Ángel Salazar, best known as Al Pacino’s sidekick Chi Chi in Scarface, has died. He was 68.
A representative for Salazar confirmed to TMZ that the actor and comedian passed away in his sleep at a friend’s home in Brooklyn, New York. Although a cause of death has not been revealed, the rep confirmed that he lived with heart-related issues.
Fans of the 1983 Brian DePalma-directed blockbuster remember Salazar’s character came to Cuban drug lord Tony Montana’s rescue during the gruesome “chainsaw scene.”
Chi Chi has also been immortalized in pop culture with the iconic line, “Chi Chi, get the yeyo.”
The Cuban-American actor was one of the few Latino actors cast in Scarface and served as a reference to help Pacino get the accent right for his character.
“He asked me a few times, ‘How do you say this? How do you say that?’” Salazar said on the George Perez Stories podcast at the 35:50 mark. “The only real Cubans in the movie was me and Manolo [Steven Bauer]... He exaggerated the Cuban accent a little bit. Almost like comical, a little funny, you know?”
As an actor, Salazar appeared in other films including 1988’s Punchline opposite Tom Hanks, and reunited with Pacino in 1993’s Carlito’s Way. He also performed stand-up comedy on HBO and the NBC competition series Last Comic Standing.
According to his Instagram account, Salazar performed at the Laugh Factory in Reno, Nevada earlier this month.