--- name: "Henry Silva" canonical: "https://film.one/person/henry-silva" fi1m_id: "henry-silva" imdb_id: "nm0798328" tmdb_id: 14731 wikidata_id: "Q1384373" roles: ["Actor"] born: "23 September 1926" died: "14 September 2022" reviewed_on_fi1m: 5 average_fi1m_score: 68 average_as: "actor" average_over: 5 updated: "2026-10-04T18:40:17.475977+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Henry Silva ## Identity Henry Silva - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/henry-silva - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** henry-silva - **IMDb ID:** nm0798328 - **TMDB ID:** 14731 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1384373 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Silva, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1384373, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0798328/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/14731 Actor. Born 23 September 1926 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. Died 14 September 2022. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 23 September 1926, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA - **Died:** 14 September 2022 - **Active:** 1960–2001 - **Also known as:** هنری سیلوا - **Average Fi1m score:** 68, as actor, over 5 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 72 (2), 1980s 35 (1), 1990s 80 (1), 2000s 80 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 76 to 71 across 4 titles - **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 2 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 3 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Crime 3, Thriller 3, Comedy 2, Drama 2, Action 1, Sport 1 - **Screen time:** 10 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $527m across 5 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Silva, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1384373, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0798328/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/14731 ## Streaming the US now - **Apple TV:** [*The Manchurian Candidate*](https://film.one/film/the-manchurian-candidate.md) (88) - **The Criterion Channel:** [*Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai*](https://film.one/film/ghost-dog-the-way-of-the-samurai.md) (80) - **Tubi:** [*Ocean's Eleven*](https://film.one/film/oceans-eleven-1960.md) (55) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Henry Silva > Henry Silva had a face that did the work before he spoke: dark, watchful, and most frightening when it smiled. Hollywood cast it as the villain for fifty years and he made the villains leaders, which is why we remember them. Ray Vargo, the mob boss in Jim Jarmusch's *Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai* (1999), does most of his acting by looking at people and saying very little. Jarmusch has cast Silva as a joke about the kind of man Silva had been playing since the 1950s, and Silva plays along, letting the stillness sit until it becomes funny. We laughed at him, and then felt slightly ashamed of ourselves, because the joke depends entirely on the face and not on anything the script has given him to do. Our review put Vargo among the film's comic figures and said the broadness of the gangsters was its clearest weakness. Both things are true of him at once. He had trained at the Actors Studio, which is worth keeping in mind while watching what he was asked to do with it. The parts came small through the early 1950s, then larger alongside Frank Sinatra, with whom he made four films, including *Ocean's Eleven* (1960). *The Manchurian Candidate* (1962) gave him Chunjin, a Korean agent posing as a houseboy, and a fight scene people still talk about. *Johnny Cool* (1963) put him in the lead as a hitman, and critics noticed. Then the leads dried up in America, and from *The Hills Run Red* (1966) he spent a decade in Italian westerns and crime films, where the casting read differently. "Funny thing, over here they see me as a bad guy," he said in 1971. "In Europe, they see me as a hero." He came home in the 1980s to be the villain in action films such as *Above the Law* (1988) and *Dick Tracy* (1990), and lent his voice to Bane. The complaint about all this is obvious and he made it himself: he was typecast as a heavy, and the training mostly went unused. He was also handed villains of whatever nationality the script needed, Korean, Mexican, Native American, Italian, which sits badly now. What he brought to the parts was a decision. His heavies were the men in charge, never the ones in the doorway waiting for orders, and a stillness that would look like nothing in a lesser actor read as a man working out whether you were worth the trouble. There is a bit part in the 2001 remake of *Ocean's Eleven* and then nothing; he retired. Start with *Ghost Dog*, since it is the one we have reviewed and since Jarmusch is using the face on purpose, then go back to *Johnny Cool* to see what it looked like when a film let him lead. He spent half a century being remembered on the way out of the cinema, which is more than most leading men manage. ## Biography Henry Silva (1926–2022) was an American actor. He left school at the age of 13 to attend drama classes and later trained at the Actors Studio. A prolific character actor, Silva appeared in more than 140 productions, frequently playing criminals or gangsters. His film roles include Roger Corneal in *Ocean's Eleven* (1960), Chunjin in *The Manchurian Candidate* (1962), Kurt Zagon in *Above the Law* (1988), Influence in *Dick Tracy* (1990) and Ray Vargo in *Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai* (1999). He also provided the voice of Bane in *Batman: The Animated Series* (1992) and related series. Silva retired from acting after 2001. