I just heard that, earlier today, the legendary character actor Eli Wallach passed away at the age of 98.  Wallach made his film debut in 1956’s Baby Doll and made his final film appearance 54 years later in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.  I have to admit that I don’t really remember much about Wall Street or Wallach’s performance in the film.  However, I do remember his wonderful cameo appearance in The Ghost Writer.

And, of course, everyone remembers Eli Wallach’s best role, that of Tuco in Sergio Leone’s classic spaghetti western The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.  In the role of a comedic yet ruthless bandit, Wallach brought a lot of life to Leone’s epic portrait of greed in the west.  His unabashedly flamboyant performance provided a wonderful (and much-needed) contrast to the more stoic performances of Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef.

For me, the best scene in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly is one in which not a single bullet is fired nor a word uttered.  In this scene, Tuco has finally discovered the cemetery where a stolen shipment of gold has been buried.  All he has to do is find Arch Stanton’s grave and he’ll be a very rich man.  What Tuco did not take into consideration was just how many other graves there would be in the cemetery.

This is a rare moment in the film in which Tuco is not speaking but just watch Wallach’s performance here to see how much a great actor can do with just body language and facial expressions.  (Needless to say, Ennio Morricone’s classic score helps out as well.)

Eli Wallach, R.I.P.