Mark Margolis, who played the sinister, wheelchair-bound cartel don Hector Salamanca in acclaimed TV shows Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, has died aged 83, his family said on Friday.
Margolis died on Thursday at a New York hospital following a short illness, with his wife and son at his bedside, according to a statement.
Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston led the tributes, writing on Instagram: “I am very saddened today to learn of a friend’s passing.
“Mark Margolis was a really good actor and a lovely human being. Fun and engaging off the set, and (in the case of Breaking Bad and Your Honour) intimidating and frightening on set.”
Bob Odenkirk, the star of spin-off series Better Call Saul, called Margolis a “powerful screen presence”.
An official Breaking Bad social media account praised “the immensely talented Mark Margolis, who – with his eyes, a bell, and very few words – turned Hector Salamanca into one of the most unforgettable characters in the history of television”.
In the show, Margolis’s character – the patriarch of the drug-smuggling Salamanca family, who suffers a stroke after being poisoned by a rival – is only able to communicate by tapping a bell with his finger.
He is survived by his wife Jacqueline of 61 years, their only child Morgan, and their three grandsons. – AFP
Mark Margolis
