![\"Eli](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Eli_Wallach_-_publicity.jpg#mediaviewer\/File:Eli_Wallach_-_publicity.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nLegendary Eli Wallach passed away yesterday, at the age of 98 (via\u00a0The NY Times<\/a>)<\/em>:<\/p>\n More often than not, his film roles required him to play mustachioed characters who were lawless, evil or just plain nasty, which puzzled and challenged him. \u201cActually I lead a dual life,\u201d he once said. \u201cIn the theater, I\u2019m the little man, or the irritated man, the misunderstood man,\u201d whereas in films \u201cI do seem to keep getting cast as the bad guys.\u201d His villain roles, he said, tended to be \u201cmore complex\u201d than some of his stage roles.<\/p>\n Even so, the theater remained his home base, and he said that he could never imagine leaving it. \u201cWhat else am I going to do?\u201d he asked in an interview with The Times in 1997. \u201cI love to act.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cI love to act,\u201d he says. And it showed. From the scenery-spewing Calvera<\/a> in The Magnificent Seven<\/a><\/em> to the batty Tuco in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly<\/a><\/em> to the twitchy, obsessive American tycoon Davis Leland\u00a0in How to Steal a Million<\/a><\/em>\u00a0\u2014 my favorite, delicious slice of Wallach insanity, personally \u2014 there was a palpable vibrancy and energy to the man that was rarely matched. And certainly never surpassed. When he appeared on screen, it (and everyone \u00a0sharing the screen with him) just lit up<\/a>.<\/p>\n The final duel<\/a> from TGTBaTU<\/em> features particularly great stuff from Monsieur Wallach, and I plan an \u201cIn Memoriam\u201d viewing (or three)<\/a> over the next few days. But there is nothing that captures his \u201ccuriously lovable combination of slyness and bluster\u201d<\/a>\u00a0better than this clip (SPOILERS and shootings and death):<\/p>\n\n