SHY MAN WHO PLAYED KILLERS,COPS, GUNSLINGERS
Hartford,Conn.--
Richard Widmark, who made his film debut as the giggling killer in Kiss of Death and became a Hollywood leading man, has died after a long illness. He was 93.
Mr. Widmark's wife, Susan Blanchard, said he died at his home in Connecticut on Monday.
After a career in radio drama and theater, Mr. Widmark moved to films as the character Tommy Udo, who delighted in pushing an old lady in a wheelchair to her death down a flight of stairs in the 1947 thriller Kiss of Death. The performance won him an Academy Award nomination as supporting actor.
"That damned laugh of mine!" he told a reporter in 1961. "For two years after that picture, you couldn't get me to smile. I played the part the way I did because the script struck me as funny, and the part I played made me laugh. The guy was just such a ridiculous beast."
A quiet, inordinately shy man, Mr. Widmark often protrayed killers, cops and Western gunslingers.But he said he hated guns.
Mr. Widmark appeared in 20 Fox films from 1957 to 1964.
After leaving Fox, he starred as Jim Bowie with John Wayne in The Alamo(the original), and with James Stewart in John Ford's Two Rode Together.
Madigan, a 1968 film, was converted for television and was Mr. Widmark's only TV series.
He was born Dec.26, 1914, in Sunrise, Minn. At Lake Forest College, he became a protege of the drama teacher and met his future wife, drama student Ora Jean Hazlewood. She died in 1997. He is survived by their daughter Anne and his second wife.
Oh man....it has always remained a toss up with me as to who I loved more..Richard Widmark or Randolph Scott.
Still can't decide...but I do know that my first 'sexual arousal'...came from watching one of Richard Widmark's movies...can't remember which one, but he and some blond were in a hammock and they kissed..and their lips sorta stuck together...and I felt a warm feeling in my stomach area...didn't have a clue to what it meant..but after that...?...I was gaga for Richard...I must have been 7-8 years old..Then he played Jim Bowie in The Alamo with John Wayne..that cinched it...I was in love..must have been 17 or so...and now here I am at 64 years old..and still in love with him...He was never movie star magazine fodder...was a good man..good husband, good father...and a terrific actor...so long Richard...I'm going to miss you...
If you get a chance..check out any movie with him in it..he was so good...
fuckme ....I'll never smile again...
13 comments:
Oh that poor guy but he lived a full life. Thanks for the visual on you first sexual arousal.
Judgment at Nuremberg, How the West was won, and the Bedford Incident. Loved him/them. That's when movie stars were true stars!!
And you know, of all the bullshit melodramatic movies that have been made ... why did John Wayne's Alamo get picked on so much? Name ANY movie before that that was adapted from a stage play -- and it's probably more melodramatic. It was just timing with Vietnam burgeoning and everything (granted -- with major Hollywood bullshit, but everything at the time had major Hollywood bullshit).
I'm just saying because I liked Richard's portrayal as Bowie in that movie.
I love old movies. I'm going to have to watch some of his.
awww sorry to hear. i'd like to check out a movie of his - do you have a favorite?
sage: when i told my granddaughter jenny about this post she looked at me and said..
thanks for sharing..haha..
jan:yup yup yup..he was so good..back when men were men and the horses were nervous..
gaddy;well, john wayne was such a right wing no holds barred republican and all of hollywood is left wing tree hugging liberal democrats..so they hated the movie because of his views on the war...plus chill wills was nominated for best supporting actor and he sent notes around to everyone asking for their vote..and the movie was up for awards and john wayne said if they didn't vote for it they were un american..it didn't stand a chance..sad too as richard widmark was fantastic as bowie..it and his very last movie are my 2 favorites..
rudegirl:you'll love his stuff..he was such a sweety..
tina:I liked his tv series madigan alot..and his last movie with jimmy stewart was terrific..
He played in Murder on The Orient Express with an all star cast when he was older and also in a Gene Wilder Gilda Radner movie that I forget the title of. These were both in the 80's. Of course he played bad guys in both.
He was good in everything he did.
widmark and mitchum.
there isn't a current actor who can hold a candle to those two.
Bummer, Dude.
At least he had a good long run, and it sounds like some good fun too!
You are cute - sharing your first "crush" with us. Well done and RIP Richard.
I liked him on the old TV show "Madigan" as well as "How the West was Won" and "Judgement at Nuremberg"...
nitwit:he was good in every movie he was in...rock solid every time..
bp:oh yes, robert mitchum...another favorite..
cheesy:yup...he lived a long good life..lucky for him..
tsduff:yeah, him and randolph scott...my childhood heroes..
daisy:yup..he did a lot of good work..wish he had done more tv...a good ole western..
Somewhere, buried on my hard drive, I have a sound file of John Wayne talking to a group of university students about his views of the war during the Vietnam era -- and he is just drunk as a fucking lord *chuckle*
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