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (5) - *Ocean's Eleven* (2001), Fi1m 80, as Henry Silva — [page](https://film.one/film/oceans-eleven.md) - *Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai* (1999), Fi1m 80, as Ray Vargo — [page](https://film.one/film/ghost-dog-the-way-of-the-samurai.md) - *Cannonball Run II* (1984), Fi1m 35, as Slim — [page](https://film.one/film/cannonball-run-ii.md) - *The Manchurian Candidate* (1962), Fi1m 88, as Chunjin — [page](https://film.one/film/the-manchurian-candidate.md) - *Ocean's Eleven* (1960), Fi1m 55, as Roger Corneal — [page](https://film.one/film/oceans-eleven-1960.md) ## Complete filmography (126) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Bronze Screen: 100 Years of the Latino Image in American Cinema* (2002), Actor - *Ocean's Eleven* (2001), as Henry Silva — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/oceans-eleven.md) - *Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai* (1999), as Ray Vargo — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/ghost-dog-the-way-of-the-samurai.md) - *Justice* (1999), as Sal the Joker - *The New Batman Adventures* (1997), series, as Bane (voice) - *The End of Violence* (1997), as Juan-Emilio - *Mad Dog Time* (1996), as Sleepy Joe Carlisle - *Superman: The Animated Series* (1996), series, as Bane (voice) - *Twisted Fate* (1995), as Gene Serino - *Drifting School* (1995), as General Stearn - *Possessed by the Night* (1994), as Scott Lindsey - *The Silence of the Hams* (1994), as Police Chief - *The Harvest* (1993), as Detective Topo - *South Beach* (1993), as Santiago - *Three Days to a Kill* (1992), as Perez - *Batman: The Animated Series* (1992), series, as Bane (voice) - *Dick Tracy* (1990), as Influence - *The Last Match* (1990), as Warden Yashin - *The Hard Way* (1989), as Wesson - *Trained To Kill* (1989), as Ace Duran - *Fists Of Steel* (1989), as Shogi - *Cy-Warrior* (1989), as Hammer - *Bulletproof* (1988), as Col. Kartiff - *Above the Law* (1988), as Kurt Zagon - *Amazon Women on the Moon* (1987), as Henry Silva (segment "Bullshit or Not") - *Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold* (1986), as Agon - *Code of Silence* (1985), as Luis Comacho - *Lust in the Dust* (1985), as Bernardo - *Killer vs Killers* (1985), as Sterling - *Man Hunt* (1984), as Prison Boss - *Cannonball Run II* (1984), as Slim — Fi1m 35, [page](https://film.one/film/cannonball-run-ii.md) - *The Violent Breed* (1984), as Kirk Cooper - *The Outsider* (1983), as Sauveur Meccacci - *Happy* (1983), as Sinclair - *Escape from the Bronx* (1983), as Floyd Wrangler - *Chained Heat* (1983), as Lester - *MegaForce* (1982), as Guerera - *Trapped* (1982), as Henry Chatwill - *Wrong Is Right* (1982), as Rafeeq - *Sharky's Machine* (1981), as Billy Score - *Alligator* (1980), as Brock - *Virus* (1980), as General Garland - *Day of the Assassin* (1979), as Police Chief Jorge Gomez - *Thirst* (1979), as Dr. Gauss - *Buck Rogers in the 25th Century* (1979), series, as Kane - *Love and Bullets* (1979), as Vittorio Farroni - *Buck Rogers in the 25th Century* (1979), as Kane - *Foxbat* (1977), as Mike Saxon - *Contract on Cherry Street* (1977), as Roberto Obregon - *Weapons of Death* (1977), as Santoro - *Free Hand for a Tough Cop* (1976), as Brescianelli - *Crimebusters* (1976), as Altieri - *Shoot* (1976), as Zeke - *Switch* (1975), series, as Kirk Shaw - *Manhunt in the City* (1975), as David Vannucchi - *White Fang to the Rescue* (1975), as Mr. Nelson - *Kidnap* (1974), as Commissioner Caprile - *Almost Human* (1974), as Commissario Walter Grandi - *Cry of a Prostitute* (1974), as Tony Aniante - *Battle of the Godfathers* (1973), as Luca Messina - *Killing in the Sun* (1973), as Everett - *The Boss* (1973), as Nick Lanzetta - *The Insolent* (1973), as Emmanuel Ristack aka « L'insolent » - *The Streets of San Francisco* (1972), series, as Lee Wilson - *The Italian Connection* (1972), as Dave Catania - *Drive Hard, Drive Fast* (1972), as Deek LaCosta - *The Sixth Sense* (1972), series, as Linchou - *Black Noon* (1971), as Moon - *Man and Boy* (1971), as Caine - *Night Gallery* (1970), series, as Pandit Chola (segment "The Doll") - *San Francisco International Airport* (1970), series, as Harry Mitchum - *The Animals* (1970), as Chatto - *Hawaii Five-O* (1969), series, as Elpidio Acuna - *Possibility Zero* (1969), as Duke - *Never a Dull Moment* (1968), as Frank Boley - *Frame Up* (1968), as Inspector Sterling - *It Takes a Thief* (1968), series, as Peter Vale - *The Enemy* (1967), as Bob Rome - *The High Chaparral* (1967), series, as Santos Castaneda - *Cimarron Strip* (1967), series, as Coffin - *Assassination* (1967), as John Chandler / Philip Chandler - *Matchless* (1967), as Hank Norris - *Mission: Impossible* (1966), series, as Norvan Kruger — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/mission-impossible-1966.md) - *The Hills Run Red* (1966), as Garcia Mendez - *Tarzan* (1966), series, as Ivor Merrick - *The Plainsman* (1966), as Crazy Knife - *The Return of Mr. Moto* (1965), as Mr. Moto - *The F.B.I.