Being born with a pair of beady eyes was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Lee once recorded a country song entitled "If All I Ever Do."
Director Sergio Leone wanted the original good, bad, and ugly (Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach) to make cameos in his spaghetti western epic, Once Upon a Time in the West. Van Cleef and Wallach were willing but Eastwood declined so they never appeared in the film.
Lee did an interview with Entertainment Tonight about his career shortly before his death.
Lee was living in Oxnard, California at the time of his death. He is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetary in Hollywood.
Lee co-starred with Kurt Russell in Escape from New York.
Lee made two guest appearances on Rawhide with future spaghetti western co-star Clint Eastwood.
Lee worked as an accountant for a while after leaving military service at the end of World War II.
Lee starred in a short-lived series for NBC entitled The Master which aired in 1984.
After experiencing a career slump in the 1960's, Lee seriously considered giving up acting and going into the painting and interior design business. Then he was cast in For a Few Dollars More which re-ignited his career.
Lee once appeared on an episode of The Andy Griffith Show as a carnival pickpocket.
Lee once played a real life gangster named Frank Diamond in an episode of The Untouchables entitled The Unhired Assassin.
Director Sergio Leone cast Lee Van Cleef as Colonel Mortimer in For a Few Dollars More after Henry Fonda and Jack Palance had turned down the role.
He served on board a Navy minesweeper during World War II.
Lee was missing the last joint of his middle finger. According to Hollywood legend he lost it in a bar fight but in reality he lost it building a playhouse for his daughter.
Lee's film debut was in High Noon. He had no dialogue in this role but his looks got him attention.
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