Wednesday, June 25, 2014
The well acted life
There was a time when no matter what the film was, if it was good, it probably had Eli Wallach in it.
Not a real star but a very dependable actor who had starring roles, Wallach was a master of the snitch, the villain, the guy who cheated someone else. A blackguard. Seldom heroic.
He was married to Anne Jackson for over 40 years and they had a durable professional life together. Not like the Lunts. More like good actors who could define their own parts aside from the spouse and do the job required in the script.
He lived a very long time. Now he is gone.
Eli Wallach Multifaceted Actor Dies at 98
The list of credits is very long. I saw a lot of these films. He belonged to a group who were known for their belief in method acting and they often worked together. To our great benefit.
His first film was The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in which he was the first billed star and Clint Eastwood below the top. Wallach was the was the bad. Eastwood the good and Lee Van Cleef was the ugly. His last film was "Wall Street: The Money Never Sleeps", a sequel to the first Michael Douglas film about investment villains.
In between he had countless roles in theater (his first love), television and the movies.
