Lee Wallace obit

Lee Wallace, Actor in 'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three' and 'Batman,' Dies at 90

 

He was not on the list.

The Brooklyn native portrayed mayors in both films amid a long career on the stage.

Lee Wallace, the Ed Koch look-alike who coincidentally or not played mayors in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and Tim Burton's Batman, died Sunday in New York after a long illness, his family announced. He was 90.

Wallace also appeared in other notable films including Klute (1971), The Hot Rock (1972), The Happy Hooker (1975), Thieves (1977), Private Benjamin (1980) and Used People (1992).

He was a regular performer with the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts starting in the mid-1960s and appeared opposite Glenn Close in a Yale Repertory production of Uncle Vanya in 1981.

Wallace also worked in eight Broadway productions, from A Teaspoon Every Four Hours in 1969 through the Leonard Nimoy-directed The Apple Doesn't Fall in 1996.

Born Leo Melis in Brooklyn on July 15, 1930, he was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He graduated from Seward Park High School and attended NYU, then studied with acting teacher Michael Howard for seven years after a stint in the U.S. Army.

Many thought that Wallace bore a striking resemblance to the charismatic Koch, who served as the mayor of New York City from 1978-89, and Burton cast him as the mayor of Gotham City in Batman (1989).

Four years before Koch would be elected, Wallace played a beleaguered and besieged NYC mayor in the great Joseph Sargent-directed crime film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), starring Walter Matthau.

Wallace also showed up on television in Kojak, Lou Grant, Alice, Ryan's Hope, Kate & Allie, Law & Order and other shows.

Survivors include his wife of 45 years, One Life to Live actress Marilyn Chris, and their son, Paul.

Filmography

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1971      Klute      Nate Goldfarb    Uncredited

1972      The Hot Rock     Dr. Strauss         

1974      The Taking of Pelham One Two Three      Al - the Mayor of New York City

1975      The Happy Hooker           Henry Knowlton               

1976      Diary of the Dead             Lt. Gart

1977      Thieves                 Harry    

1980      Private Benjamin              Mr. Waxman     

1983      Daniel   The Mayor         

1985      War and Love    Oskar Kohn        

1989      Batman                Mayor Borg       

1992      Used People       Uncle Harry