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Eli WallachAdd to My CelebsAge 96 Birthday Dec. 7th, 1915 Born in Brooklyn, New York, USA Height 5' 7" |
Eli Wallach's Main TV Roles
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Main Movie Roles2010 - The Ghost Writer2010 - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps 2009 - New York, I Love You 2007 - Mama's Boy 2006 - The Holiday 2005 - The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation 2004 - Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson 2003 - Mystic River 2000 - Keeping the Faith 1996 - The Associate 1995 - Two much 1992 - Night and the City 1992 - Article 99 1990 - The Godfather: Part III 1990 - The Two Jakes 1986 - Tough Guys 1980 - The Hunter 1979 - Winter Kills 1979 - Firepower 1977 - The Domino Principle 1977 - The Deep 1977 - The Sentinel 1969 - Mackenna's Gold 1968 - I quattro dell'Ave Maria 1966 - How to Steal a Million 1965 - Lord Jim 1965 - Genghis Khan 1964 - The Moon-Spinners 1963 - The Victors 1962 - How the West Was Won 1961 - The Misfits 1960 - The Magnificent Seven 1958 - The Lineup 1956 - Baby Doll |
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at IMDB
One of Hollywood's finest character / "Method" actors, Eli Wallach has been in demand for over 50 years on stage and screen and has worked alongside the biggest stars, including Clark Gable, Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen (I), Marilyn Monroe, Yul Brynner, Peter O'Toole (I) and Al Pacino, to name but a few.
Wallach was born on 7 December 1915 in Brooklyn, NY, to Jewish parents who emigrated from Poland, and was one of the few Jewish kids in his mostly Italian neighborhood. He went on to graduate with a B.A. from the University of Texas in Austin, but gained his dramatic training with the Actors Studio and the Neighborhood Playhouse. He made his debut on Broadway in 1945, and won a Tony Award in 1951 for portraying Alvaro Mangiaco in the Tennessee Williams play "The Rose Tattoo".
Wallach made a strong screen debut in 1956 in the film version of the Tennessee Williams play Baby Doll (1956), shined as "Dancer", the nattily dressed hitman, in director Don Siegel's film-noir classic The Lineup (1958), and co-starred in the heist film Seven Thieves (1960). Director John Sturges then cast Wallach as vicious Mexican bandit Calvera in The Magnificent Seven (1960), the western adaptation of the Akira Kurosawa epic Shichinin no samurai (1954). By all reports, Wallach could not ride a horse prior to making "TMS", but expert tutelage from the film's Mexican stunt riders made it look easy! He next appeared in the superb The Misfits (1961), in the star-spangled western opus How the West Was Won (1962), the underrated WW2 film The Victors (1963), as a kidnapper in The Moon-Spinners (1964), in the sea epic Lord Jim (1965) and in the romantic comedy How to Steal a Million (1966).
Looking for a third lead actor in the final episode of the "Dollars Trilogy", Italian director Sergio Leone (I) cast the versatile Wallach as the lying, two-faced, money-hungry (but somehow lovable) bandit "Tuco" in the spectacular Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. (1966) (aka "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"), arguably his most memorable performance. Wallach kept busy throughout the remainder of the '60s and into the '70s with good roles in Mackenna's Gold (1969), Cinderella Liberty (1973), Crazy Joe (1974), The Deep (1977) and as Steve McQueen (I)'s bail buddy in The Hunter (1980).
The 1980s was an interesting period for Wallach, as he was regularly cast as an aging doctor, a Mafia figure or an over-the-hill hitman, such as in The Executioner's Song (1982) (TV), "Our Family Honor" (1985), Tough Guys (1986), Nuts (1987), The Two Jakes (1990) and as the candy-addicted "Don Altabello" in The Godfather: Part III (1990). At 75+ years of age, Wallach's quality of work was still first class and into the 1990s and beyond, he has remained in demand. He lent fine support to Vendetta: Secrets of a Mafia Bride (1991) (TV), Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story (1992) (TV), Naked City: Justice with a Bullet (1998) (TV) and Keeping the Faith (2000). Most recently Wallach showed up as a fast-talking liquor store owner in Mystic River (2003) and in the comedic drama King of the Corner (2004).
In early 2005, Eli Wallach released his much anticipated autobiography, "The Good, The Bad And Me: In My Anecdotage", a wonderfully enjoyable read from one of the screen's most inventive and enduring actors.
TRIVIA:
- His performance as Alvaro Mangiacavallo in "The Rose Tattoo" opposite 'Maureen Stapleton' (qv) as Serafina won him a Theare World Award and the 1951 Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Play.
- While attending The University of Texas he acted in many student plays and in one he costarred with 'Walter Cronkite' (qv).
- One of his fellow students at Parsons New School for Social Research in New York was 'Marlon Brando' (qv).
- Graduated from The University of Texas at Austin - BA 1936.
- He served for five years in the Army's Medical Administrative Corps during World War II, eventually attaining the rank of captain.
- Has a brother and two sisters, all of whom became teachers.
- One of three actors to play the character of Mr. Freeze on _"Batman" (1966)_ (qv). (The other two were 'George Sanders (I)' (qv) and 'Otto Preminger' (qv)). He once said that he has received more fan mail for that role than for any other role he has ever done.
- Appeared with 'Steve McQueen (I)' (qv), 'Marilyn Monroe' (qv) and 'Clark Gable' (qv) in their final completed films: _The Hunter (1980)_ (qv) and _The Misfits (1961)_ (qv) (for both Monroe and Gable) respectively.
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