Richard Widmark passes away

[Greg C.]

From Mo Jones over at TheAlamoFilm Site:

Hi my friends

This has just been announced on our T V News over here

Mo

God Bless Him

R I P Mr Widmark

News Sadder Than Death !!!!!!!!!!

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7315340.st


Actor Richard Widmark dies at 93

Widmark made more than 70 films over 40 years
Hollywood star Richard Widmark has died at the age of 93 after a long illness, his wife Susan Blanchard has announced.
The prolific actor, who often portrayed killers and gunslingers, made a memorable big-screen debut in 1947 as a giggling psychopath in Kiss of Death.

He went on to star in such 50s classics as Night and the City, Pickup on South Street and the western Broken Lance.

The craggy-faced actor died at his home in Connecticut on Monday, his wife told the Associated Press news agency.

Born in Minnesota in 1914, Widmark began his career in radio and theatre before playing Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death.

'Damned laugh'

The film landed him an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe award for best newcomer.

"That damned laugh of mine!" he said 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."

Subsequent films included 1952's Don't Bother to Knock, in which he co-starred with Marilyn Monroe, and Cold War submarine drama The Bedford Incident, which he also produced.

Madigan, in which he played a loner detective, became a short-lived TV series in 1972.

[Cole_blooded]

Sad day for the movie business and fans alike with his passing as they don`t make any more classic actors like they used to!

TED COLE....aka....Cole_blooded

[Greg C.]

Widmark had a type of grit in his acting that made him unique from any other actor. He will be sorely missed.

[neferetus]

And this, from Rich Curilla:

Gang,

Here is a link to a New York Times obituary for, alas, Richard Widmark.

Richard

www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/arts/26cnd-widmark.html?em&ex=1206676800&en=76aab41331710fe7&ei=5087%0A

[Greg C.]

I deleted the other thread. This is what Bromhead24 had to say...

bromhead24 said:

Hollywood star Richard Widmark, who has died at the age of 93, was a prolific and versatile film actor.

After an early career in radio drama and theatre, he made his big screen debut as a demented killer in the 1948 film in Kiss of Death.


His role as Tommy Udo was a sensation, and earned him his one and only Oscar nomination, for best supporting actor.


The film features a chilling scene where Udo ties up an old lady in a wheelchair with a piece of cord then shoves her down a flight of stairs to her death, as he laughs manically.

Widmark later told an interviewer that the laugh was born of nervousness.

"When in doubt, I'd laugh," he said. "And since this was my first picture and the mechanics of picture-making were new to me, I laughed a lot."

'TV series'


Widmark portrayed a string of killers, cops and cowboy gunslingers on film, which was in sharp contrast to is rather shy nature. He often insisted that he hated guns.


After Kiss of Death he became a Hollywood leading man in films like Judgment at Nuremberg, Broken Lance, Two Rode Together, The Street With No Name, Road House, and some 70 other films.

While attached to 20th Century Fox - with whom he made over 20 films - he starred opposite Marilyn Monroe in the 1952 film Don't Bother to Knock.



Widmark's film career slowed in the 1970s, but he remained active in made-for-TV movies.


In 1972 he starred in his own TV series Madigan, which was based on his 1968 hit movie of the same name, but only six episodes were made.




Marilyn Monroe was Widmark's co-star in Don't Bother To Knock



Widmark's last film, the made-for-TV Lincoln - about the former US President - was broadcast in 1992.


Richard Widmark was born on 26 December 1914, in Sunrise, Minnesota, where his father ran a general store, then became a travelling salesman.

The family moved around before settling in Princeton, Illinois.

"Like most small-town boys, I had the urge to get to the big city and make a name for myself," he recalled in a 1954 interview.

"I was a movie nut from the age of three, but I don't recall having any interest in acting," he said.

At Lake Forest College, he became a protege of the drama teacher and a career in acting beckoned.

Two years out of college, Widmark reached New York in 1938 during the heyday of radio.

His mellow Midwest tones made him a soap opera favourite, and he found himself in demand.


'Bad time'

Rejected by the Army because of a punctured eardrum, Widmark began appearing in theatre productions in 1943.

His first was a comedy hit on Broadway, Kiss and Tell, and he was appearing a Chicago production of Dream Girl when 20th Century Fox signed him to a seven-year contract.


But Widmark almost missed out on the memorable role in Kiss of Death that secured his Hollywood status.

"The director, Henry Hathaway, didn't want me," he recalled. "I have a high forehead; he thought I looked too intellectual."

The director was eventually overruled by studio bosses but Hathaway "gave me kind of a bad time," Widmark added.

[neferetus]

Tony Pasqua's tribute to Richard Widmark.

[pwstines]

Widmark was a founding member of Handgun Controll an organization whose goal was a complete ban and confiscation of ALL HANDGUNS. Being a left winger he lived a double standard. He once said "I abhorr violence" but the majority of his films were full of it. A hypocrite ? Yes. Obnoxious and loud mouth ? I talked to several guys who were extras in the film. I can't print what they said about Widmark. Lets just say he was NOT one of my favorites. He was a horrible choice for Bowie.