Margolis had appeared in De Palma's 1980 film Dressed To Kill, walking past a nurse as a patient at Bellvue Hospital in the film's final dream sequence.

Talking about Scarface with The New York Observer's Drew Grant in 2012, Margolis said, “The thing about Al was that you didn’t know when he was going to start being Tony. We’d be sitting in the car, and he’d just start in about how ugly all of us were—how between the four of us, we’d be able to make one good-looking guy.”

On The SitDown with Yesenia De Avila in 2016, Margolis was asked about working on Scarface:

They had a rehearsal in, I think, November of ’82, where they brought everybody out to L.A. for a week, and we were in one room. It was the only time I was ever around Michelle Pfeiffer – I had no scenes with her.

Did you ever imagine the iconic film it would become?

No, no one did. In fact, when the film opened, it bombed. Are you aware of that?

Yeah…

The critics said it was a piece of garbage. It was ahead of its time, in some ways. If it had come out in ’87, maybe it would have done better. It picked up a big following in the later eighties on video, when people started watching it on video. And then the whole hip-hop crowd got into it big time. They can’t get enough of it, and that really made it the biggest thing in the world.

Here's a portion of the New York Times obit posted yesterday by Alex Williams:

Mr. Margolis notched more than 160 credits in movies and on television, gaining particular notice with memorable roles in Brian De Palma’s “Scarface” (1983), playing opposite Al Pacino as a cocaine-syndicate henchman, and in the Jim Carrey comedy “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” (1994), in which he played Ventura’s aggrieved landlord with delicious malevolence.

He also became a go-to actor for the director Darren Aronofsky, appearing in his films “Pi” (1998), “Requiem for a Dream” (2000), “The Fountain” (2006), “The Wrestler” (2008), “Black Swan” (2010) and “Noah” (2014).

But no role made him as instantly recognizable to millions of viewers as Hector in Vince Gilligan’s critically acclaimed series “Breaking Bad,” which ran for five seasons on AMC, starting in 2008, starring Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn, and in its prequel, “Better Call Saul,” which ran for six seasons starting in 2015, starring Bob Odenkirk and Giancarlo Esposito — two of the many actors who appeared in both shows — as well as Rhea Seehorn.

The role, in “Breaking Bad,” brought Mr. Margolis an Emmy nomination in 2012 for outstanding guest actor in a dramatic series.

An aging former drug cartel don from Mexico, Hector, also known as Tio, had come to live in a New Mexico nursing home, unable to speak or walk following a stroke but still firmly in control of his power as a rival to Walter White (Mr. Cranston), a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher who evolves into a coldhearted kingpin in the crystal methedrine trade.

Despite his lack of dialogue in “Breaking Bad,” Mr. Margolis proved a scene stealer from his wheelchair, his eyes bulging, his face trembling with rage, despite the nasal cannula pumping oxygen up his nose and his palm furiously banging his bell, taped to an arm of the chair, whenever he needed attention.

“Everybody says, ‘My God it must be difficult to work without words,’” he said in a 2012 interview with Fast Company. “My joke is, ‘No. I’m already grounded in the fact that I’ve been acting without hair for years, and that’s not a problem. So, now I’m acting without words.’”

As a young actor, he added, he had trained to communicate emotions without dialogue. He also borrowed mannerisms, including a tobacco-chewing motion with the side of his mouth, from his mother-in-law, who had been confined to a Florida nursing home after a stroke.

As viewers discovered in “Better Call Saul,” which featured Mr. Margolis as an ambulatory and verbose Hector, the character had wound up in a wheelchair after a defector in his organization switched his medication to incapacitate him, leading to the stroke.

Despite the character’s broken moral compass and hair-trigger rage, Mr. Margolis managed to evoke Hector’s complexity — his humanity, even.

“You don’t play villains like they are villains,” he said in a 2012 interview with The Forward, the Jewish newspaper. “You play them like you know exactly where they are coming from. Which hopefully you do.”

Mark Margolis was born on Nov. 26, 1939, in Philadelphia to Isidore and Fanya (Fried) Margolis. He attended Temple University briefly before moving to New York, where at 19 he got a job as a personal assistant to the method acting guru Stella Adler. He also took a class with Lee Strasberg at his famed Actors Studio.

