Peter Marquardt, who starred as a drug kingpin in Robert Rodriguez’s debut film El Mariachi, died in on Austin, Texas on July 19 it is being reported today. He was 50.
Marquardt was participating in the same drug testing program that Rodriquez was enrolled in when the two met. Rodriquez was using the trials to have time to write the screenplay to what would become El Mariachi and was planning on using the $700 he was to get from participation in the study to fund the film.
Rodriguez cast Marquardt in the role of Mauricio, a drug gang kingpin whose henchmen mistake a traveling mariachi played by Carlos Gallardo as an assassin. He would briefly reprise the role for a flashback in Rodriquez’s 1995 big-budget sequel Desperado, which starred Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek. He also appeared in Rodriguez’s children’s film Spy Kids 3D: Game Over.
Outside of film career, Marquardt provided voices for a number of video games including 1996’s Wing Commander IV and 2000’s Deus Ex. He also served as an associate producer on the game Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3.
Via Deadline.
