Victor Argo

Victor Argo (November 5, 1934 – April 7, 2004) was an American actor of Puerto Rican descent born Victor Jimenez in the Bronx, New York. Both of his parents were natives of Quebradillas, Puerto Rico. He appeared on Broadway from 1981 to 2003, and over the course of his career accumulated credits in nearly seventy theatrical films and forty television productions.

Argo began his professional life as a stage actor at a time when Latino performers faced significant discrimination in the entertainment industry. To improve his casting prospects, he adopted the surname Argo, explaining in an interview that he felt the prejudice was directed at his name rather than at him personally. During an Off-Broadway engagement in the 1960s, he encountered Yoko Ono and participated alongside her in the Happening movement. In 1977, he became a founding member of the Riverside Shakespeare Company on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where he toured the parks of New York City performing the role of Lord Montague.

His film career began in February 1972 with a role in Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues, followed later that year by appearances in Boxcar Bertha, in which he played McIver #1, a railroad detective, and Unholy Rollers. Argo became a recurring presence in the work of directors Martin Scorsese, Abel Ferrara, and Woody Allen, frequently cast as New York City heavies and mobsters. His screen credits include Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), The Rose (1979), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), New York Stories (1989), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992), True Romance (1993), Coyote Ugly (2000), and Angel Eyes (2001), in which he played the father of Jennifer Lopez's character. He met Harvey Keitel early in his career, and the two remained close friends for nearly four decades, collaborating on multiple films; Argo was instrumental in persuading Keitel to accept the lead role in Bad Lieutenant.

On television, Argo's guest appearances began in February 1973 with The Waltons, followed that same year by All in the Family and Kojak. He appeared in the 1974 television film Smile Jenny, You're Dead, and his 1970s television credits also include Starsky & Hutch (1975), The Rockford Files (1977), Wonder Woman (1977), and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979). In 1985, he appeared on The Equalizer as O'Hare, a character who poses as a police officer and places Melissa Leo's character into KGB-ordered protective custody. Additional television work includes Spenser: For Hire (1985), Miami Vice (1988), and multiple episodes of Law & Order in 1992 and 1997, as well as Law & Order: Criminal Intent in 2003.

Beyond acting, Argo had a deep interest in country music and traveled to Nashville to record song demos. He also appeared in the Broadway production of Louie and the Elephant. Shortly before his death, he fulfilled a lifelong ambition by being cast as Santiago, the owner of a cigar factory, in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Anna in the Tropics. Among his final screen roles was a part in the independent film Lustre, directed by Art Jones and released in 2005, in which he portrayed a New York City loan shark who withdraws into a spiritual retreat.

Argo died on April 7, 2004, at Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center in New York City from complications of lung cancer at the age of 69. His body was donated to Manhattan College for medical science. In 2005, electronic music group Bodega System released a 12-inch vinyl LP that included a track titled "Victor Argo."