Last Thursday, the death of Charley Scalies, a renowned American actor who participated in the iconic series 'The Wire' and 'The Sopranos', was reported. The artist passed away at the age of 84 in a nursing center in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, after a long battle with Alzheimer's, as reported by his daughter Anne Marie Scalies to The Hollywood Reporter (THR).
Charley Scalies portrayed the stevedore and unionist Thomas "Horseface" Pakusa in the second season of The Wire, and the American football coach at Tony's high school in a dream sequence in The Sopranos. He appeared in 12 episodes of The Wire during its second season in 2003 as Horseface, the former stevedore from the Port of Baltimore, imprisoned and devoted to his corrupt boss, Frank Sobotka (portrayed by American actor Chris Bauer).
In his prolific professional and artistic career, his participation in films such as Liberty Heights (1999) and Jersey (2004) stands out, as well as his guest appearances in Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Cold Case.
"Like all the other characters I've been lucky enough to portray, Horseface lives within me," he said in a 2019 interview. Scalies returned to HBO the following year in the fifth season of The Sopranos, "The Test Dream", where he stood out as Coach Molinaro. His tough character appears in a dream, reprimanding the vengeful Tony (James Gandolfini) for taking "the easy way out" by becoming a criminal and wasting his potential, according to the specialized magazine.
The actor was born in Philadelphia on July 19, 1940, and spent his early years in a house in the southern part of the city, located above the billiard hall run by his father. In his childhood, Charles Joseph Scalies Jr. entertained himself with jokes and imitations of the singer and actor Al Jolson.