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 Savalas had a showy role in "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), playing a role that Jack Palance turned down, Archer Maggott, the worst of the dozen. It was a huge commercial success. He guest-starred on the TV series "Garrison's Gorillas" and "Cimarron Strip," then focused on features. He did an action film directed by Brian Hutton, "Sol Madrid" (1968), then did a Western with Lancaster and Pollack, "The Scalphunters" (1968). Savalas was in two comedies, "Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell" (1968), one of his favorite roles, and "The Assassination Bureau" (1969) and did an all-star action film for Thompson, "Mackenna's Gold" (1969).