# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/21 "2014-06-25T18:17:42Z")
Grand Wino wrote:Am I really the first here to mention Batman? He was the original Mr. Freeze 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. Wallach told that story on NPR, the punchline was “I should have worked out more.” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/22 "2014-06-25T19:58:35Z")
He died so young! ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/23 "2014-06-25T23:43:33Z")
Of course, if he had made **Batman and Robin,** then the worst thing on his resume wouldn’t be **Godfather III** ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/24 "2014-06-26T01:08:35Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > 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. He wasn’t the original Mr. Freeze. That was George Sanders in February 1966, followed by Otto Preminger in November 1966. Wallach was the third Mr. Freeze in March 1967 at the end of Season 2. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/25 "2014-06-26T06:48:26Z")
My favorite line from him was in The Magnificent Seven, explaining why he had to rob the peasants, saying it might be sacreligious not to: “If God did not want them to be shorn he would not have made them sheep.” ---
**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 26, 2014, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/26 "2014-06-26T07:48:00Z")
Until I [read his obit,](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/movies/eli-wallach-multifaceted-actor-dies-at-98.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%5B%22RI%3A5%22%2C%22RI%3A16%22%5D) I had no idea how prominent he was on the stage. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/27 "2014-06-27T19:26:53Z")
Therefore we sentence you here before us, Tuco Benedicto Pacífico Juan María Ramirez, known as “the Rat,” and any other aliases he may have, to be hanged by the neck until dead, and may God have mercy on your soul. Proceed. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/28 "2014-06-28T00:45:48Z")
Best advice to movie villains: “[When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTcBgs2huRo)” ---
**Author:** ![Agnostic\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Agnostic\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agnostic_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2014, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/29 "2014-06-28T06:34:11Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > blondie!!! Just saw this. My thought also. Tuco was the best! ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2014, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588/30 "2014-06-28T06:51:31Z")
What an actor! I saw him recently in Don Siegel’s 1958 movie _The Lineup_ in which he played a psychopathic hitman called Dancer. It was only his second movie (his first being _Baby Doll_ a couple of years earlier) but he was already a pro, turning in a chilling and unforgettable performance. Astonishing too how much he resembles Joe Pesci in that film in the sort of role that Pesci would make his own some 20 or 30 years down the line. _Atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-wallach-1915-2014/691588.md?page=1)