Henry Silva obit

Henry Silva, Bad Guy in ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ and Many Other Movies, Dies at 95

The honorary Rat Pack member starred in 'Johnny Cool,' in the Broadway and film versions of 'A Hatful of Rain' and in lots of Italian flicks.

 

He was not on the list.

Henry Silva, the rugged New York actor who portrayed heavies and heroes of various ethnicities in a career highlighted by turns in A Hatful of Rain, The Manchurian Candidate and Johnny Cool, has died. He was 95.

Silva died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his son Scott Silva told The Hollywood Reporter.

Silva also played the Draconian commander “Killer” Kane in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), just one in a lineup of his bad guys seen in The Tall T (1957), The Bravados (1958), Il Boss (1973), Sharky’s Machine (1981), Above the Law (1988), Dick Tracy (1990) and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999).

Henry Silva is one of those guys you most likely will recognize even if you don’t know his name,” onetime Crimespree magazine writer Dave Wahlman wrote in 2016. “His face is something straight out of central casting if you were looking for a villain. It alternates between the insipid glee of potential mayhem and looking emotionless and dead as a stone.”

By 1955, Silva felt ready to audition for the Actors Studio. He was accepted. When the Studio staged Michael V. Gazzo's play A Hatful of Rain as a classroom project (which itself grew out of an earlier improvisation by Silva, Paul Richards and Anthony Franciosa, based on a scene written by Gazzo, entitled "Pot"), it proved so successful that it was presented on Broadway, with students Ben Gazzara, Shelley Winters, Harry Guardino, along with Franciosa, Richards and Silva, in key roles. Silva also appeared in the play's film version.

After appearing on Broadway in 1955-56 as the drug pusher called Mother in A Hatful of Rain, Silva reprised the role for the 1957 Fred Zinnemann-directed film version at Fox. (He and Anthony Franciosa were the only actors from the stage to make the jump.)

He was menacing again as the evil Korean agent/manservant Chunjin in John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate (1962), one of the four movies he made with Frank Sinatra.

Silva was one of the eleven casino robbers in the 1960 Rat Pack caper film Ocean's 11, starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford. He also played the communist agent Chunjin in the original The Manchurian Candidate (1962), again opposite Sinatra, and portrayed a Native American in Sinatra's and Martin's Rat Pack Western Sergeants 3 that same year.

An honorary member of the Rat Pack, Silva also appeared with Sinatra in Ocean’s 11 (1960) as one of the Las Vegas casino thieves, in Sergeants 3 (1962) as a Native American named Mountain Hawk, in the 1977 NBC telefilm Contract on Cherry Street as a Puerto Rican cop and in Cannonball Run II (1984) as a henchman named Slim.

His Rat Pack connections were evident when he starred as a Sicilian-born hitman in United Artists’ Johnny Cool (1963), a neo-noir cult classic that was produced by Peter Lawford and included cameos by Joey Bishop and Sammy Davis Jr.

After playing the titular Japanese secret agent in The Return of Mr. Moto (1965), taking over the part originated by Peter Lorre in a series of 1930s films, Silva headed to Italy and Spain to make The Hills Run Red (1966), a Spaghetti Western.

He went on to make dozens of movies in Europe, the majority of which were in the Italian “poliziotteschi” genre. “Funny thing,” he said in a 1971 interview, “over here they see me as a bad guy; in Europe, they see me as a hero.”

The only son to parents of Sicilian and Spanish descent — he refuted reports that he was of Puerto Rican heritage — Silva was born in Brooklyn on Sept. 15, 1926, and raised in Harlem.

He quit high school and worked as a dishwasher, a longshoreman and in several other jobs before auditioning for The Actors Studio. He was reportedly one of five applicants out of more than 2,500 to be accepted.

 

Silva landed a small role for Elia Kazan in Viva Zapata! (1952), then made his Broadway debut for the director in 1953 in Tennessee Williams’ Camino Real. That play originated in an Actors Studio workshop, as did A Hatful of Rain, written by future Godfather: Part II actor Michael V. Gazzo.

The rest of the ’50s saw him support such Westerns as The Tall T alongside Randolph Scott, The Bravados with Gregory Peck, The Law and Jake Wade (1958) with Robert Taylor, Ride a Crooked Trail (1958) with Audie Murphy and The Jayhawkers! (1959) opposite Jeff Chandler.

