Henry Silva, the longtime character actor with 140 acting credits to his name, has passed away at age 95. Silva was known for an array of roles, including working with Frank Sinatra in Ocean’s 11 (1960) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962) in which he played Roger Corneal and Chunjin, respectively. In addition to his longtime career in Hollywood, Silva also made many European films due to being fluent in both Italian and Spanish. However, our ComicBook.com readers might know Silva best for voicing Bane in Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, and The New Batman Adventures. According to Deadline, he passed away of natural causes at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Silva grew up in Harlem where he began taking acting classes at age 13. He got his start in Tennessee Williams’ 1953 Broadway show Camino Real. Silva’s first onscreen appearances were in episodes of the television series Armstrong Circle Theatre and Lights Out in 1950. Throughout the 1950s, he appeared in multiple films and shows, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His 1960s kicked off strong with Oceans’ 11 and he went on to appear in Cinderfella, The Untouchables series, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Secret Invasion, The Naked Kiss, Hail, Mafia, The Reward, The Hills Run Red, the Tarzan series, Matchless, The Danny Thomas Hour, I Spy, the Mission: Impossible series, Hawaii Five-O, and more. One of his biggest roles of the decade was playing the titular character in Johnny Cool.
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For the next three decades, Silva’s career in film and television continued to thrive. In the 1970s, he appeared in films such as The Animals, The Italian Connection, The Boss, Battle of the Godfathers, The Manhunt, Shoot, Tough Cop, Thirst, and more. He was also seen in shows such as The Sixth Sense, The F.B.I, Quark, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. In 1977, Silva appeared with Sinatra once again in the TV movie Contract on Cherry Street. In the 1980s, his movie credits included Sharky’s Machine, Megaforce, Cannonball Run II, Bulletproof, and Above the Law. Silva’s 1990s kicked off strong with Dick Tracy in which he played Influence. He first voiced Bane in 1994 and played Ray Vargo in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai in 1999.
Silva’s final onscreen performance was cameoing in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven as a boxing spectator in 2001.
Throughout his life, Silva was married three times to Mary Ramus, Cindy Conroy, and Ruth Earl. He was partners with Wendy Christenfeld as of 1990 and is survived by his two sons, Scott and Michael Silva. Our thoughts are with Silva’s family at this time.
