Hector Elizondo has been one of America’s most versatile and likable character actors since the 70s. Elizondo, born in New York City, has appeared in successful TV series and films and won numerous awards and nominations for his work including an Emmy and a SAG Award nomination. Here’s a quick, categorized survey of some of Hector Elizondo’s wide-ranging roles.
Hector Elizondo Roles: Personal Favorites.
I’m a big Hector Elizondo fan and can pinpoint a few roles that really won me over.
First, there’s here’s most memorable and awarded TV role, Dr. Phillip Watters on Chicago Hope. Elizondo won an Emmy and several nominations playing this chief of staff who often had to stifle his own emotions to deal with his doctors, like the mercurial Jeffrey Geiger (Mandy Patinkin) and the emotionally needy Alan “The Eel” Birch (Peter Macnicol). The show sort of disintegrated over the years, overloading Watters with different quirks on a weekly basis (here he plays guitar, here he dances, here he does stand-up) and messing with the central backstory that he was a grief stricken widow (Oh, no, wait, he was with another woman when his wife got sick…). But you can’t blame that on the actor.
Elizondo is also known for being in 14 of Gary Marshall’s films. Among these, Pretty Woman is the most well-known and financially successful. In that film of course he stars as Barney, the urbane concierge who helps Julia Roberts de-whore herself. It;s an okay film, but I don’t really care for it that much. Instead, I opt for The Flamingo Kid. Here, Matt Dillon (late of Crash) is a working class kid who learns he can make big bucks playing cabana boy and protégé to a bigshot car dealer played by Richard Crenna. This is a nice coming of age movie set in the early 60s. Mr. Elizondo plays Dillon’s dad, a plumber who disapproves of his son trying to follow Crenna’s fast-talking example. There’re some great, realistic, father-son moments. Of all the films Elizondo has done with Gary Marshall, I think this is maybe the best all-around film and Elizondo’s best role.
I also really like Elizondo in a movie called Samantha which is also a coming-of-age film, though a much weirder one. Martha Plimpton learns she’s adopted and rebels against her parents in some pretty kooky ways as she tries to find her “real” parents. Elizondo’s the dad. There are just a lot of funny, weird moments in the film and a sweetness to it. It’s a cute film.
And then there’s a funny little B-movie called Necessary Roughness where Elizondo plays Coach Ed Gennaro, a “straight arrow” who has to coach an underdog scrub football team at a Texas college. Robert Loggia and Scott Bakula are also in the movie. It’s not great, but it’s funny, like, say, Major League. And Elizondo plays one of those guys you hope really coaches in the NCAA.
Other Good Hector Elizondo Movies:
Tortilla Soup: This is a pleasant and entertaining film where Elizondo plays a widower dealing with his three adult daughters, their loves lives, and his own love life. He’s a chef, and his food relates to the goings on of his family and keeps things somewhat together. Fun and funny.
The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3: This film is something of a classic. Elizondo joins Robert Shaw and Martin Balsam among other in the high jacking of a train. Walter Matthau stars as the cop trying to stop them. Also look for sitcom septuagenarians Jerry Stiller and Doris Roberts in their younger days.
There Goes The Neighborhood: I suppose I should define what I mean by “good” movies. This multi-stories sitcom-ish flick isn’t going to win any Oscars, but it brings together a funny cast including Elizondo, Jeff Daniels, Catherine O’Hara, Chaz Palmineteri, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Perlman (Cheers), Dabney Coleman, Jonathan Banks (Wiseguy) and Jeremy Piven. They’re all trying to score some loot buried in the basement of a house. It’s small-scale madcap. I think it’s funny.
Some Other Gary Marshall Movies Starring Hector Elizondo:
Exit To Eden: This is that really bad sex comedy island movie starring Dana Delaney. I think Elizondo plays some kind of doctor. I’ve only seen bits and pieces, because as soon as I figure out what movie it is, I turn it. Based on a book by Anne Rice. That old kink. The movie bombed. Razzies were given. Let’s just move on.
Exit To Eden
Exit To Eden
The Other Sister: Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi are a mentally slow couple who negotiate family and sex and falling in love in this pretty bad romantic comedy. Diane Keaton and Tom Skerrit are her parents while Elizondo plays Ribisi’s caring landlord. Elizondo sings ‘At Last’ but the character is basically “cool guy in beret.”
