He was assigned small roles in war films. Kid Shelleen (also Marvin). PRIME CUT is betrayed by an episodic, hackneyed script with scenes that have no payoff (a young man leaving his family, Hackman’s weird brother, etc. He made his Broadway debut in a 1951 production of Billy Budd and also made his first film appearance in YOU’RE IN THE NAVY NOW in 1951. This is when the greatest director of those tales, John Ford, made his last truly classic Western motion picture: THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE starring Marvin as the title character. Marvin plays an evil, sadistic bully who intimidates everyone in the small town ( including Andy Devine’s ineffectual sheriff ) except for John Wayne’s Tom Doniphon. On August 29, 1987, he died of a heart attack, at age 63. It was great, typically “scruffy” of his style at the time. He sums up his philosophy of life nicely as a rail-hopping metaphor:”Don’t ever grab unless you’re sure you can hold on, [because] you ever let go, she’ll throw you under.”  Part of the fun of EMPEROR is knowing, almost from the first frame, that these two grizzled men are heading for a grand showdown. On June 18, 1944, while serving as a member of “I” Company, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, Marvin was wounded in action, during the assault on Mount Tapochau (the highest point on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands) in the Battle of Saipan. Sam Fuller’s 1980 epic war film stands out as one of the best of either man’s screen careers. Seems the war had ended just moments before. He initially appeared in supporting roles, mostly soldiers, villains, and other hardboiled characters. He fathered four children, one son, and three daughters; Christopher (son), and Courtenay, Cynthia, and Claudia(daughters). He stayed with his father during his illness in 1970. Marvin is the perfect thinking man’s hit-man, never wasting a word, thinking ahead and planning his moves. Unfortunately, these two have a history that (of course) involves a woman (the beautiful Angel Tompkins), so things head south real fast (as they say in farm country). Soon Marvin began appearing regularly onscreen, with credits including a lead role in Stanley Kramer’s 1952 war drama EIGHT MEN OUT. For portraying both criminal Tim Strawn and gunfighter Kid Shelleen, Marvin won the Academy Award for Best Actor, along with a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. Angie Dickinson plays Sgt. Real life WWII vet Marvin plays the grizzled GI who’s only referred to as the sergeant ( we never hear his full name ) who leads an ever dwindling squad including Robert Carradine’s aspiring writer ( a surrogate for Fuller? ) Perhaps he thought that it was time to poke some fun at that image by taking on a duel role in director Elliot Silverstein’s comedy-oater . Marvin was awarded the National Board of Review Award for male actors, for his acting in Ship of Fools in 1965. Lee Marvin full list of movies and tv shows in theaters, in production and upcoming films. Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman. Lee Marvin had political connections with Democrat party. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. (1956), a dark and cynical look at men at war and is one of Aldrich’s very best films, bearing his personal signature in a portrait of infantry warfare set in Belgium circa 1944.