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 and "Love Is a Ball" (1962) with Glenn Ford and was in the gangster film "Johnny Cool" (1963). Savalas guest starred on "77 Sunset Strip," "The Twilight Zone" (the episode "Living Doll" ), "Channing," "Arrest and Trial," "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," "Breaking Point,""Kraft Suspense Theatre" (several times, once directed by Pollack), "The Rogues," and "Burke's Law." Savlas reprised his "Interns" role in "The New Interns" (1964) and made a TV movie "Fanfare for a Death Scene" (1964). Savalas shaved his head to play Pontius Pilate in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965) and kept his head shaven for the rest