‘Scarface’ actor dies at 68

Ángel Salazar, a Cuban-American actor and comic finest identified for portraying Al Pacino‘s sidekick within the iconic crime movie Scarface, has died. A consultant confirmed to Leisure Weekly that Salazar was discovered useless in Brooklyn, New York, on Aug. 11. A reason for dying has not been confirmed. He was 68.

Born in Cuba on March 2, 1956, Salazar finally immigrated to the US and labored as an actor and comic. Salazar’s breakthrough position was Scarface, which set his profession in movement. Director Brian De Palma conceived the movie as a remake of the 1932 crime film of the identical title, which was directed by Howard Hawks. That film was set in Chicago and impressed by the lifetime of Al Capone, even utilizing considered one of his notorious monikers because the title. De Palma moved the story to ’80s Miami and used cocaine trafficking because the prison centerpiece as a substitute of prostitution and bootlegging.

Salazar performed Chi-Chi, one of many Cuban refugees who accompanies Pacino’s Tony Montana to America and helps him construct a prison empire. Chi-Chi elements in one of many movie’s most well-known early scenes, when Montana is attacked by rival gangsters wielding chainsaws, and helps the protagonist escape. Scarface has grow to be a cultural landmark, usually referenced in hip-hop and visible artwork.

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Salazar went on to costar with Tom Hanks within the 1988 comedy Punchline, earlier than reuniting with each Pacino and De Palma for the 1993 crime movie Carlito’s Method, which targeted on Puerto Rican gangster characters.

Salazar was additionally an completed comic, showing within the 2006 documentary Latin Legends of Comedy and numerous different comedy specials.

“Relaxation in peace Angel Salazar ‘Chi-Chi’ you have been an incredible actor and good good friend hermano,” tweeted Salazar’s good friend, Latin musician Tito Puente, Jr.. “From Scarface to Carlito’s Method your characters and comedy will probably be eternally missed.”

“RIP to my good friend Angel Salazar. Labored collectively a couple of months in the past. Comedy legend,” tweeted comic Adam Hunter, alongside an image of Salazar carrying a Scarface jacket.