Actor Henry Silva, that secondary villain we loved to hate, is dead

They’ve seen him hundreds of times and will recognize him as soon as they see his photo, even if they don’t remember his name. Enrico Silvaan actor who very often played villains and worked in hundreds of films, including the big scam (it was his last film, in 2001) and the ambassador of fear (it was Chunjin), who would soon turn 60 after its release, died Wednesday at the Motion Picture and Television Fund headquarters in Woodland Hills, California.

He would have turned 96 the next day, Thursday 15 September.

One of Silva’s most memorable roles came in John Frankenheimer’s classic thriller the ambassador of fear (1962), in which he played Chunjin, the Korean servant of Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), and a Communist agent who engages in a choreographic martial arts battle with Frank Sinatraoccurred in Shaw’s apartment in New York.

Silva has appeared in many other films with Sinatra, including the original Ocean’s Eleven (1960), starring Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., where he was one of eleven thieves, and the 1962 western Sergeants 3 (three sergeants).

His death was first announced by Dean Martin’s daughter, Deana Martin, who tweeted: “Our hearts are broken by the loss of our dear friend Henry Silva, one of the nicest, kindest and most talented men in I ever had the pleasure … to call my friend … He was the last surviving star of the original film Ocean’s 11. We love you Henry, we will miss you. “

Memorable supporting roles

In subsequent years, he always appeared in supporting roles and accompanied other Hollywood stars in the cast, such as Burt Reynolds in Sharky’s Brigade (or Sharky’s car1981), to Chuck Norris in code of silence (1985), or in Andrew Davis’ film with Steven Seagal Nico (1988), a fuck trackby and with Warren Beatty (1990) e Ghost Dog: The way of the Samuraiby Jim Jarmusch (1999).

As we have already mentioned, Silva’s last appearance on the screen was a cameo in the new version of Ocean’s Eleven in 2001, that of George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

In Variety I remember a 1985 publication, by the journalist of Knight-Ridder Diane Haithman titled Henry Silva: The actor you love to hate. She began like this: “Her face appears on the screen. A face with high, sharp cheekbones and a small, blunt nose, a face that seems to have been carved out of steel and is always looking for a gun. And eyes that see only the next victim. cold eyes The eyes of a psychopath. He doesn’t have to say anything before you know you hate him. … Silva has had a lifelong career on that face (which, by the way, looks paternal off-screen). “

Silva told Haithman that growing up in Spanish Harlem helped prepare him for the types of roles he would later play in the movies. “I saw a lot of things in Harlem,” he recalled with a rich accent of his New York origins. “It was the kind of place where if you lived on a block and wanted to go a few blocks away, you’d have to take a couple of guys with you or else you’d kick your ass.”

He made his television debut in Armstrong Club Theater in 1950 and his big screen debut, without appearing in the credits, is none other than in the success of Elia Kazan Long live Zapata!since 1952, protagonist Marlon Brando.

Silva married twice in the 1950s; his third marriage to Ruth Earl lasted from 1966 until divorce in 1987. He has two sons, Michael and Scott, survive. Scott Silva asked fans to remember his father by commenting on his social media accounts: Instagram: henrysilvaofficial; Twitter: @MrHenrySilva and Henry Silva official on Facebook.

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