 to his death on 16 December 1989 - no known children together)

According to the book "Weird NJ" (Sceurman, Mark and Mark Moran, Barnes and Noble Books, 2004 ISBN 0-7607-3979-X) he was a descendant of the Morris County Van Cleefs who were infamous in the area for their strange living and "procreational" efforts. In fact, one trait that Lee had was that he had one green eye and one blue eye. According to the book, "this telltale characteristic was corrected in the movies with colored contact lenses".

One of the great movie villains, Clarence Leroy Van Cleef, Jr. was born in Somerville, New Jersey, to Marion Lavinia (Van Fleet) and Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef, Sr. His parents were both of Dutch ancestry. Van Cleef started out as an accountant. He served in the U.S. Navy aboard minesweepers and sub chasers during World War II. After the war he worked as an office administrator, becoming involved in amateur theatrics in his spare time. An audition for a professional role led to a touring company job in "Mr. Roberts". His performance was seen by Stanley Kramer, who cast him as henchman Jack Colby in High Noon (1952), a role that brought him great recognition despite the fact that he had no dialogue. A new career as a western hero (or at least anti-hero) opened up, and Van Cleef became an international star, though in films of decreasing quality.For the next decade he played a string of memorably villainous characters, primarily in westerns but also in crime dramas such as The Big Combo (1955). His hawk nose and steely, slit eyes seemed destined to keep him always in the realm of heavies, but in the mid 1960s Sergio Leone cast him as the tough but decent Col. Mortimer opposite Clint Eastwood in "For a Few Dollars More". In the 1980s he moved easily into action and martial-arts movies and starred in The Master (1984), a TV series featuring almost non-stop martial arts action. He died of a heart attack in December 1989 and was buried at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills.

[1]

Videos

The Master [[1]]

Death Rides a Horse [[2]]

The Lone Ranger [[3]]

It Conquered the World [[4]]

[[5]]

Filmography [[6]]

Sources

↑ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001812/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4YQ-3MW : accessed 3 June 2018), Clarence L Vanclief in household of Clarence L Vanclief, Somerville Borough, Somerset, New Jersey, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 18-61, sheet 19A, line 9, family 405, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2383.
"California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPNL-SVB : 26 November 2014), Lee Vancleef, 16 Dec 1989; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2175

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