henry silvaAn actor who rose to fame playing smooth-mouthed and scruffy-faced heaviness in Hollywood dramas of the 1950s and early 1960s, most notably the drug name “Mother” in “A Hateful of Rain” Dealer and a North Korean Agent “Manchurian Candidate”, He died on 14 September in Los Angeles. i was 95,
your son Scott Silva Confirmed death but did not give an immediate cause.
In a career spanning five decades, With over 130 film and television credits, Silva went on to become one of the busiest character actors in Hollywood., He had Hispanic and Sicilian ancestry, but as he once joked, he was endowed with a face that “great diversification,
,I could play anything but Sweden, and I’m working on that.“, They told Los Angeles Times in 1963.
Silva was exceptionally handsome, with her poker face, closed eyes, razor-sharp cheekbones, and sinuous body capable of conveying either fearsome menace or stern masculinity. He got his breakout role as the well-adjusted but spiteful drug dealer in “A Hatful of Rain” on Broadway in 1955.A role which he reprized on screen in 1957.
In “Manchurian candidate(1962), based on Richard Condon’s novel about Cold War paranoia, Silva played the role of a communist agent, He stars as the servant of an American Korean War veteran (Lawrence Harvey), who is brainwashed by the Communists for the assassination of a US presidential candidate.
,Manchurian candidate“, also starring Frank Sinatra, flopped at the box office upon its initial release, but is now considered a tense classic. critic Peter Travers written in the magazine People Silva arrives at the film’s re-release in 1988″A high low villain who hasn’t been matched since,
Other notable early films by Silva include “Long live Zapata!(1952) as a Mexican farmer who encounters the revolutionary title character of Marlon Brando; Gregory Peck’s Western”the bravados(1958) as an American Indian who belongs to a gang of murderous criminals; why “Hari Haveli“(1959) as the son of an evil descendant of a Venezuelan tribal chief.
In a change of pace, Silva played one of the half-brothers on the Jerry Lewis comedy “cinderfella“And was part of a gang of casino thieves”rat Pack“From Sinatra”Ocean’s 11(both 1960).
Silva said he admires Humphrey Bogart and John Garfield and longs to play tough, street-smart male leads of their kind., they had a chancejohnny cool”(1963). His portrayal of the Sicilian-born gangster, who hides his murderous tendencies under a flashy, elegant appearance, did not initially win over audiences or critics.
but “johnny coolattracted a devoted following over the years. Among his devotees were directors Jim Jarmuschuwho cast Silva as the gangster of a cartoon-obsessed mob”Ghost Dog: The Way of the Sumarai“(1999).”Henry’s face is almost like a maskJarmush told Chicago Tribune“But in the blink of an eye, things can get very interesting.”
His opportunities as a lead actor were limited in Hollywood.And Silva took an extended break to work in Europe, where he appeared in films such as “”.Mr. Moto’s Return(1965) as a Japanese spy hero and won top prizes.
he told Chicago Sun-Times that dacoits and other criminals often praised his work. ,They say, ‘Oh my god, where did you learn to play with us?’ I say: ‘I lived with ‘us’. I grew up with ‘we’ in New York, I knew people who ran all the neighborhoods, rang the bells of prostitution. He used to shine his shoes. He said: ‘Boys, come here. I want you to shine my shoes, I will break your head.”
Henry Silva, the son of Puerto Rican parents, was born on September 23, 1926, in Brooklyn. and grew up in Spanish Harlem. He was about six months old when his father left the family. His mother was illiterate. Silva was a shy student who was often intimidated in elementary school because he barely understood English until he was 8 years old.
He got a much-needed release in films, especially film series.andy hardy“starring” mickey rooney About an all-American teenager. ,It was about families, something I never hadSilva told Los Angeles Times, To save money for acting school, he dropped out of school and left home in his mid-teens, working as a dishwasher and longshoreman.
,I Spent Six Years Knocking on Doors and Hearing ‘No’ Before Landing an Extra Job on a TV Show for $5he reminded Tribune, He enrolled in the Actors Studio Workshop, where he developed the heart-wrenching incident”a hatful of rain” of Michael V. Gazzo, One of the first serious drug addiction dramas, it centered on a young married war veteran (Ben Gazzara) struggling to overcome his drug habit.
Silva’s marriages to Mary Rams, actress Cindy Conroy (former Miss Canada) and actress Ruth Earle, with whom he had two children, all ended in divorce. Survivors include his sons, Michael Silva and Scott Silva, both from Los Angeles.
on tv Silva had a memorable turn in the 1960s crime drama “The Untouchables.” As a ruthless enforcer for the mob. He also became a mainstay in action films of the 1980s and 1990s, including “Above the Law” and “Dick Tracy” with Steven Seagal (as Influence, the casino owner), and played a boxing spectator. . Steven Soderbergh in the director’s feature film in 2001. “Ocean Eleven” reboot.
,I have seen a lot of actors who play heavy roles, but they always play the same heavy roles“, They told Tribune In 2000, when asked about his flexibility as a screen baddie. “I have a seven-minute reel of clips from my movies, and no one is the same. I don’t always go to the same place, because that would be boring. I read the page and it tells me who the character is. I page I let it affect me, but I’m not playing it safe either.
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