After making brief appearances on television shows like “Kojak” and in movies like the Dudley Moore comedy “Arthur” and Mr. De Palma’s “Dressed to Kill” (both from 1981), Mr. Margolis got his first taste of renown in “Scarface,” playing Alberto the Shadow, a bodyguard and hit man for Alejandro Sosa (Paul Shenar), the Bolivian drug boss who shows Mr. Pacino’s Tony the ropes in the cocaine business.

In one slyly comic moment in “Breaking Bad,” Hector is seen watching on television a famous scene from “Scarface” in which Tony spontaneously shoots Alberto in the head when he learns that Alberto’s planned car-bomb murder of a nosy journalist would also kill the journalist’s wife and children.

Despite his turns as a Latin heavy, Mr. Margolis, who was Jewish, did not speak Spanish, a point that earned him no shortage of derision from native speakers.

“I’ve lived in Mexico,” he said in 2016 interview with Vulture, New York magazine’s culture site. “I know enough of the grammar of it, and I’m pretty good with the accent of it. If I get a good tutor, I can lock into it pretty quickly.”

In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jacqueline Margolis; a brother, Jerome; and three grandchildren.

In the years between “Scarface” and “Breaking Bad,” Mr. Margolis’s prodigious output made him a known actor, if not a famous one. “People will often come up to me and say, ‘You’re that wonderful character actor,’” he told The Forward, apparently half seriously. “But I’m not a character actor. I’m a weird-looking romantic lead.”

Unlike most romantic leads, though, Mr. Margolis struggled at times to make a living. Fans, he told The New York Observer in 2012, “think that I’m some sort of rich guy, that everyone in the movies is making the kind of money Angelina Jolie is making.”

He and his wife had lived in the same apartment in Manhattan’s TriBeCa neighborhood since 1975. At least his turn as Hector provided him with a dash of supplemental income at the show’s peak, after a messaging app called Dingbel appropriated Hector’s simplest bell command — one ding for yes, two for no. Dingbel hired him as a spokesman.

As Mr. Margolis told Vulture: “I tell people I’m the second-most famous bell ringer after Quasimodo.”

This summer marks the 22nd season that Cinespia has brought outdoor cinema to Los Angeles. At both L.A. Historic Park and—famously—The Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Angelenos have been able to catch their favorite films.

What began as a one-time screening of Strangers on a Train for a crowd of a few hundred eventually morphed into a cinephile haven. Now, Cinespia welcomes over 4,000 moviegoers per night and brings various iconic titles back to the silver screen.

Guests are always encouraged to dress up, with photo booths often popping up at the venues. After this, Cinespia always lines its events with plenty of food and drink vendors to visit before popping down for a movie.

"An Experience With Al Pacino (Scarface 40th Anniversary) (MIAMI)" is scheduled for Saturday, December 9, 2023, at Fontainebleau Miami Beach. Here are the event details:

'An Experience With' are delighted to announce in association with BleauLive and Capture Studios a true unique once in a lifetime event with the one and only Al Pacino at the stunning FontaineBleau on Miami Beach, 9th December 2023!

This man needs no introduction! One of the greatest actors of ALL TIME with an Oscar winning career spanning 50 years!

Pacino will discuss his amazing career and extensive movie back catalogue with a special focus on one of the most iconic movies ever produced 'SCARFACE'.

We decided what better place to celebrate the 40th anniversary then Miami itself. Not only this we have chosen the stunning Fontainebleau Hotel which was an actual filming location for the film.

Interesting fact - did you know that the 9th of December 2023 is EXACTLY 40 years since the cinematic release of Scarface!

To make the event even more memorable we will be working hard behind the scenes to get some of the original cast members from the film to the event.

A LIVE EXPERIENCE WITH not to be missed!

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What to expect...

