Mark Margolis, best known for his roles in “Scarface” and AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” has died. He was 83.
The actor died Thursday at New York’s Mt. Sinai Hospital “following a short illness,” according to a statement from management associate Henry Eshelman obtained by USA TODAY.
“He was one of a kind. We won’t see his likes again,” Robert Kolker, his longtime manager, said in a statement. “He was a treasured client and a lifelong friend. I was lucky to know him.”
Margolis has appeared in hundreds of roles on the stage and screen, achieving his Hollywood breakout as baneful bodyguard Alberto the Shadow in 1983’s “Scarface.” More recently, he was known for playing the fearsome Hector “Tio” Salamanca in “Breaking Bad” and its prequel spinoff, “Better Call Saul.”
Salamanca was one of the franchise’s most memorable and intimidating villains: a wheelchair-bound drug lord who suffered a stroke and couldn’t speak, but rang a bell to communicate.
“I looked at the script and thought, ‘Oh my, I don’t have to learn any lines,’ ” Margolis told the Better Call Saul Insider Podcast last year. “I just have to fly out to New Mexico, get into the scene and think. For me, it was heaven.”
Other notable credits include the Jim Carrey comedy “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,” as well as numerous dramas from director Darren Aronofsky, including “Pi,” “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan.” He most recently appeared in Showtime series “Your Honor” earlier this year, alongside “Breaking Bad” co-star Bryan Cranston.
The versatile Margolis worked steadily for more than 60 years, earning one Emmy nomination for outstanding guest actor for “Breaking Bad” in 2012. But he lamented being known for just one thing.
“There are three guys a day that stop me and the only thing they know me from is ‘Scarface,’ ” Margolis told Vulture in 2016. “I always say, ‘My God, you’re talking about something from 30 years ago.’ Then they always invariably say, ‘Well, have you done anything since then?’ which really upsets me. … It makes you feel like they retired you for some reason. It shouldn’t pain me, but I’m a little bit unhinged. Insecure is probably the word.”
Margolis was born in Philadelphia on Nov. 26, 1939. As a young man, he moved to New York to study acting under teacher Stella Adler at the Actors Studio, and later with Lee Strasberg and Barbara Loden.
He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jacqueline, along with son Morgan and three grandchildren.
