Posted on 03/26/2008 9:37:09 AM PDT by lunarbicep
Richard Widmark, who created a villain in his first movie role who was so repellent and frightening that the actor became a star overnight, died Monday at his home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 93.
His death was announced Wednesday morning by his wife, Susan Blanchard. She said that Mr. Widmark had fractured a vertebrae in recent months and that his conditioned had worsened.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I thought he had died long ago. RIP, Richard.
No pun intended.
Rest in Peace.
Wow. Was unaware that he was still alive.
Quite a body of work
Remember him from: The Bedford Incident, How the West Was Won and Judgment at Nuremberg
Everything here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001847/
RIP... A most excellent actor.
Cheyenne Autumn, Warlock, and Halls of Montezuma are 3 good ones.
Jim Bowie, Tommy Udo, the Nuremberg Prosecutor ... a lot of good memories of Widmark from the days when acting was an art. He was also Sandy Koufax’s former father-in-law.
Night And The City , Pick Up On South Street . Must see Classics.
Jim Bowie - that’s the role I remember his at the best.
Salute, Mr. Widmark. Another of the Golden Age has left us behind.
My goodness. I remember him from my childhood. He had a long and successful career. RIP.
He was so evil in “Murder On The Orient Express” that you actually rooted for killers..RIP to a Hollywood giant
He added: “The businessmen who run Hollywood today have no self-respect. What interests them is not movies but the bottom line. Look at ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ which turns idiocy into something positive, or ‘Forrest Gump,’ a hymn to stupidity. ‘Intellectual’ has become a dirty word.”He also vowed he would never appear on a talk show on television, saying, “When I see people destroying their privacy — what they think, what they feel — by beaming it out to millions of viewers, I think it cheapens them as individuals"
A brilliant actor, and one who didn’t let his politics (liberal Democrat, per the NYT story) get in the way of simply entertaining the public. One of the last of the greats, especially in The Bedford Incident, which is an incredibly gripping movie.
}:-)4
He was like Joseph Cotten, who also died last year. Could play any role, an incredible and believable range of characters (Cotten played a serial killer, a reporter in Citizen Kane who calls Hearst on the carpet and loses his job for it, and the “good guy” in the Third Man who ultimately helps get rid of the evil friend). Similarly, Widmark could play a leering lunatic (Tommy Udo), heroic battler (Bowie) and a righteous prosecuror (Judgment at Nuremberg).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.