Henry Silva Net Worth

What is Henry Silva's Net Worth?

Henry Silva was an American actor who had a net worth of $5 million. A prolific character actor with a career spanning over 50 years, Henry Silva was known for playing bad guys and other toughs in crime and action films. Among his numerous credits were "Ocean's 11," "The Manchurian Candidate," "Sergeants 3," "Johnny Cool," "Sharky's Machine," "Megaforce," "Above the Law," "Dick Tracy," and several films in the Italian poliziotteschi subgenre.

Early Life and Education

Henry Silva was born on September 23, 1926 in New York City to Angelina and Jesus. He had both Sicilian and Spanish ancestry. When Silva was still young, his father left the family, leaving Silva to be raised by his mother in Spanish Harlem. He didn't learn English until the age of eight, and at 13 years old he dropped out of school to take drama classes. In 1955, Silva auditioned for the Actors Studio and was accepted. He went on to make his Broadway debut in Michael V. Gazzo's play "A Hatful of Rain."

Film Career, 1952-1979

In 1952, Silva made his Hollywood film debut with an uncredited part in Elia Kazan's "Viva Zapata!" He started to become more prolific in the second half of the decade, when he began being regularly cast as stereotypically ethnic villains from various parts of the world. Between 1957 and 1959, Silva played bad guys in the Westerns "The Tall T," "The Bravados," "Ride a Crooked Trail," "The Law and Jake Wade," and "The Jayhawkers!," as well as in the Audrey Hepburn adventure film "Green Mansions." He also appeared in Fred Zinnemann's adaptation of "A Hatful of Rain," which he had previously appeared in on Broadway. Silva had his career breakthrough in the 1960 heist film "Ocean's 11," which inaugurated his close connection with the Rat Pack. He went on to appear in the Rat Pack-associated films "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Sergeants 3" in 1962. Meanwhile, Silva had a rare comedic role in Jerry Lewis's 1960 comedy "Cinderfella." His first major leading role came in 1963, when he starred as the titular gangster in the neo-noir "Johnny Cool." Silva followed that with roles in such films as "The Secret Invasion," "Je vous salue, mafia!," "The Reward," "The Return of Mr. Moto," and "The Plainsman."

Silva reached a career turning point in 1966 when he played a rare heroic role in the Spaghetti Western "The Hills Run Red." Now living in Italy and a star in Western Europe, he went on to appear in over 20 Italian films over the next 11 years, mostly in the poliziotteschi subgenre. Silva's Italian film credits in the late 1960s included "Matchless," "Assassination," and "Frame Up." He also appeared in the American heist comedy "Never a Dull Moment," starring Dick Van Dyke and Edward G. Robinson. In the early 1970s, Silva was in the Bill Cosby Western "Man and Boy" and the Italian thriller "The Italian Connection." His subsequent Italian film credits included "Il Boss" (1973), "Cry of a Prostitute," "Almost Human," "Kidnap," and "White Fang to the Rescue" (all 1974). Silva continued to be a major star in Italian films through 1977, appearing in "Manhunt in the City," "Crimebusters," "Free Hand for a Tough Cop," and "Weapons of Death," among other titles. Beyond Italy, he starred in the 1977 Hong Kong action spy film "Foxbat." Concluding the decade, Silva appeared in the Charles Bronson action crime film "Love and Bullets," the Australian horror film "Thirst," and the science-fiction adventure film "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century."

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Film Career, 1980-2001

Silva's first films of the 1980s were the Japanese science-fiction film "Virus" and the American horror film "Alligator." In 1981, he played a drug-addled hitman in Burt Reynolds's action thriller "Sharky's Machine." The following year, Silva appeared in the political satire "Wrong is Right," the thriller "Trapped," and the action film "Megaforce." His credits in 1983 included the Italian action film "Escape from the Bronx" and the French crime film "Le Marginal." In 1984, Silva reunited with a number of his former Rat Pack members in the action comedy "Cannonball Run II." Over the remainder of the decade, he appeared in such films as "Man Hunt," "Lust in the Dust," the Chuck Norris film "Code of Silence," "Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold," "Bulletproof," and Steven Seagal's film debut, "Above the Law." Kicking off the 1990s, Silva played a mob hitman known as Influence in Warren Beatty's action crime film "Dick Tracy." A few years later, he was a detective in the thriller "The Harvest." His credits in the second half of the decade included "Mad Dog Time," Wim Wenders's "The End of Violence," and Jim Jarmusch's "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai," in which he played his final role, mob boss Ray Vargo.

Television Career

Silva had a fairly extensive television career, if not quite as prolific as his film career. He appeared in episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Thriller," "The Outer Limits," "Dr. Kildare," "Daniel Boone," "Hawaii Five-O," "Night Gallery," and "The Streets of San Francisco," among other shows. Silva was also in some television films, including NBC's "Contract on Cherry Street," starring his former Rat Pack pal Frank Sinatra. He turned to voice acting toward the end of his career with single-episode appearances as the supervillain Bane on the animated shows "Batman: The Animated Series" and "The New Batman Adventures."

Personal Life and Death

Silva was married and divorced a total of three times. He was married to his first wife, Mary Ramus, from 1949 until 1955. Silva went on to wed Cindy Conroy in 1959. After their divorce, he married his third and final wife, Ruth Earl, in 1966. They had two children, Michael and Scott, and divorced in 1987. From 1990 until his passing, Silva was in a relationship with Wendy Christenfeld.

On September 14, 2022, Silva passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 95.

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