Eli Wallach 1915-2014

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He was no dirty son-of-a-b*@!...*

Far from it.  Eli Wallach, who passed away on June 24, was one of the best character actors in Hollywood.  His career on stage, screen, and television spanned 60+ years and even into his 90s he was still working.  He worked with the best of Hollywood, from legends like Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood and Marilyn Monroe, to Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon and Ewan McGregor.

The son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, Wallach played many great characters in his career, but also characters of differing ethnic groups.  Two of his best known roles--the bandit Calvera in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) and Tuco in THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (1966) were Mexican--but the man did a damned fine job in both roles.

(Of course, if something like that happened today, in our Twitter-outrage culture....)

And even though he grew older, Wallach still delivered top-notch work, appearing on television and in film.  He played Mr. Freeze in the 1960s BATMAN series too....He was also long-lived in another department--he married actress Ann Jackson in 1948 and they remained married until his death.  Others have penned far more detailed obits on this man, and honestly, I can't here, it would be one looonng post.

Ninety-eight's a damned good run, a life well-lived.  We should all be that lucky to have such a long and rewarding life, marriage, and career.

More on Eli Wallach:

www.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/mov…

www.washingtonpost.com/enterta…

www.usatoday.com/story/life/mo…

www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2…

www.deadline.com/2014/06/eli-w…

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/fi…

popwatch.ew.com/2014/06/25/eli…


*--not meant as an insult to Wallach (although it certainly would fit me perfectly.....), but rather a reference to the fact that he got the last line from the classic western THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY.


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