Editing Lee Van Cleef (section)

== Early life ==
Lee Van Cleef was born on January 9, 1925, in [[Somerville, New Jersey]],<ref name="aw">{{cite book|last1=Rowan|first1=Terry|title=The American Western A Complete Film Guide|date=2013|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-300-41858-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aevGBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA418|access-date=June 30, 2017|language=en}}{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}</ref> 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. Lee graduated from [[Somerville High School (New Jersey)|Somerville High School]] and enlisted in the United States Navy in September 1942.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hatala |first=Greg |date=August 26, 2013 |title=Glimpse of History: 'Being born with a pair of beady eyes was the best thing that ever happened to me' - Lee Van Cleef |url=https://www.nj.com/somerset/2013/08/glimpse_of_history_being_born_with_a_pair_of_beady_eyes_was_the_best_thing_that_ever_happened_to_me.html |access-date=October 12, 2024 |website=NJ.com True Jersey |publisher=Advance Local Media LLC |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Blazeski |first=Goran |title=Lee Van Cleef, the 'Bad' in Leone's classic Western, was a decorated sonarman on a WWII minesweeper |url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/12/06/lee-van-cleef-wwii-minesweeper/ |date=December 6, 2017 |access-date=May 16, 2018 |newspaper=The Vintage News}}</ref>