Actor Tony Planas career was filled with landmark roles in projects that changed Hollywoods portrayal of Latinos and their culture. The Cuban-born and London-trained actor, who appeared in numerous movie and television projects, gained prominence after starring in the theatrical and 1981 film version of Zoot Suit, a musical about the wrongful persecution of a group of young Mexican-Americans in the 1940s. The character actors raw and emotional intensity often found him cast in tough guy roles, from a Mohawk-sporting flight trainee in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) to a Mexican bandit in
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