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 of his life. He was reunited with Thompson in "John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!" (1965) and was one of many names in "Genghis Khan" (1965). Savalas guested on "Bonanza" and "Run for Your Life," then was in Pollack's feature film debut as director, "The Slender Thread" (1965), playing a psychiatrist. He had a supporting role in box-office flop "Battle of the Bulge" (1965) and guest-starred on "The Virginian," "Combat!," "The Fugitive," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (episodes released as "The Karate Killers"), "The F.B.I.," and "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre." He also played the villainous sergeant in "Beau Geste" (1966).