Lee Van Cleef was truly one of the greatest stars of his era, with a filmography that included some of the best Western movies of all time. With over 170 film and television roles, Van Cleef was particularly known for his leading and ing roles in acclaimed spaghetti Westerns and his performances opposite stars like Gary Cooper, John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood. With a talent for playing no-nonsense tough guy bandits, Van Cleef had a sinister screen presence that made him a truly compelling villain.

From the greatest Hollywood stars of the 20th century.

10 The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)

Lee Van Cleef as U.S. Marshal Chris Adams

While The Magnificent Seven was an undisputed classic of the Western genre, things weren’t quite as acclaimed by the time it got to the fourth and final movie, The Magnificent Seven Ride! While Yul Brynner's iconic performance as the gunman Chris Adams was an important aspect of the first movie’s success, the character’s subsequent performances from George Kennedy and, finally, Lee Van Cleef didn’t have the same impact. Van Cleef took up the mantle as Chris Adams for a series finale that went out with a whimper and not a bang.

While it’s easy to criticize The Magnificent Seven sequels, it boasts a Western legend with Van Cleef in the leading role. It was interesting to see his interpretation of this character. As Chris Adams wrangled up a writer and five prisoners to help him eliminate a gang of Mexican bandits, the most disappointing thing about The Magnificent Seven Ride! was that it essentially just retread the same territory as its predecessors. While it’s not a bad Western by any stretch, it just signaled a franchise that had run out of steam and had one too many recasts.

9 Return of Sabata (1971)

Lee Van Cleef as Sabata

Outside of Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, Lee Van Cleef was best known for his role as the Western gunslinger Sabata. With a trilogy of films focused on the character, due to scheduling conflicts, Van Cleef did not return for the sequel Adiós, Sabata, where he was recast with Yul Brynner, yet he did reprise his role for the final movie, Return of Sabata. Following the skilled gunman helping the citizens of a small town rid themselves of the McIntock clan, Return of Sabata offered audiences the same intense Western stylings they had come to expect from Van Cleef, but not much more.

Return of Sabata was a fun, final outing for the character, packed with Western shootouts and some tongue-in-cheek humor. As a self-aware spaghetti Western, Van Cleef leaned into his reputation as an icon of the genre to ruthlessly take out the bad guys with a suave sense of cool. While Clint Eastwood’s characterization of The Man with No Name has gone down as the definitive Western anti-hero, Van Cleef’s Sabata was a close second when it came to pure cinematic charisma.

8 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Lee Van Cleef as Ed Bailey

There have been countless Western portrayals of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, as these real-life Wild West figures have become true icons of Americana. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral dramatized the famous gunfight between the lawmen and the outlaw Clanton gang in Tombstone, Arizona, and starred Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Among the ing cast was also Lee Van Cleef as Ed Bailey, a vengeance-seeking man hoping to bring Holliday to justice for the murder of his brother.

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was one of the best Westerns of the 1950s that was tense and suspenseful as it drew every closer toward its gun-blazing climatic shootout. While Lancaster and Douglas’ performance carried the movie, ing characters like Van Cleef’s Bailey helped turn it into a Western classic. Although Wyatt and Holliday’s story would be more effective in the 1990s cult classic Tombstone with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, it was portrayals such as this that helped lay the foundations for that acclaimed depiction.

7 How the West Was Won (1962)

Lee Van Cleef as River Pirate

Despite only appearing in an uncredited role as a River Pirate, Lee Van Cleef’s appearance in How the West Was Won showcased just how integral he was to the landscape of Western cinema in the 1960s. This acclaimed Western from Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall told an epic family saga across five chapters, taking place from 1839 to 1889, which included the Gold Rush, the Civil War, and the Western expansion of railroads.

How the West Was Won was one of Hollywood’s greatest epics and an astounding showcase of cinema’s awe-inspiring capabilities. As a magnificent spectacle that drew viewers in with vast landscapes and thematic resonance, the cast included not just a brief appearance from Van Cleef but also other Western legends like James Stewart, John Wayne, and Henry Fonda. As a star-studded Western that utilized Cinerama's three-strip panorama process, viewers looking to check out this Western classic should do so on the biggest screen they can find.

6 High Noon (1952)

Lee Van Cleef as Jack Colby

Lee Van Cleef began his film career as he meant to go with his acting debut in the Western classic High Noon. This story of Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) deciding whether to flee town or take on a gang of bandits was a timeless tale of honor and duty told in real-time. While High Noon was controversial upon release for its perceived communist sympathies, its moral complexity and deep themes have led to its reputation as a true classic of the Western genre.

