'Taxi Driver' character actor Switkes dies in Md.

Associated Press
This undated publicity photo provided by the Switkes Family shows character actor, Willy Switkes, who had minor roles in "Tootsie," "Taxi Driver," and dozens of other films. His niece Ellen Switkes says he died of colon cancer on Thursday, March 7, 2013, at a hospice in Rockville, Md. He was 83. (AP Photo/Switkes Family)

NEW YORK (AP) — A character actor who had minor roles in "Tootsie," ''Taxi Driver" and dozens of other films has died. Willy Switkes (SWIT'-kehs) was 83.

His niece Ellen Switkes says he died of colon cancer on Thursday at a hospice in Rockville, Md.

Willy Switkes was a native of Washington, D.C., and a longtime New York City resident. 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." His other films include "The French Connection" and "Bananas."

His characters often were unidentified, such as his "man at cab" credit for "Tootsie," in which he's thrown from a taxi after trying to cut in front of title character Dustin Hoffman.