Charley Scalies Dies at 84: Remembering the Actor Behind ‘Horseface’ on The Wire

Charley Scalies, the genial character actor best known for playing the zealously devoted longshoreman Thomas “Horseface” Pakusa in the highly regarded second season of The Wire, passed away Thursday at 84. He died peacefully in a Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, nursing home after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, according to his daughter, Anne Marie Scalies.

Raised and born in South Philly, Charley was more than a name of home on HBO’s greatest dramas. He was jack-of-all-trades – a corporate seminar speaker, stand-up comedian, community theater actor, and ultimately a late-life actor who made a dramatic mark on TV. While arguably best known to many for his gruff demeanor and stereotypical work on the television screen, his life is much deeper than his years behind the camera.

The Horseface Behind Him

Charley Scalies brought Horseface, the hard, fiercely loyal union man, to life in the second season of The Wire, which aired in 2003. The season, which was about corruption and desperation in Baltimore’s port community, featured Horseface as a union man from head to toe – fiercely loyal to his boss Frank Sobotka (played by Chris Bauer). Scalies were seen throughout all 12 episodes of the season as a character who, although he was not perfect, was a good sense of community and loyalty.

Looking back on the character in an interview in 2019, Scalies noted, “Just like all of the other characters I’ve gotten to play, Horseface’s in me. I call upon him to act as needed.” His strong association with the character and his facility for bringing characters to life on stage were features of his work.

From Pool Halls to Prime Time

Born Charles Joseph Scalies Jr. on July 19, 1940, Charley was the third of three consecutive siblings born in a row house over his father’s South Philadelphia pool parlor. It was there he practiced his craft as a performer, telling jokes and doing Al Jolson imitations for patrons. It appears his passion for performance developed early, although life first took him in a different direction.

He went to St. Joseph’s College, where he kept doing stand-up as part of a Martin & Lewis-style comedy routine, gigging the local clubs and social halls. But after college, Charley shelved the stage for corporate life. He rose to director of sales and contracts at a factory and eventually ran his own consulting firm doing auditing and quality systems.

A Return to the Stage

Scalies began returning to the stage in the 1990s, beginning with dinner theater and community productions. His enthusiasm rekindled, he performed in silly roles like Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls, Billy Flynn in Chicago, and even the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. The audience adored him, and his enthusiasm glowed on stage.

That lead back to acting resulted in casting calls, and before too long Charley was finding small jobs on TV and in movies. He worked on Condition Red, Two Bits with Al Pacino, and Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys. Charley also made guest appearances on Law & Order, Cold Case, and Homicide: Life on the Street, the latter being produced by David Simon – the same fellow who did The Wire. Simon subsequently cast him as his most definitive character.

A Sopranos Moment to Remember

In 2004, Scalies was again at HBO on The Sopranos, this time as Coach Molinaro in the dream sequence episode “The Test Dream.” In a dream sequence, his gruff, disillusioned football coach scolds Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) for turning down a legitimate life for one of crime. It was a short scene, but a fierce one, and Scalies acted it out with a nakedness that was unforgettable.

A Whole Life Off-Screen

Though Charley’s on-camera credits were numerous, his greatest pleasure was his family. Married to his wife of 62 years, Angeline, the two of them lived a life of love, laughter, and art. The two of them had five children – Chuck, Angeline, Tony, Christa, and Anne Marie and had four grandchildren. Supper time at home was ritualized, and his favorite audience, as his loved ones recall, was always the dinner table.

Charley wrote a movie, too, about his father’s pool hall, It Takes Balls – a fitting salute to the place where his own acting career began to take shape.

A Legacy of Grit and Heart

In so many respects, Scalies was the blue-collar toughness of the actors he played. He understood them, empathized with them, and brought them to life effectively. He did not become a household name in his early years – he built a career with persistence, gave his characters depth and maturity, and left his own unique stamp on each character.

His loved ones are requesting donations in his honor be made to the Greater Pennsylvania Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association or to the PCS Theater in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania – a memorial to the disease he battled so courageously and to the life of the theater that nurtured him.

Charley Scalies came into our lives on the screen, but stayed with us because of his humanity, heart, and depth. Whether as Horseface at Baltimore’s waterfront or a ghostly coach in a gangster’s hell, he gave us something and that is the mark of a great, great actor.

Rest in peace, Charley Scalies. Your characters lived in fiction, but your presence was very, very real.