![\"Share](\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\")
Eli Wallach, a noted actor whose work on Broadway catapulted him into a longtime film career, died today at the age of 97, according to news reports that quoted his daughter.<\/p>\n
Wallach made his career playing heavies, usually portraying secondary characters, oftentimes villains. He made his debut on Broadway in 1945 and won a Tony Award six years later when he played opposite Maureen Stapleton in Tennessee Williams’ “The Rose Tattoo.”<\/p>\n
Wallach’s screen debut was the controversial “Baby Doll” from director Elia Kazan. His biggest early breaks came in movies like “The Magnificent Seven,” which had an all-star cast, and “The Misfits” in which he was featured with Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Cliff.<\/p>\n
His work as Tuco (“the Ugly) opposite Clint\u00a0Eastwood in the spaghetti western “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” has been considered a film classic. Yet his work was also ntoed in earlier classics like “From Here to Eternity” and even more recent work such as “Mystic River,” “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” and “The Godfather, Part III.”<\/p>\n
Wallach was born in Brooklyn in 1915 to Jewish immigrant parents from Poland. His was the only Jewish family in a mostly Italian neighborhood. Following his graduation from the University of Texas at Austin in 1936, he became interested in acting. He received a master’s degree in acting from City College of New York and later was associated with method acting. He was a student of the Actor’s Studio at the same time as Marlon Brando and started his career on Broadway after serving in the U. S. Army during World War II.<\/p>\n
Wallach received many awards throughout his career including a BAFTA (British “Oscar”) Award and an honorary Academy Award.<\/p>\n
Wallach is survived by\u00a0his longtime wife, longtime actress Anne Jackson, two daughters and a son.<\/p>\n