



Van Cleef made a career of playing a villain in Westerns. The truth isn’t nearly so interesting-he lost it while building a playhouse for his daughter. The finger was prominently featured in the 1966 film that starred Clint Eastwood as the “Man With No Name.” Rumors suggested he had lost it in a bad car wreck in 1958 or in a bar fight. Lee Van Cleef, who died at age 64 in 1989 of heart failure, was missing the last joint of the middle finger of his right hand. What happened to it? Also, did Eli Wallach play the Ugly? I have been told Van Cleef did. In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Lee Van Cleef (the Bad) is missing part of a finger.
