Happy Birthday Eli Wallach! - Democratic Underground

KansDem

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Thu Dec-07-06 12:04 PM
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Happy Birthday Eli Wallach!

He’s 91 years old today.

I suspect he’s a progressive/liberal. Why do I suspect this? Well…

He donated $400 to Paul Wellstone in 2002
http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Eli_Wallach.php

He hobnobs with Dems...
The liberal senator did give such a moving speech at the fete for his new book, "America: Back on Track," that actor Eli Wallach reached out and squeezed the hand of his wife, Anne Jackson, throughout. "In the 43 years in which I've had the honor to serve in the United States Senate, I have never seen our democracy in greater disarray, or greater turmoil," Kennedy, 74, told the gathering, which included Sen. John Kerry, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, former Commerce Secretary Bob Rubin, E.L. Doctorow, Gail Buckley, David Halberstam, Phyllis Newman, Joe Armstrong and all three of his sisters, Pat, Eunice and Jean.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/411461p-348044c.html\

He was active in the Democratic campaign of 1968 and supported Eugene McCarthy...
"The Star-spangled Look of the ’69 Campaign” Life, V. 64, no. 19 (May 10th, 1968), p. 64A

And he comes from a family that supports progressive causes. For example, his brother, a teacher, helped to get the Teacher’s Union to admit 800 substitute teachers...
The Wallachs were from Brooklyn’s rough-and-tumble Red Hook waterfront, the only Jews in an Italian neighborhood. He and his brother — Eli Wallach, the actor — helping run the family candy store. Like a lot of young people at the time, Wallach became a radical at City College, from which he graduated in 1929. “How’s that for timing,” he says with a laugh.

He became a substitute teacher in 1932 when one of the hot-button issues was whether to allow subs into the union. “The Administration,” as the Linville group was called, said no. “It was a craft mentality,” Wallach says. “To their way of thinking, subs were akin to apprentices and, just as the printing, plumbing, carpentry and other trades didn’t allow apprentices, why should they? Of course, since the city was not appointing teachers, a lot of very qualified people were stuck as substitutes.

“I can’t get into their heads, but it seems to me that Linville thought the younger people were going to vote themselves into power,” says Wallach.

At any rate, when Linville walked out, Wallach and some 800 substitutes walked in — full-fledged union members.
http://www.uft.org/about/history/uft_story3/

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELI!!! :party:

Here he is with wife, Anne Jackson. They were married in 1948!

Here's another from 29 November 2006 (can't post due to restrictions): .html?path=pgallery&path_key=Wallach,%20Eli">IMDB
Did you ever see a classier couple?

Although he's probably best know for his roles in Magnificent Seven and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, his performance in The Misfits is my personal favorite...