Runaway Bride: The long-awaited repairing of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere has Gere pursuing a story about Roberts’ commitment phobic character. Elizondo is his editor, or something. There’s one scene where he rolls around on the floor. His onscreen wife is Tom Hanks’ real-life wife. It did okay at the box office, but I personally found this movie a big ol’ waste of time.
The Princess Diaries & Princess Diaries: Return Engagement:
Hector Elizondo does the “cool guy” thing again as he mentors Julie Andrews’ niece as she ascends the throne to some made-up country. He also does some dancing with Andrews.
Raising Helen: I’d like to tell you who he plays in this movie, but I swear to God, I have no idea. Kate Hudson stars as a madcap girl who must become a mom to her nieces and nephew.
Roles Where Hector Elizondo Throws Down With Accents:
Mr. Elizondo is reportedly of Puerto Rican and Basque extraction and born in NYC, but along with playing various Hispanic accents, he’s displayed plenty of others during his career. For instance in Marshall’s Frankie & Johnny: Elizondo’s a Greek diner owner who gives Al Pacino’s emotionally crippled ex-con a job.
Later, in another Marshall film, Dear God, Elizondo plays a postal worker boss who’s some kind some Russian-y guy. That doesn’t make the movie any less cheesy, but there you are. Greg Kinnear is a guy doing community service of a sort (no pun intended) at the post office, where he leads a group of employees in answering mail addressed to God.
In the TV series Casablanca, he plays Frenchman Renault. I’m not sure if he used a French accent, but, why wouldn’t he?
Hector Elizondo also plays Latino characters in Cuba with Sean Connery. Never seen it. I have seen Valdez is Coming with Burt Lancaster. It’s a good movie, check it out, even if Lancaster, who has the lead role, about as Latino as Hans Christen Anderson. (What?).
And there’s also Borrowed Hearts: Elizondo does a Mexican accent here playing some sort of angel who visits, ironically, Roma Downey and her kid and Eric McCormick. It’s all about not selling out your workers at the plant and ice skating. That’s the real meaning of Christmas, people.
Hector Elizondo: Cop
Mr. Elizondo has played a cop in plenty of movies, perhaps most notably American Gigolo which starred his future Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride co-star Richard Gere in the title role. Other of his cop roles include his role as “The Bean” in the series version of Freebie and The Bean (short-lived), his role in Beverly Hills Cop III, and his roles in The Fan (not the one with Wesley Snipes) and Turbulence, which starred Ray Liotta as a psycho convict trying to down a plane with only a flight attendant played by Lauren Holly to stop him. Elizondo played cops in many TV movies.
Hector Elizondo: Cartoon
Hector Elizondo gets around the animated world. He’s done t voice work for shows ranging from The Justice League to Aladdin, to Scooby-Doo, Gargoyles, and Animaniacs. He’s all over the place. He also had a role, notably, on the animated show Fish Police. What the heck?
Hector Elizondo: Guest Star
Mr. Elizondo has done a billion guest appearances. Even just as Phillip Watters, he crossed over to two other shows – EarlyEdition and Kelley’s Picket Fences. He’s also been a guest on classics like Hill Street Blues, All In the Family, Columbo, and more recently, The West Wing and Without A Trace.
Hector Elizondo Series That Didn’t Quite Make It:
Mr. Elizondo is frequently cast in TV series, too, in regular roles. Unfortunately, not all of these shows have caught on. Shows that haven’t gone the distance of late include Century City, where Elizondo played a lawyer in the future, but just a little in the future, which made things interesting. It really kind of stinks that they cancelled that show. Miracles also had a sci-fi feel. Elizondo played a priest advising an guy investigating miracles. There’s also been Kate Brasher, with Mary Stuart Masterson, Foley Square with Margaret Colin and Popi, a single dad role he took over from Alan Arkin who played it in the film version. Elizondo later starred with Arkin’s son Adam on Chicago Hope.
Hector Elizondo On Stage
It should also be noted that the versatile Mr. Elizondo is a stage actor. He’s won Obie award and appeared in theater productions throughout his career including roles on Broadway.. He’s a founding member of the LA Theater Works, a radio theater troupe.
Reference:
- Check out Mr. Elizondo’s career for yourself at the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)
