He was the ugly to Clint Eastwood’s Good and Lee Van Cleef’s bad and it is with great sadness we must report the death of Eli Wallach at 98 years old. Best known as Tuco in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY and as bandit leader Calvera in Hollywood’s remake of SEVEN SAMURAI, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, Wallach was far more than just the go to man for slimy Mexican antagonists that littered many westerns of the era. He played Mr. Freeze in the Batman TV show of the 1960s, the mafia leader Don Altobello in THE GODFATHER PART III and took on a less imposing role in 2006’s THE HOLIDAY.
Born on 5th December 1915, Wllach failed to get the grades to attend New York’s City College, but returned to the big apple to attend the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre after graduating from The University of Texas. He served in World War II as a medic and first hit Broadway in 1945. He won a Tony Award in 1951 for his role as Alvaro in Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tatoo. In 2011 he received an Honorary Oscar ‘For a lifetime’s worth of indelible screen characters.”
He will be forever remembered for his role as Tuco due to the incredible one-liners he was able to deliver as well as the off screen events which nearly ended his life, including being dragged by a horse with arms tied behind his back, and a scene in which a train missed him by inches. Thankfully for us, Wallach was able to deliver nearly half a century of performances after this.
A true legend of cinema, we here at THN would like to show our respects with one of cinema’s great put-downs, supplied by Wallach in his most famous role:
You want to know who you are? Huh? You want to know who’s son you are? You don’t, I do, everybody does… you’re the son of a thousand fathers, all bastards like you.
Tuco-THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
