NEW YORK, June 25 — Eli Wallach, an early practitioner of Method acting who made a lasting impression as the scuzzy bandit Tuco in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” died yesterday at the age of 98, the New York Times reported.

Wallach's death was confirmed by his daughter Katherine, the newspaper said. The circumstances of his death were not immediately known, and representatives for Wallach did not immediately return requests for comment.

Having grown up the son of Polish Jewish immigrants in an Italian-dominated neighborhood in New York, Wallach might have seemed like an unlikely cowboy, but some of his best work was in Westerns.

Many critics thought his definitive role was Calvera, the flamboyant, sinister bandit chief in “The Magnificent Seven.” Others preferred him in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” as Tuco, who was “the ugly,” opposite Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's classic “spaghetti Western.”

Years later, Wallach said strangers would recognise him and start whistling the distinctive theme from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

Wallach, who was still making movies into his 90s, graduated from the University of Texas, where he picked up the horseback-riding skills that would serve him well in later cowboy roles, and studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse Actors Studio before World War Two broke out.

Eli Wallach Facts

  • Wallach's parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland who owned a candy store in an Italian neighborhood of the New York borough of Brooklyn.

  • He earned degrees from the University of Texas and City College of New York and studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse and, after serving in the army during World War Two, the Actors Studio.

  • Wallach stood out as Calvera, the Mexican bandit chieftain, in “The Magnificent Seven,” an adaptation of the Japanese classic “Seven Samurai.”

  • Wallach's character Tuco was "the ugly" in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" opposite Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's classic "spaghetti Western."

  • Other notable roles came in “How the West Was Won,” “Mystic River,” “The Holiday,” “Lord Jim,” “The Godfather, Part 3” and “The Misfits.” In “The Misfits,” he starred with Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, who both died before they could complete another movie.

  • Wallach was set to play Maggio in the 1953 film “From Here to Eternity,” but was replaced by Frank Sinatra, a break that resulted in Sinatra winning an Oscar and reviving his career. There were rumors that Sinatra got the role after undue influence from mobsters forced Wallach's replacement, but Wallach said he rejected the part in order to appear in a Tennessee Williams play.

  • In 1948, Wallach married Anne Jackson, with whom he had been appearing on Broadway in “This Property Is Condemned.” The marriage produced three children.

  • Wallach said the role that generated the most fan mail was his portrayal of Mr Freeze, the comic villain he played briefly on the 1960s “Batman” television series. — Reuters