Square-faced man: Henry Silva is dead

Henry Silva always wanted to be an actor.

Square-faced man: Henry Silva is dead

Henry Silva always wanted to be an actor. During his life he acted in more than 100 films. He died in a retirement home in California at the age of 95.

The American actor Henry Silva, who was mainly in villain roles in front of the camera, is dead. His son Scott told the film sheet "Hollywood Reporter" on Friday (local time) that the New York native was in a retirement home in California on Wednesday Woodland Hills had died. Silva was 95 years old.

After leaving school at the age of 13 to take acting classes, Silva was discovered in the mid-1950s and had his first appearances on Broadway. The square-faced actor has appeared in more than 100 films since the 1950s, mostly as a supporting villain. With the "Ratpack" stars around Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin, he shot the comedy "Frankie and his cronies" ("Ocean's Eleven") in 1960 and the western "The Victorious Three" (1962).

He also starred alongside Sinatra in the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate. Deana Martin, 74, daughter of Dean Martin, took to Instagram and Twitter on Friday to pay tribute to Silva as a "fabulous" actor and as one of "the nicest and most talented men" to count among her friends.

In the mafia thriller "Johnny Cool" in 1963, Silva played a leading role as a murderer. In 1972 he shot the thriller "The Mafia Boss - They Kill Like Jackals" with Mario Adorf, and the political satire "Flamen am Horizont" in 1982 with Sean Connery and Hardy Krüger. Jim Jarmusch brought him in front of the camera in 1999 with Forest Whitaker for the mafia drama "Ghost Dog - Der Weg des Samurai".

Silva, who was of Puerto Rican descent, was fluent in Spanish and Italian in addition to English. He was married and had two sons.