* (1965), series, as Richard Macklin, Chard, Stan Chasen - *Laredo* (1965), series, as Gen. Shen Ti - *The Reward* (1965), as Joaquin - *Run for Your Life* (1965), series, as Carl Torre - *Hail! Mafia* (1965), as Schaft - *Daniel Boone* (1964), series, as Zapotec - *The Secret Invasion* (1964), as John Durrell - *Johnny Cool* (1963), as Johnny Cool / Salvatore Giordano - *The Outer Limits* (1963), series, as Chino Rivera, General Juan Mercurio - *Arrest and Trial* (1963), series, as Frank Vose - *A Gathering of Eagles* (1963), as Col. Joe Garcia - *The Manchurian Candidate* (1962), as Chunjin — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/the-manchurian-candidate.md) - *Stoney Burke* (1962), series, as Matt Elder - *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (1962), series, as Bill Grant - *Sergeants 3* (1962), as Mountain Hawk - *Dr. Kildare* (1961), series, as Ed Carson - *Cain's Hundred* (1961), series, as Ray Riley - *Cinderfella* (1960), as Maximilian - *Stagecoach West* (1960), series, as Mel Harney - *The Islanders* (1960), series, as Helmuth Mansing - *Thriller* (1960), series, as Toby Wolfe - *Ocean's Eleven* (1960), as Roger Corneal — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/oceans-eleven-1960.md) - *The Untouchables* (1959), series, as Little Charlie Sebastino - *The Jayhawkers!* (1959), as Lordan - *Adventures in Paradise* (1959), series, as Raoul Marquette - *Green Mansions* (1959), as Kua-Ko - *Ride a Crooked Trail* (1958), as Sam Teeler - *The Bravados* (1958), as Lujan - *The Law and Jake Wade* (1958), as Rennie - *Suspicion* (1957), series, as Dick - *Alcoa Theatre* (1957), series, as Tom Longman - *Wagon Train* (1957), series, Actor - *A Hatful of Rain* (1957), as Mother - *The Tall T* (1957), as Chink - *West Point* (1956), series, as Cadet Joe Simpson - *Crowded Paradise* (1956), Actor - *Alfred Hitchcock Presents* (1955), series, as Harry Silver - *Climax!* (1954), series, as Marc, Slayer - *Viva Zapata!* (1952), as Hernandez (uncredited) ## Gallery - ![Henry Silva](https://film.one/media/person/88950/gallery-a3aa2504570e.png) Henry Silva — The original uploader was Fabior1984 at Italian Wikipedia., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/La_mala_ordina_%28Henry_Silva%29.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Henry Silva in trailer for "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/88950/gallery-53952a257a73.jpg) Henry Silva in trailer for "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) (2013) — Trailer for "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Henry-silva-trailer.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Scena dal film Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare (1974)](https://film.one/media/person/88950/gallery-0a9cf3fe212d.png) Scena dal film Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare (1974) — Umberto Lenzi (director) / Federico Zanni (cinematographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Henry_Silva_Milano_odia.png/1280px-Henry_Silva_Milano_odia.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![scena Henry Silva dal film Quelli che contano (1974)](https://film.one/media/person/88950/gallery-a69d6c213ca8.png) scena Henry Silva dal film Quelli che contano (1974) — Andrea Bianchi (director) / Carlo Carlini (cinematographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Henry_Silva_in_Quelli_che_contano_%281974%29_18_Cropped.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Henry Silva](https://film.one/media/person/88950/gallery-99889de6edf0.jpg) Henry Silva — Image via TMDB - ![Henry Silva](https://film.one/media/person/88950/gallery-4e2379b33cd7.jpg) Henry Silva — Image via TMDB - ![Henry Silva](https://film.one/media/person/88950/gallery-d90bebb1aad3.jpg) Henry Silva — Image via TMDB - ![Scena dal film Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare (1974)](https://film.one/media/person/88950/gallery-69c4cdb82ba9.png) Scena dal film Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare (1974) — Umberto Lenzi (director) / Federico Zanni (cinematographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Milano_odia_Henry_Silva.png/1280px-Milano_odia_Henry_Silva.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Henry Silva in una scena del film italiano Probabilità zero (1969)](https://film.one/media/person/88950/gallery-9c82acdb67fd.png) Henry Silva in una scena del film italiano Probabilità zero (1969) — Maurizio Lucidi (director), Aldo Tonti (cinematographer), Auriga Film '68 (production), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Probabilit%C3%A0_zero_%281969%29_Henry_Silva.png/1280px-Probabilit%C3%A0_zero_%281969%29_Henry_Silva.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/henry-silva