Billy Drago has died aged 73.
A representative for the ‘Untouchables’ actor confirmed to The Wrap that he passed away on Monday (24.06.19) in Los Angeles after suffering a stroke.
As well as starring opposite Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro and Andy Garcia in Brian De Palma’s gangster classic – in which he played Frank Nitti – Drago was also best known for appearing in Clint Eastwood western ‘Pale Rider’.
He portrayed Deputy Mather in the 1985 motion picture, which featured Eastwood as The Preacher and Michael Moriarty as Hull Barret.
More recently, Drago starred in the 2006 remake of ‘The Hills Have Eyes’, and appeared in ‘Masters of Horror’ in the same year.
The actor previously admitted he didn’t intend to appear in so many horror movies, and was simply on the lookout for "interesting roles" throughout his career.
Speaking in 2011, he said: "I like to be scared,
"I tend not to think ‘Oh, this is another scary movie.’ I just look for interesting roles."
But he did make an exception with ‘The Hills Have Eyes’, in which he played Papa Jupiter, admitting he asked for a role in the reboot.
He said: "The only real exception to that was ‘The Hills Have Eyes’.
"I’d seen and loved the original when it came out, and I actually called them up for that one and asked if they could find something for me to do.
"I didn’t care what the part was. I just wanted to be in it, to complete that circle of being there at the beginning then being in the new version."
Billy Drago dead aged 73