Van Cleef played the ing role of Jack Colby, a member of Frank Miller’s gang waiting to face against Kane at High Noon. With an infectious level of charisma, even though Van Cleef did not have a lot of dialogue in High Noon, his bright future as a cinematic Western gunslinger was clear right from the beginning. As Van Cleef coolly smoked cigarettes and played harmonica while he waited for his time to fight, he laid the groundwork for the aloof and detached nature of many of his subsequent Western characters.

5 Sabata (1969)

Lee Van Cleef as Sabata

Continuing on from the astounding success of Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, Lee Van Cleef continued to star in spaghetti Westerns like Sabata. As a skilled gunman who took out thieves and bandits with ease, Sabata was a classic Western anti-hero who played by his own rules and lived by a personal moral code. Sabata was one of Van Cleef’s most iconic film roles, and the character continued to appear throughout the Sabata Trilogy, with Yul Brynner recast for the first sequel and Van Cleef returning for the final movie.

As a wild and often cartoonish spaghetti Western, Sabata was the perfect vehicle for Van Cleef’s unique talents, as he brought a confident coolness to the character. Van Cleef’s portrayal of a bounty hunter with more than a few tricks up his sleeve made Sabata a cunning and engaging anti-hero who stood up against the best Western stars of this era. With an excellent score that echoed its Wild West aesthetic, Sabata demonstrated Van Cleef doing what he does best.

4 Death Rides a Horse (1967)

Lee Van Cleef as Ryan

The action-packed revenge Western Death Rides a Horse starred Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law. With Law as Bill Meceita, a cowboy whose father was killed and whose mother and sister were sexually assaulted while he was a child, and Van Cleef as a bandit framed for armed robbery by the same four men responsible for that crime, this Western team-up was a powerful tale of vengeance and retribution. With hopes for extorting revenge upon the same men, Van Cleef and Law work together to deliver their own particular brand of justice.

Death Rides a Horse was a dark spaghetti Western that was not afraid to tackle complex themes of moral depravity. With complex emotional pain underpinning the character's actions, Death Rides a Horse dug deeper than the average movie of this type. Far more than a simple violent shoot-em-up, Death Rides a Horse captured the depraved underbelly of life in the Wild West.

3 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

Lee Van Cleef as Reese

Lee Van Cleef continued his trend of appearing in ing roles in some of the most impactful Westerns of all time with The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. This Western team-up featured two major stars, James Stewart and John Wayne, who ed forces to take out the titular outlaw Liberty Valance, played by Lee Marvin. Van Cleef appeared as Reese, a member of Valance’s gang, in yet another extraordinary showcase of his skills playing Wild West villains.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was notable for the way it played with the notion of the Western genre itself, as it explored ideas around mythmaking and how stories become the stuff of legend. As an insightful commentary on the legacy of the Wild West and America’s origin story, much of the film’s message can be summed up in its famous quote, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” With Van Cleef in a reduced, albeit significant role, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was yet another demonstration of his importance to the Western genre as a whole.

2 For a Few Dollars More (1965)

Lee Van Cleef as Colonel Douglas Mortimer

The Western genre gained an all-time classic when Sergio Leone released A Fistful of Dollars in 1964, which was quickly followed by the sequel For a Few Dollars More the following year. With Clint Eastwood back as the iconic Man with No Name, the spaghetti Western sequel was made even better through the infusion of Lee Van Cleef as Colonel Douglas Mortimer. Cleef was the missing ingredient of this franchise, as he portrayed a former Army officer turned bounty hunter who teamed up with Eastwood’s character.

As one of the few performers who could compete with Eastwood in of onscreen charisma, this dynamic duo helped make For a Few Dollars More one of the best Western sequels ever made. With fast-paced shootouts made even more effective through Ennio Morricone’s timeless score, Van Cleef was truly in top form. As a film often overshadowed by the beginning and end films of this trilogy, For a Few Dollars More was pure Western movie fun.

1 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes

Lee Van Cleef’s most iconic and best role came as ‘the Bad’ in the defining spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Van Cleef played the ruthless and borderline sadistic mercenary known as Angel Eyes in this legendary Sergio Leone movie starring Clint Eastwood as the Man with No Name. With plenty of Leone’s signature long shots and close-up cinematography, paired with Ennio Morricone’s unmatched score, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the benchmark by which all other spaghetti Westerns are judged.

Van Cleef played the polar opposite of his character in For a Few Dollars More in this final entry in the trilogy, as Angel Eyes' menacing nature meant he was not only willing to kill but actually took pleasure in it. As an epic story complete with the most iconic three-way Mexican standoff cinema has ever seen, Van Cleef helped turn this into a true classic of Wild West cinema. While mainstream audiences may mostly Eastwood’s iconic attire, those in the know recognize Lee Van Cleef as essential to this film’s status as an all-time Western classic.