Ninetyeight is a pretty good run, but I'm sorry that he will not appear in any more films. Mr. Wallach always made me smile, even when he was playing a psycho killer in "The Lineup".
He never knew why John Sturges selected him to play Calvera in "The Magnificent Seven", after all he was a Jewish stage actor from New York City who had never rode a horse before. He also drove Sturges nuts because he always had to look down whenever he holstered his six gun.
"Tough Guys" was a comedy pairing of two screen icons - Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster - but Eli stole the movie as Leon B. Little, a myopic shotgun toting loony hell bent on killing them both.
Thanks for all the fond memories Eli, and Vaya con Dios.
