By Sandra Birungi

Charactor actor known for minor roles in movies like Taxi Driver, Willy Switkes has died aged 83.

His niece, Ellen Switkes announced his death saying he died on Thursday at a hospice in Rockville, Md from colon cancer.

Switkes also had minor roles in movies like Tootsie, French Connection and Bananas. He appeared in Broadway productions of The Cherry Orchard and A Thousand Clowns and was an understudy to Buster Keaton during a 1960 tour of Once Upon a Mattress.

Willy Switkes was a native of Washington, D.C., and a longtime New York City resident.