Tomas Milian

Tomas Milian

Tomas Milian (born Tomás Quintín Rodriguez-Varona Milian Salinas De La Fé y Alvarez De La Campa; 3 March 1933 – 22 March 2017) was a Cuban American actor and singer with Italian citizenship, known for the emotional intensity and humour he brought to roles in European genre films. A student of Lee Strasberg, Milian studied method acting at the Actors Studio in New York City. In Italy, he was discovered by director Mauro Bolognini and appeared in supporting roles in several drama films during the late-1950s and early-1960s, including as Raphael in Carol Reed's The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965). Throughout the late-1960s and early-1970s, Milian established himself as a dynamic leading actor in a series of Spaghetti Western films, most notably The Big Gundown (1966) and Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! (1967). Following a decline in the popularity of Spaghetti Westerns, Milian transitioned to roles in poliziottesco films. After receiving acclaim for his performance as a psychotic killer in Almost Human (1974), he made appearances in Emergency Squad (1974), The Tough Ones (1976) and The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist (1977). After returning to the United States in 1985, Milian continued to perform supporting roles in film productions, including JFK (1991), Amistad (1997), Traffic (2000) and The Lost City (2005). Milian died in 2017.

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