For more than 50 years, Eli Wallach has been one of Hollywood’s most reliable utility men. The actor has played everyone from an Italian mafia chieftain and a Mongol warrior to a Mexican bandit and a Japanese valet.
Who would have guessed Wallach was a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn?
A vigorous 90, Wallach finally sat down to write his memoirs, which he calls “The Good, the Bad, and Me: In My Anecdotage.” It’s a cute title from a cute guy who definitely lived the good life.
In fact, if there’s an explanation as to why he never made it to Hollywood’s A-list, it might be in part because he was never the scandal sheet type. Wallach was a family man, happily married to actress Anne Jackson for more than 50 years and simply dedicated to his craft.
And that’s about it.
Wallach’s narrative begins at the tail end of the New York Jewish tenement era, covers the war years, the golden age of Broadway and the rise of postwar Hollywood.
His credits include films such as “The Magnificent Seven,” “Cinderella Liberty,” “The Godfather: Part III” and “Mystic River,” as well as Broadway hits like Tennessee Williams’ “The Rose Tattoo” and “El Camino Real.”
The man has seen it all. In his book, Wallach recounts favorite stories, not all of them sexy or scintillating by Us Weekly standards, but fun for anyone who has affection for American theater and cinema.
Wallach’s Jewish backstory is typical and mighty thin. He grew up in a mixed Brooklyn neighborhood, mostly Italian, where being Jewish could get you a shiner or worse. His parents were Polish immigrants who observed the Sabbath, but Wallach quickly adapted to American life, sloughing off his Jewish heritage fairly easily as time went on. He also knew from a very early age that all he wanted to do with his life was become an actor.
Though his family didn’t quite understand why the stage held such great appeal for him, Wallach was single-minded. He became an acolyte of Russian acting innovator Constantin Stanislavski and his famous “Method,” and little by little made headway on the New York stage.
But Uncle Sam wanted him, and soon enough Wallach put his acting career on hold and shipped out with the U.S. Army. He served mostly as a medic in North Africa and other war zones, though he had a few opportunities to star in amateur productions for his fellow soldiers.
Once back in the United States, Wallach wasted no time. He and his new wife, Jackson, fell in with the Actors Studio, peopled with such greats as Lee Strasberg, Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Maureen Stapleton, Julie Harris and Patricia Neal.
At this point in his book, Wallach drops the role of reflective autobiographer and switches to show biz raconteur, retelling his favorite tales of the stage and screen.
Some of them are delicious: late nights at Sardis (Manhattan’s premiere after-theater supper club), hanging out with Sir Laurence Olivier and Brando, working with Charles Laughton and, later, with film directors like John Huston and Sergio Leone.
Wallach never gives well-rounded portraits of these legends, but even morsels of new info on figures like Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe (with whom Wallach co-starred in “The Misfits” from 1960) are always welcome.
Actually, Wallach’s portrait of Monroe is among the best in the book. He and Jackson were very close with Monroe (who even baby-sat the Wallach kids from time to time). Her apparent emotional unraveling in the years just prior to her death is made evident with Wallach’s tales from the “Misfits” set.
Wallach remained devoted to the stage throughout his career, and though his movie anecdotes are interesting — especially his memories of working with Clint Eastwood on “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” — he writes much more lovingly of his Broadway experiences.
Born years before baby boomers invented the art of endless introspection, Wallach is one of those living repositories of 20th-century American aesthetics. Though a master of his craft, he didn’t need to brag about it. He just showed up, knew his lines and gave great performances. Then he’d go home to the wife and kids.
Sound boring? As he makes clear in his book, the life and times of Eli Wallach are anything but.
“The Good, The Bad, And Me: In My Anecdotage” by Eli Wallach (312 pages, Harcourt, $25).