Amazingly, Silva landed on Ocean’s 11 when Sinatra spotted him in a convertible at a stop light on Doheny Drive and asked him to come to the studio the next day.

As the antihero Salvatore Giordano/Johnny Cool, he was paired with Elizabeth Montgomery, the soon-to-be wife of the director of the film, William Asher.

Silva was fluent in Italian and Spanish, which made him a natural for his European efforts, among them Il Boss, The Italian Connection (1972), Cry of a Prostitute (1974), Almost Human (1974), The Manhunt (1975), Poliziotti violenti (1976), Weapons of Death (1977) and Escape From the Bronx (1983).

Stateside, he kept busy in Green Mansions (1959), Cinderfella (1960), The Animals (1970), Love and Bullets (1979), Chained Heat (1983), Lust in the Dust (1984), Chuck Norris’ Code of Silence (1985), Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) and The End of Violence (1997), and he was ruthless again as the voice of Bane in a pair of animated Batman series.

His last credit was as a boxing spectator in the 2001 Ocean’s 11 remake.

On Twitter, singer Deana Martin, daughter of the Rat Pack’s Dean Martin, called Silva “one of the nicest, kindest and most talented men I’ve had the pleasure of calling my friend.”

Silva was married to Ruth Earl — an actress-dancer who appeared with her identical twin sister, Jane, in a Vegas act and in such films as Irma la Douce and Damn Yankees! — from 1966-87, and they had two sons, Michael and Scott.

His sons wanted their dad’s social media accounts (henrysilvaofficial on Instagram and @MrHenrySilva on Twitter) “listed in his obituary” so fans could pay tribute.

Actor (140 credits)

 2001 Ocean's Eleven

Boxing Spectator

 1999 Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

Ray Vargo

 1999/I Justice (TV Movie)

Sal The Joker

 1999 Unconditional Love

Ted Markham

 1998 Superman: The Animated Series (TV Series)

Bane

- Knight Time (1998) ... Bane (voice)

 1998 Buddy Faro (TV Series)

Roland Lastarza

- Pilot (1998) ... Roland Lastarza

 1998 The New Batman Adventures (TV Series)

Bane

- Over the Edge (1998) ... Bane (voice)

 1997 The End of Violence

Juan Emilio

 1996/I The Prince

Marshall Stern

 1996 Mad Dog Time

Sleepy Joe Carlisle

 1995 Drifting School

General Stearn

 1995 Fatal Choice

Gene Serino

 1994 Batman: The Animated Series (TV Series)

Bane

- Bane (1994) ... Bane (voice)

 1994 Possessed by the Night (Video)

Scott Lindsey

 1994 The Silence of the Hams

Police Chief

 1993 The Harvest

Detective Topo

 1993 South Beach

Santiago

 1992 Three Days to a Kill (Video)

Perez

 1991 The Last Match

Warden Yashin

 1990 Dick Tracy

Influence

 1989 Cy Warrior

Hammer

 1989 La via della droga

Capt. Wesson

 1989 Trained to Kill

Ace Duran

 1989 Fists of Steel

Shogi

 1988 Above the Law

Zagon

 1987 Amazon Women on the Moon

Henry Silva (segment "Bullshit or Not")

 1987 Bulletproof

Col. Kartiff

 1986 Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold

Agon

 1985 Killer vs Killers

Sterling

 1985 Code of Silence

Luis Comacho

 1984 The Manhunt

Prison Boss

 1984 Lust in the Dust

Bernardo

 1984 Cannonball Run II

Slim

 1984 The Violent Breed

Kirk Cooper

 1983 Happy (TV Movie)

Sinclair

 1983 Le Marginal

Sauveur Meccacci

 1983 Escape from the Bronx

Floyd Wrangler

 1983 Chained Heat

Lester

 1982 Megaforce

Guerera

 1982 Baker County, U.S.A.

Henry Chatwill

 1982 Wrong Is Right

Rafeeq

 1981 Sharky's Machine

Billy Score

 1980 Alligator

Col. Brock

 1980 Virus: The End

Gen. Garland

 1979 Day of the Assassin

Police Chief Jorge Gomez

 1979 Thirst

Dr. Gauss

 1979 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV Series)

