One of the Last Living Members of ‘The Dirty Dozen’ Has Died (VIDEO)

August 11, 2020 Victor Medina

The Dirty Dozen has lost one of their own, as actor/singer Trini Lopez has died at the age of 83.

According to Variety, Lopez died in Palm Springs, California, his home since the 1960s. He reportedly died of complications of COVID-19, contracted after having surgery.

Released in 1967, The Dirty Dozen is widely regarded as an action classic. Lopez played Pedro Jimenez, one of the convicts recruited on a suicide mission against the Nazis in World War II. Of the original cast, only Donald Sutherland, Jim Brown, Stuart Cooper and Colin Maitland remain of the original Dozen.

Born and raised in the “Little Mexico” section of Dallas, Texas, Lopez got his first gig when Jack Ruby allowed him to play in one of his clubs. After Buddy Holly heard him play, he helped Lopez sign with Columbia Records.

Variety has more on Lopez.

Born Trinidad Lopez III in Dallas, Texas, his parents were both from Mexico. Lopez started playing in bands at 15 and in 1958, his group the Big Beats signed with Columbia Records after recording with Buddy Holly producer Norman Petty. Lopez went solo shortly afterward and signed with King Records, for whom he released a series of unsuccessful singles before leaving the label in 1962. He soon scored a residency at the Los Angeles nightclub PJ’s, where Frank Sinatra saw his show and signed him to his Reprise Records in 1963.
That year, his debut album, “Trini Lopez at PJ’s,” included a cover of “If I Had a Hammer” that was a global smash, topping the charts in multiple countries and reaching No. 3 in the U.S. Another live album followed, along with more hits over the next several years, including “Lemon Tree,” “I’m Comin’ Home, Cindy,” “Sally Was a Good Old Girl,” “Michael,” “Gonna Get Along Without Ya’ Now” and “The Bramble Bush.”

At the height of his singing career, Lopez was cast in The Dirty Dozen, where he performed his song “The Bramble Bush.”