You may not know his name but if you have ever seen the original “Men in Black” film, you’ll know who Sergio Calderón was.
The actor died at the age of 77.
Calderón was known as the “alien head on a stick” in the first “Men in Black,” The Los Angeles Times wrote in a feature article published about a week before his death. He even tweeted about his role as José in 2017, showing a frame of an alien named Mikey holding his head “for hours.”
Mickey holding up my head for hours during the shooting of #MeninBlack with @imWilISmith and #tommyleejohnes pic.twitter.com/4nXvzSXtq5
— Sergio Calderon (@mrsergecalderon) July 31, 2017
Calderón’s Hollywood career spanned 53 years, the newspaper reported. He mostly played villains, including a corrupt cop in the Peacock series “The Resort.”
“I love to play those types of characters, because people really hate me,” he told The Los Angeles Times. “They tell me in the streets how much they hate me. But to me, that is my success. Because that means I was able to convince people with what I performed.”
Calderón also portrayed Captain Vallenueva in “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” and lent his voice to the same character in the movie’s video game adaptation.
If someone tries to take your gun, it better be someone like #KeithRichards a true #Legend! pic.twitter.com/Yx4YbB3qTk
— Sergio Calderon (@mrsergecalderon) August 22, 2017
Calderón was born in 1945 in a tropical village before he moved to Mexico City at the age of 10. He attended the Instituto Andrés Soler of the Asociación Nacional de Actores and landed his first onscreen role in “The Bridge in the Jungle” in 1970, filmed in the rainforests of Chiapas, Mexico, the Times reported.
Calderón’s family said he died on Wednesday at a Los Angeles hospital from natural causes, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He leaves behind his wife, two children and three grandchildren.
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