Kane

- Awakening (1979) ... Kane

 1979 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Kane

 1979 Love and Bullets

Vittorio Farroni

 1978 Quark (TV Series)

The High Gorgon

- May the Source Be with You (1978) ... The High Gorgon

 1977 Foxbat

Michael Saxon

 1977 Contract on Cherry Street (TV Movie)

Roberto Obregon

 1977 Weapons of Death

Santoro

 1976 Tough Cop

Brescianelli

 1976 Poliziotti violenti

Maj. Paolo Altieri

 1976 Shoot

Zeke

 1975 Switch (TV Series)

Kirk Shaw

- Death Heist (1975) ... Kirk Shaw

 1975 The Manhunt

Davide Vannucchi

 1975 Zanna Bianca alla riscossa

Mr. Nelson

 1974 Kidnap

Commissario Caprile

 1974 Almost Human

Commissario Walter Grandi

 1967-1974 The F.B.I. (TV Series)

Stan Chasen / Chard / Richard Macklin

- The Two Million Dollar Hit (1974) ... Stan Chasen

- Dynasty of Hate (1971) ... Chard

- Line of Fire (1967) ... Richard Macklin

 1974 Cry of a Prostitute

Tony Aniante

 1973 Battle of the Godfathers

Luca Messina

 1973 The Streets of San Francisco (TV Series)

Lee Wilson

- The Victims (1973) ... Lee Wilson

 1973 Killing in the Sun

Everett

 1973 The Boss

Nick Lanzetta

 1973 The Insolent

Emmanuel Ristack dit 'L'insolent'

 1972 The Italian Connection

David Catania

 1972 The Sixth Sense (TV Series)

Linchou

- Shadow in the Well (1972) ... Linchou

 1971 Black Noon (TV Movie)

Moon

 1971 Bearcats! (TV Series)

Zavala

- The Feathered Serpent (1971) ... Zavala

 1971 Man and Boy

Caine

 1971 Night Gallery (TV Series)

Pandit Chola (segment "The Doll")

- Pamela's Voice/Lone Survivor/The Doll (1971) ... Pandit Chola (segment "The Doll")

 1970 San Francisco International Airport (TV Series)

- Hostage (1970)

 1970 The Animals

Chatto

 1970 Drive Hard, Drive Fast (TV Movie)

Deek La Costa

 1969 It Takes a Thief (TV Series)

Peter Vale

- A Friend in Deed (1969) ... Peter Vale

 1969 Hawaii Five-O (TV Series)

Elpidio Acuna

- Savage Sunday (1969) ... Elpidio Acuna

 1969 Probability Zero

Major Duke

 1969 Mission: Impossible (TV Series)

Norvan Kruger

- The Interrogator (1969) ... Norvan Kruger

 1968 Never a Dull Moment

Frank Boley

 1968 Frame Up

Inspector Sterling

 1968 I Spy (TV Series)

Dr. Akivic

- Anyplace I Hang Myself Is Home (1968) ... Dr. Akivic

 1967 The High Chaparral (TV Series)

Santos Castaneda

- The Terrorist (1967) ... Santos Castaneda

 1967 The Danny Thomas Hour (TV Series)

Bob Rome

- The Enemy (1967) ... Bob Rome

 1967 Cimarron Strip (TV Series)

Coffin

- Journey to a Hanging (1967) ... Coffin

 1967 Assassination

John Chandler / Philip Chandler

 1967 Matchless

Hank Norris

 1967 Laredo (TV Series)

Gen. Shen Ti

- The Bitter Yen of General Ti (1967) ... Gen. Shen Ti

 1966 Tarzan (TV Series)

Ivor Merrick

- The Ultimate Duel (1966) ... Ivor Merrick

 1966 The Hills Run Red

Garcia Mendez

 1966 The Plainsman

Crazy Knife

 1965 Run for Your Life (TV Series)

Carl Torre

- The Savage Season (1965) ... Carl Torre

 1965 The Return of Mr. Moto

Mr. Moto

 1965 Daniel Boone (TV Series)

Zapotec

- The Mound Builders (1965) ... Zapotec

 1965 The Reward

Joaquin

 1965 Hail, Mafia

Schaft

 1962-1965 Wagon Train (TV Series)

