Steve Granitz/WireImage(NEW YORK) — Eli Wallach, whose decades-long career as a character actor included portraying Mexican bad guys in the classic films The Magnificent Seven and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, died Tuesday at the age of 98, The New York Times reports.
His death was confirmed to the Times by his daughter Katherine.
Wallach’s film credits also include The Misfits, Cinderella Liberty and The Godfather: Part Three.
Despite dozens of film roles over a 60-year-career, Wallach never received an Academy Award nomination. In November 2010, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Wallach with an honorary Oscar. In presenting the honor, the Academy described Wallach as “the quintessential chameleon, effortlessly inhabiting a wide range of characters, while putting his inimitable stamp on every role.”
Wallach often starred in films opposite his wife, actress Anne Jackson. His co-stars over the years also included Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Peter O’Toole, Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, Clint Eastwood and Al Pacino.
Wallach’s acting resume also includes numerous TV and stage roles, including a 1951 Tony Award-winning performance as a truck driver in Tennessee Williams’s play The Rose Tattoo.
He also played the Batman villain Mr. Freeze on the 1960’s Batman TV series. Wallach earned an Emmy Award for portraying a former drug merchant in the 1966 made-for-TV movie Poppies Are Also Flowers.
Wallach was born on Dec. 7, 1915 in Brooklyn, New York. He earned a master’s degree in education with the goal of becoming a teacher but began studying acting at a local playhouse. During World War Two, Wallach served five years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, eventually achieving the rank of captain.
He made his stage debut in 1946 in a play called Skydrift.
One of Wallach’s last film roles was that of an elderly banker opposite Michael Douglas in Oliver Stone’s 2010 sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
Wallach is survived by Jackson and three children.
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