Lee Van Cleef was born January 9, 1925. He began a career as an accountant and later served in the U.S. Navy. After the war he became involved in amateur theatre. He landed a non-speaking role in "High Noon". For the next decade he played a string of villainous characters, mainly in westerns. His unique facial features kept him in the role of heavies. He appeared in numerous episodes of "Gunsmoke", "Cheyenne", "Have Gun, Will Travel", and "The Rifleman". One of his more memorable appearances on "The Rifleman" was in March of 1959 as Dan Maury, who comes to North Fork to kill Micah in revenge. Maury shoots Lucas who stands in his way of getting to Micah. Lucas, though severely wounded summons just enough strength to help Micah defeat the gunfighter. He was cast in the mid sixties in "For A Few Dollars More" with Clint Eastwood and became an international star. Van Cleef's movie roles include "High Noon", "Gunfight At The O.K. Corral", "How The West Was Won", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly", and many more. In the eighties he went on to star in action and martial arts movies and starred in "The Master", a martial arts television series. The actor died of a heart attack on December 14, 1989.