Mark Margolis, 'Breaking Bad' and 'Scarface' actor, dies at 83

The world of the seventh art and the small screen is once again in mourning.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
03 August 2023 Thursday 22:24
8 Reads
Mark Margolis, 'Breaking Bad' and 'Scarface' actor, dies at 83

The world of the seventh art and the small screen is once again in mourning. This Friday we learned the sad news of the death of actor Mark Margolis at 83 years of age. As reported this Friday by The Hollywood Reporter, the interpreter died this past Thursday at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

The person in charge of revealing the news to the digital newspaper was his son, the actor and executive director of Knitting Factory Entertainment Morgan Margolis. The interpreter's son also revealed that his father had died from a brief illness that he suffered. The interpreter began his journey in the world of film and television in the seventies, but his recent role in the Breaking bad series had given him high popularity.

The actor, a native of the state of Philadelphia in the United States, developed his passion for acting from a very young age. He became a student of the famous acting teacher Stella Alder. After finishing his studies, he began his journey in the world of cinema with roles in films such as Dressed to Kill or Diner.

But undoubtedly one of the roles that catapulted him as one of the great professionals in Hollywood was that of the villain and bodyguard Alberto, better known as The Shadow, in the legendary film Scarface, starring Al Pacino. Years later he participated in major productions such as Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club. In the 1990s he participated in the Ridley Scott classic, 1492: The Conquest of Paradise.

But his successful and extensive professional career was not only based on different roles in the seventh art. The actor also had great characters in different audiovisual projects on the small screen. Margolis landed his first series regular role on the HBO classic Oz, where he played HIV-stricken mobster Antonio Nappa.

After several more roles in different films such as Requiem for a Dream or Black Swan, the interpreter got what would undoubtedly become one of his most acclaimed characters. Vince Gilligan was clear that the right person, even if he didn't speak Spanish, to play the Mexican drug dealer Héctor Salamanca in Breaking Bad was Mark Margolis. Thanks to this magnificent performance, the actor got his first nomination at the Emmys in 2012.