Posted on 03/26/2008 9:37:09 AM PDT by lunarbicep
Love 'The Duke' and his movies - but afraid he was not a very nice man, personally - and he had - what - 5 wives and lots of liaisons?
I only saw him in person one time and a lady greeted him with: "Mr. Wayne. Welcome. How are you!"
To which he replied, with a smirk: "Still able to, lady..."
The woman was a bit taken back and embarrassed.
I thought it was rather crude. 'Don't think Mr. Widmark ever was a rude...
It's rather a dichotomy. We tend to ascribe the actor with the characteristics of the parts they play. Thus, John Wayne, who never served but played the part of war heroes, was held up as a super American - and he WAS patriotic, no doubt about it. But that didn't necessarily translate to a gentleman on a personal level.
Mr. Widmark played many a villain, but he was a real gentleman in private life.
A fine actor and gentleman. Whenever I hear of one of these actors passing away, I am reminded of how we took the actors of the 40s and 50s for granted. They will never come this way again, unfortunately.
RIP.
Awwwww, RIP Mr.Widmark.
"One fired, sir!"
"One fired, sir!"
(Whoops! Itchy trigger finger of my own!)
I always knew Wally Cox would end up blowing up the world.
A passionate liberal Democrat, Mr. Widmark played a bigot who baits a black doctor in Joseph Mankiewicz’s “No Way Out” (1950). He was so embarrassed by the character that after every scene he apologized to the young actor he was required to torment, Sidney Poitier.
I think that if it embarassed him so much, then a man of more integrity would have turned down the role. I've quit jobs where they asked me to do things that I didn't agree with.
However, this assumes that the reporter got the story right, and it wasn't embellished the least bit. A big assumption, to be sure.
His son-in-law was.....
Sandy Koufax
I mostly know him from the episode of “I Love Lucy” he appeared in while the Ricardos were in Hollywood.
Don’t forget “Panic in the Streets”. Maybe the only film to feature the Comissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service!
I always enjoyed Richard Widmark's acting, but as to him as a person, I witnessed one episode of his life that may not be a true indicator of his entire character, but it sure stuck in my memory.
From the Fall of 1963 to the Spring of 1964, I lived in Gunnison, Colorado. I was a junior in high school and my Father was then the Project Manager on the building of Blue Mesa Dam. The crew and cast of Cheyenne Autumn came to Gunnison for a few days to film a portion of the John Ford film. They stayed at a swanky all-log motel called, IIRC, Tomachie (SP?) Lodge, just outside town on the road back east towards Salida.
Dad came home that evening and took me and my Mom out to Tomachie Lodge. We got there about 8 to have dinner. As we passed the entrance to the bar, Dad pointed out John Ford and Richard Widmark drinking with several others. In the dinning room was Gilbert Roland, one of my Mom's favorite actors. As he left the restaurant, he passed by our table and Mom smiled at him. He gave her a big smile back. BTW My Mom was some looker back in the day.
Later, just as we were finishing up our meal, there was a loud crash, followed by the sounds of a fist fight highlighted by the unmistakable voice of Rickard Widmark shouting, "You son-of-a-bitch!"
As we looked back out the door into the lobby, Widmark and some other guy came rolling by in a blur of limbs and fists. They rolled on out of sight then a group of men ran past the doorway after them. Shortly, the fight sounds subsided and then the whole group, Widmark included, came walking back toward the bar.
May Dad was tickled by the whole thing, but Mom was mortified that Widmark has said "son-of-a-bitch" out loud in public. Different morals, different days.
As we left, the group, including Ford and Widmark were loudly drinking away their troubles.
Anyway, the rest of the story goes Tomachie Lodge tossed out the whole kit and kaboodle later that night after another brawl or two started and they all moved down to the Dos Rios Motel near our house on an island in the Gunnison River. In a couple of days, they were gone but not forgotten.
Don't know if Richard Widmark, John Ford or The Duke were real gentlemen or not in their private lives. The books I've read on Ford mark him as being a true SOB at many times (BTW read Maureen O'Hara's Tis Herself: A Memoir for some eye opening remarks on Pappy!) and John Wayne as a man who liked to drink, smoke and live his life pretty much the way he wanted without any apologies.
I've not read anything about Widmark's character one way or the other, but his shouting "You son-of-a-bitch!" and rolling by the dinning room doorway will be with me until they place me six feet down.
I see Karl Malden in that pic. Can you believe he’s still here at age 96?! Rest in Peace, Mr. Widmark.
that’s pretty cool
RIP Mr. Widmark. I always enjoyed your movies.
It... 
still is!
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