Eli Wallach, one of the great American character actors, has exited stage left at age ninety-eight, after a career of seventy years and a marriage (to Anne Jackson) of sixty-six years, both remarkable achievements.
A long time ago, Wallach was standing with director Josh Logan at a memorial tribute in a Broadway theatre to a deceased actor. Wallach was amazed at the number of people who attended. "When I go," he said, "there'll never be a crowd like this." Logan said, "Yes, there will, Eli. We'll paper the house."
One of the many stories about Eli Wallach is that he was the first choice of the producer and director of "From Here to Eternity" to play Maggio. He stepped away from the part when a chance came to appear in a new Tennessee Williams play. The role went to Frank Sinatra, and the rest, as they say, is cinematic history.
After that, whenever Sinatra saw Wallach, he would grin and say, "Hello, you crazy actor." Which, we presume, is what St. Peter will say, when Wallach makes his celestial entrance, stage right.
No comments:
Post a Comment