Actor Eli Wallach dies at 98
Hollywood star and early practitioner of 'method' acting enjoyed a career spanning six decades
Eli Wallach, an early practitioner of method acting who made a lasting impression as the scuzzy bandit Tuco in , has died. He was 98.
Wallach's career as an actor spanned six decades.
He made his Broadway debut in 1945 and in his 90s was still acting in movies, including (2006) and (2010).
"It's what I wanted to do all my life," Wallach said of his work in 2010, the year in which he received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement as an actor.
Having grown up the son of Polish Jewish immigrants in an Italian-dominated neighbourhood in New York, Wallach might have seemed an unlikely cowboy, but some of his best work was in westerns.
Many critics thought his definitive role was Calvera, the flamboyant, sinister bandit chief in . Others preferred him in as Tuco, who was "the ugly", opposite Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in Sergio Leone's classic spaghetti western.
Years later, Wallach said that strangers would recognise him and start whistling the distinctive theme from the film. After seeing the finished version of , Wallach wished he could have heard the music that was added after the film was shot. "I would have ridden the horse differently," he declared.
