Eli Wallach Movie Quotes

Eli Wallach, will forever be identified with his villain roles, but the good-natured actor always took that in stride. Wallach began his acting career on Broadway in 1945 where he won a Tony Award for his role in Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo (1951), later played on the screen by Burt Lancaster. Tennessee Williams also wrote the script for Wallach’s movie debut in Baby Doll (1956), costarring Carroll Baker and Karl Malden and directed by Elia Kazan. In addition to his many film roles, he also did television throughout his remarkable six-decade career.

Honored with a special Oscar in 2010, Wallach noted in his acceptance speech, “As an actor I’ve played more bandits, thieves, warlords, molesters and Mafiosi than you could shake a stick at.”

Eli Wallach, passed away at age 98 on June 24, 2014. He is survived by his wife Ann and their three children, Peter, Roberta and Katherine.

Wallach’s wife, Ann Jackson, says in this video that the actor always had a glint in his eye when playing a villain and people loved it. We did.

Here are some of Eli Wallach’s lines:

As Mr. Freeze in the Batman TV Series
“As soon as that tube is completely frost-covered, which will mean that the caped crackpots are ready and chilling, then I will activate this vaporizing pipe-pump and Batman and Robin will be a permanent part of the ice-rink upstairs!”
“Fifty million dollars is not to be sneezed at. Of course, I never catch cold.”

As Tuco in The Good, the Bad and The Ugly (1966)
“When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.”
“I like big fat men like you. When they fall they make more noise. And sometimes they don’t get up.”
“I’m looking for the owner of that horse. He’s tall, blonde, he smokes a cigar, and he’s a pig!”
“There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend: Those with a rope around the neck, and the people who have the job of doing the cutting.”

As Calvera in The Magnificent Seven (1960)
“If God didn’t want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep.”
“What I don’t understand is why a man like you took the job in the first place, hmm? Why, huh?”
“Generosity… that was my first mistake. I leave these people a little bit extra, and then they hire these men to make trouble. It shows you, sooner or later, you must answer for every good deed.”
“Now, to business! I could kill you all. You agree?… Well, you don’t disagree!”

As Silva Vacarro in Baby Doll (1956)
“Mrs. Meighan, your husband sweats more than any man I know and now I can understand why.”
“Don’t you have any fun loving spirit about you?”
“I’ve got energy to burn.”