***An exclusive live on-stage interview with the man himself Al Pacino

***High-quality 3-course dinner (selected tickets)

***Live music and band' with Rat Pack singer playing throughout dinner

***Exclusive auction with bespoke signed Pacino memorabilia

***HUGE production with unseen Pacino videos and photos which will be shown throughout the interview on giant screens

+ MUCH MORE

In a The Hollywood Reporter obituary, Chris Koseluk writes that Belzer found "further fame as the cynical but stalwart detective John Munch on Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Koseluk continues:

Belzer died early Sunday at his home in Bozouls in southwest France, writer Bill Scheft, a longtime friend of the actor, told The Hollywood Reporter. “He had lots of health issues, and his last words were, ‘Fuck you, motherfucker,'” Scheft said.

Belzer made his film debut in the hilarious The Groove Tube (1974), warmed up audiences in the early days of Saturday Night Live and famously was put to sleep by Hulk Hogan.

Munch made his first appearance in 1993 on the first episode of Homicide and his last in 2016 on Law & Order: SVU. In between those two NBC dramas, Belzer played the detective on eight other series, and his hold on the character lasted longer than James Arness’ on Gunsmoke and Kelsey Grammer’s on Cheers and Frasier.

Certainly one of the most memorable cops in TV history, Munch — based on a real-life Baltimore detective — was a highly intelligent, doggedly diligent investigator who believed in conspiracy theories, distrusted the system and pursued justice through a jaded eye. He’d often resort to dry, acerbic wisecracks to make his point: “I’m a homicide detective. The only time I wonder why is when they tell me the truth,” went a typical Munch retort.

In a 2016 interview for the website The Interviews: An Oral History of Television, Homicide executive producer Barry Levinson recalled listening to Belzer on The Howard Stern Show and liking him for Munch. “We were looking at some other actors, and when I heard him, I said, ‘Why don’t we find out about Richard Belzer?” Levinson said. “I like the rhythm of the way he talks. And that’s how that happened.”

When Richard Belzer did stand-up on “Late Night With David Letterman,” he always entered to the opening riffs of “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones, dancing his way onstage, looking like the life of the party in dark shades. Once he arrived at the microphone, he made a point of engaging with the studio audience in a way you rarely saw on television. More than once, he asked, “You in a good mood?” and waited for a cheer. Then his tone shifted: “Prove it.”

With that opening pivot, he turned the relationship between comedian and crowd upside-down. The expectation was now on the people in the seats: Impress me.

Belzer, who died Sunday, is best known for his performances as a detective on TV, but his acting career was built on a signature persona in comedy, as a master of seductive crowd work who set the template for the MC in the early days of the comedy club. Often in jackets and shirts buttoned low, he cut a stylish image, spiky and louche. He could charm with the best of them, but unlike many performers, he didn’t come off as desperate for your approval. He understood that one of the peculiar things about comedy is that the line between irritation and ingratiation could easily blur.

Throughout the 1970s, he ran the show at the buzziest of the New York clubs: Catch a Rising Star, stand-up’s answer to Studio 54. He roasted the crowds while warming them up, quizzing them about where they were from and what they did, establishing rapport and dominance. Long before Dave Chappelle dropped the mic at the end of shows, Belzer regularly did so.

If the crowd wasn’t laughing, he could lay on a guilt trip: “Could you be a little more quiet? Because I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.” And if someone heckled, look out. According to a story from the comic Jonathan Katz, one night someone in the crowd yelled, “Nice jacket!” and Belzer responded that he got it on sale in his mother’s vagina.

With that, Hayes proceeds with thoughtful choices for each of the previous decades of popular film: 1920s: Metropolis; 1930s: All Quiet on the Western Front; 1940s: Best Years of Our Lives; 1950s: 12 Angry Men; 1960s: 2001: A Space Odyssey; 1970s: The Godfather; 1980s: Scarface; 1990s: Pulp Fiction; 2000s: The Dark Knight; 2010s: The Social Network. Jarringly, for our current decade, he has chosen the not-very-good Adam McKay film Don't Look Up. "It's certainly not the best film of the decade so far," Hayes states, "but it's arguably the most defining." I would argue that this past year's Everything Everywhere All At Once would have been a much better choice for this slot.

