Mike Sragow Gets Reel: Kazan the godfather of Oscars to Wallach, Coppola - Movie and DVD reviews, Maryland Film Festival news and film technology by reporter Michael Sragow - baltimoresun.com

"The Ugly" side of Hollywood gets recognized: Tuco will receive an honorary Oscar!

Eli Wallach won a BAFTA in 1957 - for "most promising newcomer." He must still be waiting to fulfill that promise, because he's never been nominated for an Oscar or another BAFTA. I guess he's still working on it, since he's still highly active at age 94. He has a part in the upcoming sequel to Wall Street, which will be released next month.

(He has been nominated for five Emmys, with one win. He won a Tony award way back in 1951 for "The Rose Tattoo.")

Other trivia:

(1) Although Wallach is from Brooklyn, he went to Austin to attend UT, where he got his BA in 1936.

(2) He has currently been married to the same woman for 62 years.

(3) He was the guy who originally had Frank Sinatra's part (Maggio) in From Here to Eternity. Wallach was replaced by Sinatra just before filming began. Sinatra went on to win an Oscar for the performance and revived his career. Legend has it that Sinatra used underworld connections to get the part. That story, true or not, inspired a similar incident depicted in The Godfather. Wallach says he simply turned down the role to appear in a Tennessee Williams play. While that fact is indisputable, the motivation behind his decision has been questioned. Tuco says he had previously agreed to do the play. Others say he suddenly received a very generous offer - you might say an offer he couldn't refuse - to take the stage job instead.