# Eli Wallach, 1915-2014 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2014, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588 "2014-06-25T06:52:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/1 "2014-06-25T06:52:39Z")
> **[‘Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ Star Eli Wallach Dies at 98](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/eli-wallach-dead-good-bad-714794/)** > > The character actor from Brooklyn was at his best playing banditos in that Clint Eastwood classic as well as in “The Magnificent Seven,” just two highlights of his six-decade-plus caree… [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZXlhSgq7us) RIP. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/2 "2014-06-25T07:00:03Z")
No shit! Drag… ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/3 "2014-06-25T07:52:52Z")
_The Magnificent Seven_ is one of my favorite movies. I’ll watch it again tomorrow in memory. R.I.P. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/4 "2014-06-25T08:01:28Z")
His first credit on imdb is from 1951 (although his bio says his first TV/movie role was in 1949), and his last is from 2009 (when he was 94). He was the best thing about _The Good, the Bad and the Ugly_. He was a really fine and memorable actor. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/5 "2014-06-25T08:19:36Z")
Damn, I was amazed watching his performance in The Misfits just last week. Bye, Eli. You were good, no matter what the role’s name was. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/6 "2014-06-25T08:37:31Z")
RIP Eli, I fondly recall TGTBATU as my first proper “grown-up” film. Certainly the first one that sticks in the memory. Tuco Benedicto Pacifica Juan-Maria Ramirez (AKA “the rat”) was a truly brilliant cinematic creation. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/7 "2014-06-25T09:06:22Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > RIP Eli, > I fondly recall TGTBATU as my first proper “grown-up” film. Certainly the first one that sticks in the memory. Tuco Benedicto Pacifica Juan-Maria Ramirez (AKA “the rat”) was a truly brilliant cinematic creation. That film would be a pale and poor shadow of itself without Eli’s performance. I dare say he upstaged Eastwood. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Bragg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Stealth\_Bragg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Bragg)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/8 "2014-06-25T11:17:57Z")
Absolutely he did, it was Tuco’s film, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/9 "2014-06-25T12:07:59Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > That film would be a pale and poor shadow of itself without Eli’s performance. > I dare say he upstaged Eastwood. I agree, if I conjure up a picture in my mind of that film I see Tuco sitting grumpily on a horse with a noose round his neck, squinting, grimacing and gurning and eager to get on with it. Eastwood and Van Cleef are great, but ultimately secondary. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/10 "2014-06-25T12:24:15Z")
> [@Stealth\_Bragg](#): > > Absolutely he did, it was Tuco’s film, no doubt. You could relate to Tuco, a great character. I’ll miss Eli - his career spanned many phases and he was good in all of them. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/11 "2014-06-25T13:07:39Z")
One of the all-time greats, over several decades. R.I.P. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/12 "2014-06-25T13:33:02Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Damn, I was amazed watching his performance in The Misfits just last week. Bye, Eli. You were good, no matter what the role’s name was. My favorite performance of his as well. RIP ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/13 "2014-06-25T13:39:38Z")
Tuco was my favourite too! He’s a simple (yet crafty), humorously impulsive, (and always) dangerous man. And while TMWNN masks all emotion/reactions, Tuco always flies his feelings with pride. All three main characters play different variations of shifty, homeless brigands; but it’s small additions (like Tuco’s background story of childhood poverty) that makes him the most human. Sad to see Eli go, but what a life. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/14 "2014-06-25T14:34:07Z")
And the torch of “Holy crap, they’re still alive?” passes to Lauren Bacall. Abe Vigoda is disqualified because he’s immortal. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/15 "2014-06-25T14:44:33Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Damn, I was amazed watching his performance in The Misfits just last week. Bye, Eli. You were good, no matter what the role’s name was. Watched _The Misfits_ just a couple months ago myself. So weird that it was Gable and Monroe’s last film, Clift only did a few more films. Ritter only lasted until '69. But he kept going and going. An early film that showed that the guy just had talent was _Baby Doll_ (1956). Yet he was already in his 40s then. If you look at the The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse entry for him at [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0908919/), you’ll see the 1949 credit. Don’t know why that isn’t at the bottom of the list. ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/16 "2014-06-25T15:33:08Z")
His best trick by far was the time he possessed that lady’s toaster. [HAUNTED TOASTER - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiSwnWw65Wo) RIP ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/17 "2014-06-25T15:47:33Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > If you look at the The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse entry for him at [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0908919/), you’ll see the 1949 credit. Don’t know why that isn’t at the bottom of the list. IMDb lists series credits by the year of the last apperance and his was in '55. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/18 "2014-06-25T16:18:14Z")
Sad loss. Am I really the first here to mention **Batman**? He was the [original Mr. Freeze](https://uk.yahoo.com/movies/eli-wallachs-forgotten-role-as-mr-freeze-in-batman-89848464276.html) and did it much better than Arnold. I wrote him a fan letter 15 years ago or so and asked him what he thought of Arnold’s take on the role. He wrote me back a nice note (along w/ a signed photo) that said something about how he got $10,000 to play the role and Schwarzenegger got $10,000,000. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/19 "2014-06-25T16:28:04Z")
blondie!!! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/20 "2014-06-25T16:34:07Z")
I was really pulling for him to make it to 100. RIP, Eli. ☹ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588.md?page=2)