Character Actor Willy Switkes Dies at 83

Willy Switkes, a character actor who appeared in Tootsieand Taxi Driver, has died, The Associated Press reports. He was 83.

According to his niece Ellen Switkes, the actor died of colon cancer on Thursday at a hospice in Rockville, Md.

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Switkes often played minor parts in films and his characters were rarely credited with names. He was credited as "man at cab" in Tootsie, in which he's thrown from a taxi after trying to cut in front of Dustin Hoffman's character.

In addition to his work in film, Switkes also appeared in Broadway productions of The Cherry Orchard and A Thousand Clowns. He also acted as an understudy for Buster Keaton during a 1960 tour of Once Upon a Mattress.