Telly Savalas He attribute his success to "his complete ability to be himself." Savalas had his first lead role in a film in "Crooks and Coronets" (1969), a British crime comedy. More widely seen was the James Bond movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969), where Savalas played Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Savalas had the lead in a Western shot in Spain, "Land Raiders" (1970), then was second-billed to Clint Eastwood in the war-heist film "Kelly's Heroes" (1970), shot in Yugoslavia, directed by Hutton. He was second-billed to Charles Bronson in an Italian–French crime film, "Violent City" (1970), then went to Hollywood to
Telly Savalas the 1980s and early 1990s, Savalas appeared in commercials for the Players' Club Gold Card. In 1982 along with Bob Hope and Linda Evans, he participated in the "world premiere" television ad introducing Diet Coke to Americans. On October 28, 1987, Savalas hosted "Return to the Titanic Live", a two-hour television special broadcast from Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris. Savalas appeared on the Australian supernatural television show "The Extraordinary," in which he told a personal ghost story similar to the vanishing hitchhiker. In the late 1980s Savalas guest-starred on an episode of "The Equalizer," which was produced