Although initially typecast as the "heavy" (i.e. villainous character), he later gained prominence for portraying anti-heroes, such as Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger on the television series M Squad (1957–1960).

Marvin's notable roles in film included Charlie Strom in The Killers (1964), Rico Fardan in The Professionals (1966), Major John Reisman in The Dirty Dozen (1967), Ben Rumson in Paint Your Wagon (1969), Walker in Point Blank (1967), the Sergeant in The Big Red One (1980), Jack Osborne in Gorky Park (1983) and co-starred opposite Chuck Norris in The Delta Force (1986).

[3] His father was a direct descendant of Matthew Marvin Sr., who emigrated from Great Bentley, Essex, England, in 1635, and helped found Hartford, Connecticut.

Marvin served in the 4th Marine Division as a scout sniper in the Pacific Theater during World War II,[7] including assaults on Kwajalein,[8] Eniwetok, and Saipan-Tinian.

He was wounded in action on June 18, 1944, while taking part in the assault on Mount Tapochau during the Battle of Saipan, during which most of his company became casualties.

[9][13] After the war, while working as a plumber's assistant in the artist village of Woodstock in upstate New York, Marvin was asked to replace an actor who had fallen ill during rehearsals.

As a decorated combat veteran, Marvin was a natural in war dramas, where he frequently assisted the director and other actors in realistically portraying infantry movement, arranging costumes, and the use of firearms.

"[25] Marvin played Robert Mitchum's and Frank Sinatra's friend in Not as a Stranger (1955), a medical drama produced and directed by Stanley Kramer.

He had good supporting roles in A Life in the Balance (1955) (he was third billed), and Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) and appeared on TV in Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre and Studio One in Hollywood.

Marvin was in I Died a Thousand Times (1955) with Jack Palance, Shack Out on 101 (1955), Kraft Theatre, and Front Row Center.

Marvin debuted as a leading man in M Squad as Chicago cop Frank Ballinger in 100 episodes of the successful 1957–1960 television series.

[26] When the series ended Marvin appeared on Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, NBC Sunday Showcase, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, The Americans, Wagon Train, Checkmate, General Electric Theater, Alcoa Premiere, The Investigators, Route 66 (he was injured during a fight scene),[27] Ben Casey, Bonanza, The Untouchables (several times), The Virginian, The Twilight Zone ("The Grave" and "Steel"), and The Dick Powell Theatre.

Marvin returned to feature films with a prominent role in The Comancheros (1961) starring John Wayne and Stuart Whitman.

As the vicious Liberty Valance, Marvin played his first title role and held his own with two of the screen's biggest stars, Wayne and James Stewart.

For director Don Siegel, Marvin appeared in The Killers (1964) playing an efficient professional assassin alongside Clu Gulager, grappling with villains Ronald Reagan and Angie Dickinson.

[31] Playing alongside Vivien Leigh and Simone Signoret, Marvin won the 1966 National Board of Review Award for male actors for his role in Ship of Fools (1965) directed by Kramer.

[N 1][35] Marvin next performed in the highly regarded Western The Professionals (1966), in which he played the leader of a small band of skilled mercenaries (Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, and Woody Strode) rescuing a kidnap victim (Claudia Cardinale) shortly after the Mexican Revolution.

He followed that film with the hugely successful World War II epic The Dirty Dozen (1967) in which top-billed Marvin again portrayed an intrepid commander of a colorful group (played by John Cassavetes, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas, Jim Brown, and Donald Sutherland) performing an almost impossible mission.

[38] In an interview, Marvin stated his time in the Marine Corps helped shape that role "by playing an officer how I felt it should have been seen, from the bias of an enlisted man's viewpoint".

[40] In 1968, Marvin also appeared in another Boorman film, the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful World War II character study Hell in the Pacific, also starring famed Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune.

[41] Marvin was originally cast as Pike Bishop (later played by William Holden) in The Wild Bunch (1969), but fell out with director Sam Peckinpah and pulled out to star in the Western musical Paint Your Wagon (1969), in which he was top-billed over a singing Clint Eastwood.

His 1970s movies included Monte Walsh (1970), a Western with Palance and Jeanne Moreau; the violent Prime Cut (1972) with Gene Hackman; Pocket Money (1972) with Paul Newman, for Stuart Rosenberg; Emperor of the North (1973) opposite Ernest Borgnine for Aldrich; as Hickey in The Iceman Cometh (1973) with Fredric March and Robert Ryan, for John Frankenheimer;[42][additional citation(s) needed] In 1974, Marvin acted in Richard Fleischer's The Spikes Gang,[43] and in Terence Young's The Klansman in a shared top billing with Richard Burton.

[44] During this time, Marvin was offered the role of Quint in Jaws (1975) but declined, stating "What would I tell my fishing friends who'd see me come off as a hero against a dummy shark?

"[45] In 1976, Marvin co-lead with Roger Moore in the film Shout at the Devil, a World War I adventure, directed by Peter Hunt.

[47] In 1979, Marvin co-lead with Robert Shaw in Mark Robson's Cold War thriller Avalanche Express, his co-star and the director both died from heart related illness shortly after production.

It is a fictionalized account of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) pursuit of a man named Albert Johnson.

Fred Rothenberg in his review published in The Grand Island Independent said "Lee Marvin, the gruff, throw-out-the-book major, may be nearly 20 years older since the last "Dirty Dozen," but he can still deliver the lines and the goods.

"[58] In 1986, Marvin made his final appearance, co-leading with Chuck Norris, in Menahem Golan's action film The Delta Force.

[62][63] Marvin married Betty Ebeling in April 1952[64][65] and together they had four children: a son Christopher Lamont (1952 – 2013),[66] and three daughters: Courtenay Lee, Cynthia Louise, and Claudia Leslie (1958 - 2012).