In any case, here's what Hayes has to say about his choice of Scarface as the defining film of the 1980s:

Cocaine imports? In the 1980s?! No way. With Pablo Escobar’s vast white-powder-funded kingdom expanding by the day, President Nixon had famously declared a “war on drugs” 10 years earlier that was consequently failing. As sizable shipments of one of South America’s finest exports were washing up on US shores, Brian De Palma’s 1983 movie, Scarface was a timely depiction of the perils of both drug dealing and drug consumption in the States.

Al Pacino plays Tony Montana a Cuban immigrant-turned-drug baron whose drug empire and intake grow rapidly. As his behavior becomes more erratic, and his enemies grow by the dozen, he soon finds himself in deep water. In many ways, his whole journey reflects the escalating greed, consumption, and materialism of another cocaine-fueled industry which defined the '80s: Wall Street.

Previously:
JoBlo video looks at how Carrie film got made

I want to go back to your breakout role in Amadeus. You were also filming Scarface at the same time. What are your memories of having to shift between the two?

I'd film in Prague, get on a plane and go to Hollywood, film a little in Hollywood, go back to Prague. The plane trip was lengthy. It gave me time to adjust to the next thing I was going to do. Scarface became a vacation from Amadeus and, in reverse, Amadeus became a break from Scarface. Because the two characters were so completely different, it wasn't difficult to perform the two characters distinctly. If they had been closer together, that might have been a problem.

In fact, it was very romantic. It was movie making! The old glamorous stuff. It was every actor's dream.

I know that Al Pacino also wanted the role of Salieri.

Well, everybody did. Everybody.

Did he ever bring that up to you?

When I was on the set of Scarface, we were preparing. By the way, Brian De Palma was terrific to work for. I'm only going to talk about the directors I liked. Brian De Palma is one of them. Otherwise, I don't have much regard for them.

When I was on the set, the second or third day of the rehearsal, I got news that they had decided to give me the part of Salieri. When the word spread, everybody was pretty nice about it. Pacino came over and he said, "Congratulations. Don't try to carry the whole film by yourself. Just do the work." It's very good advice from a man who wanted the part.

Are you two still in touch?

Oh, yeah. We run into each other from time to time. We function in different circles. He's in the multimillion dollar pictures and I'm in the almost-million dollar pictures. But he's devoted to the theater, and so am I.

THE FILM VAULT is launched this December, a brand new collector’s range featuring titles across the Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal Pictures catalogues, with four highly-collectable and beautifully packaged titles on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-rayTM: BLADE RUNNER, GOODFELLAS, SCARFACE and 1917. With striking, newly-commissioned artwork based around a key scene from each of the films, and unique packaging, these limited edition 4K releases are sure to be a must-have for any serious film collector’s shelves. Each title will build towards a numbered Film Vault collection, comprising some of the greatest titles in cinema…

The four titles are on 4K UHD for ultimate home cinema picture and sound, and packaged in an acetate slip-cover detailing the title’s numbered entry in the collection, with newly commissioned key art from Vice Press by renowned artists Matt Ferguson and Florey, printed on a rigid clamshell outer case with a magnetic clasp, that contains a digipak housing a 4K Ultra HD and a Blu-rayTM copy of the film, a branded envelope, deluxe art cards, and in some cases a reproduction ‘in world artefact’ from the film. Completing each set is a new premium collectable – a beautifully etched and individually numbered crystal display plaque, bearing each film’s title treatment and motif.

In the main title, the melody of Tony’s theme kicks in with an up-tempo disco beat over footage of Cubans arriving by boat (an interesting juxtaposition to the dejected faces of real refugees). This was the only sequence the editors were able to cut to, but only because De Palma’s original vision was jettisoned at the last minute. “There was a title sequence crisis,” says Ray. “Brian had in his head that the title sequence should be a series of newsreel clips, which would eventually freeze, go to high contrast black-and-white, and the white parts would morph into mounds of cocaine, which would blow away and reveal the text of the title. And that was a huge thing to do. I think he had it in his mind you could shoot that live, and we did tests, and they were terrible. I think the only way to do this convincingly would be to animate it, which was a big deal.” Instead, Greenberg suggested just intercutting the film’s title cards with the existing newsreel footage, which Ray hastily did as the clock was ticking. “The music was already locked, so the length was locked in. But that was the only time that we had music.”