The Most Fearsome Salamanca: Mark Margolis

I first encountered Mark Margolis in Scarface, a film, like Raging Bull, I saw at far too young an age. I couldn’t grasp all that was happening before just on the cusp of my teen years, but the extreme cinematic bravura of both stuck with me in such a way that it became part of my film-loving DNA. 

Margolis played Shadow in Scarface, and despite very few lines, he created a palpable menace that would serve him well as his career progressed.

Almost exclusively a stage actor until 1976, Margolis scored his first role of note as Mr. Morrison in the dark indie prison flick Short Eyes directed by Robert M. Young. From there, Margolis followed the typical “character actor” route of bouncing from small roles on television and film. Some of his credits include “Patient at Bellevue Hospital” in Brian DePalma’s Dressed to Kill, and “Wedding Guest” in Arthur. 

Even after his potent appearance in Scarface, Margolis’ career continued much as it had before with small, often nondescript parts in productions of various levels of quality. Around 1996, Margolis started to catch some breaks though. He had a significant role in Mary Harron’s excellent I Shot Andy Warhol, Clint Eastwood’s Absolute Power in 1997, and then in 1998, with Pi, Margolis began a long-running relationship with auteur Darren Aronofsky. 

After Pi, Margolis appeared memorably in Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, Black Swan, and Noah (in a voice role) for Aronofsky. Perhaps due to being elevated by his sixteen-year relationship with such an esteemed filmmaker, the level of projects featuring Margolis along the way improved. 

The late-blooming actor was seen in high profile productions such as The Thomas Crown Affair, Hannibal, The Tailor of Panama, a full season of OZ on HBO, Gone Baby Gone, Mildred Pearce, and American Horror Story. 

But it would be Breaking Bad (and later Better Call Saul) where Margolis would find his defining role as drug kingpin Hector Salamanca. For three years on the landmark crime drama, and on Better Call Saul on and off during its run, Margolis gave an extraordinary performance as an unforgiving and venal drug lord who spared no quarter to those who ended up on the wrong side of him. 

Even after his arch enemy Gustavo Fring (the great Giancarlo Esposito) caused Hector to have a stroke by switching out his pills, he remained formidable. In fact, if there has ever been a more terrifying character who was confined to a wheelchair with only the use of one finger (that rang the hell out of the bell), I have not seen him. The role of Hector Salamanca in the hands of Mark Margolis is a case study in how to give a perfect minimalist (by necessity), vanity-free performance. 

As Hector would snort and slobber with rage from his condition of infirmity, there was never any doubt what he was trying to convey. Margolis inhabited this treacherous character with so much gravitas that you could understand how those in his family of crime would still respect, fear, and look to him for direction. 

And when Hector finally exacts retribution on Gustavo, in the form of a bomb connected to that infernal bell under his index finger atop the arm of his wheelchair, the crooked smile of satisfaction on Margolis’ face makes it clear that revenge is a dish best served with explosives. 

It’s an incredible moment on an extraordinary show, and you can’t possibly imagine the moment being delivered any better than it was by anyone other than Margolis. 

Margolis earned an Emmy nomination for playing Hector Salamanca, but that moment on screen is greater than any award could ever convey. It took a long, long time for Mark Margolis to showcase the best of what he could do, and he somehow accomplished that without so few tools at his disposal. He could not speak, he could barely move, but in that relative silence and stillness, Margolis created an unforgettable character, late in life and just in the nick of time.

Mark Margolis died on August 3, 2023. He was 83 years old.