The American actor Henry Silva, who was mainly in villain roles in front of the camera, is dead. His son Scott told the film sheet “Hollywood Reporter” on Friday (local time) that the New York native was in a retirement home in California on Wednesday Woodland Hills had died. Silva was 95 years old.
The square-faced actor has appeared in more than 100 films since the 1950s, mostly as a supporting villain. With the “Ratpack” stars around Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin, he shot the comedy “Frankie and his cronies” (“Ocean’s Eleven”) in 1960 and the western “The Victorious Three” (1962). Sinatra was also seen in the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate.
Deana Martin (74), daughter of Dean Martin, paid tribute to Silva on Instagram and Twitter on Friday as a “fabulous” actor and as one of “the nicest and most talented men” that she has had the privilege of counting among her friends.
In the mafia thriller “Johnny Cool” in 1963, Silva played a leading role as a murderer. In 1972 he shot the thriller “The Mafia Boss – They Kill Like Jackals” with Mario Adorf, and the political satire “Flamen am Horizont” in 1982 with Sean Connery and Hardy Krüger. Jim Jarmusch brought him in front of the camera in 1999 with Forest Whitaker for the mafia drama “Ghost Dog – Der Weg des Samurai”.
