Sergio Calderón, the Mexican actor whose decades-long profession included dueling with Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow within the third “Pirates of the Caribbean” and serving as an extraterrestrial alien‘s disguise — a head on a stick — in “Males in Black,” has died.
Julie Smith, the actor’s consultant, confirmed to The Occasions that Calderón died in a Los Angeles hospital Wednesday morning surrounded by his household after a bout of pneumonia. He was 77.
In a telephone interview Thursday afternoon with The Occasions, Calderón’s daughter Johanna Calderón-Dakin mirrored on his life as an actor, husband, father and grandfather.
“You haven’t any concept what a terrific dad he was,” she stated. “He was simply somebody who gave all the things to his youngsters. He was born to do two issues in life. One was be an actor, the opposite to be a dad.”
The actor’s son, Patrick Calderón, mourned his father in an Instagram submit shared Wednesday.
“Fly excessive my KING, My LIGHT, My Rock, My Finest Buddy, BEST DAD, BEST GRANDPA, My STRENGTH, MY INSPIRATION.. and MY MENTOR,” he wrote in his caption, translated from Spanish to English. “YOU FORMED ME INTO THE MAN I AM.. YOU ARE AT PEACE and in the very best COMPANY.”
Born in a tropical village in Mexico on July 21, 1945, Calderón began his performing profession at age 10 when he moved to Mexico Metropolis. The actor, who started with poetry readings, “stubbornly determined” he wished to pursue TV and movie regardless of critics telling him he wasn’t good-looking sufficient for display, he informed The Occasions in Could.
Calderón’s first skilled performing position was 1970’s “The Bridge within the Jungle,” which starred Hollywood legend John Huston and was filmed within the rain forests of Chiapas, Mexico. Calderón was working as an English instructor on the time, which helped him to behave in English.
Within the ’70s, he additionally appeared in movies “The Heist,” “La India” and “Gamers.” After receiving his Display Actors Guild card for his position within the 1979 Hollywood comedy “The In-Legal guidelines,” Calderón moved to Los Angeles.
All through his profession, Calderón has performed a wide range of characters, together with a supervisor, a truck driver and a police officer. Nevertheless, in his most memorable position, Calderón is only a head on a stick.
Sergio Calderón began his performing profession at age 10 when he moved to Mexico Metropolis.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Occasions)
In 1997’s “Males in Black,” Calderón’s Jose is amongst a handful of immigrants rounded up by border patrol. It’s instantly clear that one thing’s up with Jose when he solely nods and chuckles in response to Agent Ok’s (Tommy Lee Jones) questions. Agent Ok takes a knife to Jose’s outerwear to show an alien carrying Calderón’s head on a brief pole.
A handful of roles later, Calderón discovered himself within the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise as Pirate Lord Eduardo Villanueva within the 2007 follow-up, “At World’s Finish.” He additionally voiced the character within the accompanying online game.
“I like to play these varieties of characters, as a result of folks actually hate me,” he informed the Los Angeles Occasions. “They inform me within the streets how a lot they hate me. However to me, that’s my success. As a result of meaning I used to be capable of persuade folks with what I carried out.”
Sergio Calderon most lately starred within the TV collection “The Resort” and the movie “The Seven Faces of Jane.”
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Occasions)
Along with his film roles, Calderón appeared in a number of TV initiatives together with “The A-Workforce,” “Have You Seen My Son,” “Higher Issues” and the Peacock collection “The Resort,” through which he portrayed a corrupt police officer. His most up-to-date movie credit score was “The Seven Faces of Jane.”
“If I could make them cry and I could make them snort, then possibly I’m actor,” he stated.
Calderón-Dakin stated her father had this “childlike sweetness” about him, regardless of his robust exterior. He sang Mexican songs to his youngsters, recited poems, made hen broth for family members who have been unwell and calmed his toddler granddaughter by bouncing her on his “massive stomach.”
“He was only a good man,” she added.
Calderón is survived by his spouse, Karen Dakin, youngsters Johanna and Patrick, son-in-law Raaj S. Jadaun and grandchildren Emiliano Calderón Santos, Victoria Calderón Santos and Krishnaavi S. Jadaun.
