Actor Rod Steiger dead at 78

Associated Press ^ | July 9, 2002 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

Actor Rod Steiger dead at 78

07/09/2002

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Rod Steiger, the beefy, intense actor who won the Academy Award as best actor of 1967 for his role as the unrelenting Southern police chief in "In the Heat of the Night," died Tuesday. He was 78.

Steiger died at a Los Angeles-area hospital of pneumonia and kidney failure, said his publicist, Lori De Waal.

AP

Rod Steiger

A devoted practitioner of method acting, Steiger prided himself in undertaking challenging roles, especially real-life persons. "My generation of actors was taught to be able to create different people; that's what an actor is supposed to do," he explained.

In movies and television, he convincingly portrayed such figures as Mussolini, Rasputin, Pope John XXIII, Rudolph Hess, Pontius Pilate, Napoleon, W.C. Fields and Al Capone.

"I'm 60 percent virgin and 40 percent whore," he claimed in a 2000 TV interview. "I've not sold out that much, and I've made my own mistakes."

He admitted that he made a big mistake in declining the lead in "Patton," believing the film would glorify war and killing. George C. Scott played the role, and it brought him an Academy Award, which he refused.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/070902dnentsteiger.637d4752.html

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Me too.

[Thisiswhoweare]

We thank him for a life well spent/invested. May we all be so remembered.

[LisaFab]

He admitted that he made a big mistake in declining the lead in "Patton," believing the film would glorify war and killing.

Good actor. Bad American. Nowadays, bad actors and bad Americans.

BTW, I also loved him as Jud Frye.

"A candle lights his head."

[Moonmad27]

What a shame. Saw Steiger April 1 at the ceremony when the star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame was dedicated to Ray Bradbury. (Illustrated Man, makes sense!). He and his wife(?) were both wearing futuristic medallions that I recall were worn by the characters in the Illustrated Man, which was a nice touch for the event.

[Slip18]

The "Illustrated Man" was one of my favorites.

[hellinahandcart]

"He looks like he's asleep;
It's a shame that he won't keep--
But it's summer, and we're runnin' out of ice!"

[Prodigal Son]

Was Steiger the voice for the Twilight Zone? I'm wrong, I just know it, but for some reason, my aging memory banks are tying his name to the narrator for that series.

[miss marmelstein]

And the immortal:

"You've got KUGELHOF?!"

from "No Way to Treat a Lady"

[Darth Reagan]

Rod Serling.

[drjimmy]

Rod Serling

[Petronski]

We thank him for a life well spent/invested. May we all be so remembered.

I might just have to pop Zhivago in the DVD player tonight. Great performance.

[Non-Sequitur]

That's Rod Serling. He wrote almost all the Twilight Zone episodes himself.

[spectre]

Rod always played the man I loved to hate...and he was GOOD! A wonderful actor.

sw

[RightWhale]

Steiger would have brought him to life rather than doing a caricature of him.

[Non-Sequitur]

Back in the early 50's there was a Playhouse 90-type of show where the acting was broadcast live. Very few of the performances were filmed but one that was was the first performance of Paddy Chayefsky's teleplay of "Marty". Rod Steiger played Marty, the butcher, the self-proclaimed "short ugly little man" and Nancy Marchand played the plain-Jane girl he hooked up with. Somehow PBS got a copy and ran it about 20 years ago. It was without a doubt the finest hour of television drama I have ever seen and completely blew the doors off of the movie version that Ernest Borgnine won his Oscar for.

[Positive]

Shouldn't the title be "Alive Until 78."?

The radical liberal is dead and he lived 78 years.

[dogbyte12]

The radical liberal is dead and he lived 78 years.

Get a life. His acting is being honored as he has died, not his politics. See, the two things are being split apart in this discussion. I don't know if Mozart would be a democrat or a Republican. I better check before I pop my CD of his music in though. Why don't you check that out for me buddy.

[mikeb704]

That's Rod Serling. He wrote almost all the Twilight Zone episodes himself.

92 out of 156. But who's countin'?

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[wheezer]

The Loved One

One of my all time favorite black comedies.

His monologue about shopping for, and then serving, his mom's dinner was as tremendous as it was disturbing.

[StoneColdGOP]

Damn shame, another good one lost.