Doc Holliday / Ram Singh / John Turnbull

- The Silver Lady (1965) ... Doc Holliday

- The Robert Harrison Clarke Story (1963) ... Ram Singh

- The John Turnbull Story (1962) ... John Turnbull

 1965 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV Series)

Gen. Tau

- The Enemies (1965) ... Gen. Tau

 1964 Insight (TV Series)

Carlos Garcia

- The Capitalist (1964) ... Carlos Garcia

 1964 The Secret Invasion

John Durrell - Assassin

 1964 Breaking Point (TV Series)

Father Gabriel

- My Hands Are Clean (1964) ... Father Gabriel

 1964 Arrest and Trial (TV Series)

Frank Vose

- People in Glass Houses (1964) ... Frank Vose

 1963-1964 The Outer Limits (TV Series)

Chino Rivera / Gen. Juan Mercurio

- The Mice (1964) ... Chino Rivera

- Tourist Attraction (1963) ... Gen. Juan Mercurio

 1963 Johnny Cool

Johnny Cool / Salvatore Giordano

 1963 A Gathering of Eagles

Col. Joe Garcia

 1963 Stoney Burke (TV Series)

Matt Elder

- The Weapons Man (1963) ... Matt Elder

 1963 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV Series)

Bill Grant

- An Out for Oscar (1963) ... Bill Grant

 1963 Dr. Kildare (TV Series)

Ed Carson

- Jail Ward (1963) ... Ed Carson

 1962 The Manchurian Candidate

Chunjin

 1962 Sergeants 3

Mountain Hawk

 1960-1962 The Untouchables (TV Series)

Little Charlie Sebastino / Joker

- The Whitey Steele Story (1962) ... Joker

- The Mark of Cain (1960) ... Little Charlie Sebastino

- The Noise of Death (1960) ... Little Charlie Sebastino

 1961 Cain's Hundred (TV Series)

Ray Riley

- The Fixer (1961) ... Ray Riley

 1961 The Joey Bishop Show (TV Series)

Ricky Hamilton

- Ring-A-Ding-Ding (1961) ... Ricky Hamilton

 1961 Thriller (TV Series)

Toby Wolfe

- Dark Legacy (1961) ... Toby Wolfe

 1961 Stagecoach West (TV Series)

Mel Harney

- The Raider (1961) ... Mel Harney

 1961 The Islanders (TV Series)

Helmuth Mansing

- The Twenty-Six Paper (1961) ... Helmuth Mansing

 1960 Cinderfella

Maximilian

 1960 Ocean's Eleven

Roger Corneal

 1960 Hotel de Paree (TV Series)

Start Thorne

- Sundance and the Delayed Gun (1960) ... Start Thorne

 1960 Adventures in Paradise (TV Series)

Raoul Marquette

- The Forbidden Sea (1960) ... Raoul Marquette

 1959 Alcoa Theatre (TV Series)

Tom Longman

- The Long House on Avenue A (1959) ... Tom Longman

 1959 The Jayhawkers!

Lordan

 1959 Green Mansions

Kua-Ko

 1958 Ride a Crooked Trail

Sam Teeler

 1958 The Bravados

Leandro Lujan

 1958 The Law and Jake Wade

Rennie

 1957-1958 Climax! (TV Series)

Slayer / Marc

- The Deadly Tattoo (1958) ... Slayer

- Don't Touch Me (1957) ... Marc

 1957 Suspicion (TV Series)

Dick

- The Story of Marjorie Reardon (1957) ... Dick

 1957 A Hatful of Rain

Mother

 1956 The Tall T

Chink

 1956 West Point (TV Series)

Cadet Joe Simpson

- Heat of Anger (1956) ... Cadet Joe Simpson

 1956 Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series)

Harry Silver

- The Better Bargain (1956) ... Harry Silver

 1956 Crowded Paradise

 1955 Producers' Showcase (TV Series)

Guard

- Darkness at Noon (1955) ... Guard

 1954 Goodyear Playhouse (TV Series)

Sergeant

- Guilty Is the Stranger (1954) ... Sergeant

 1952 Viva Zapata!

Hernandez (uncredited)

 1950 Lights Out (TV Series)

- The Mule Man (1950)

 1950 Armstrong Circle Theatre (TV Series)

- It's Only a Game (1950)