Richard Widmark, Actor, Dies at 93

[pgoat]

Richard widmark, RIP

Sorry to report, another great one has left us....he had a good run and then some.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Widmark

 

[PADDY]

Oh no...

This news really saddens me. Why oh why..?[huh]

 

[LizzieMaine]

A good friend of mine, the late radio actress Florence Williams, loved to talk about working with Mr. Widmark at the very start of his career in the radio serial "Front Page Farrell." It was his first leading role, and he was always very nervous, wondering if he was doing well -- even though the scripts were the worst kind of formula slop, he always wanted to give the best possible performance. She remembered him as a very quiet, kind man -- totally at odds with the screen image of the guy who pushes old ladies down flights of stairs in wheelchairs....

 

[pgoat]

earlier in life I totally associated him with that sinister persona (he would have made a great "riddler" on batman), but in recent years I think my favorite performance of his was as the prosecutor in Judgement at Nuremberg. A very powerful performance; very low key, but strong enough to stand out, even with that amazing cast.

He'll be missed.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I'd like to put in a good word for Panic In The Streets - a sharp little 1950 police drama (directed by Elia Kazan) where Widmark plays a New Orleans health inspector trying to track down plague-carrying illegal immigrants. It uses Widmark's intensity to excellent effect...

 

[dhermann1]

As I recall he did a great Benjamin Franklin. He portrayed him as he really was, rather than the rolly polly stereotype we have of Franklin. Great actor.
Mortality sucks.

 

[Feraud]

A while ago there was talk of doing a Richard Widmark apprecation evening. I am sorry it never happened.

 

[Hondo]

Richard Widmark, Actor, Dies at 93

By ALJEAN HARMETZ
Published: March 26, 2008
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.

Such a Terrible loss, he was a great guy, lived a long life, R.I.P.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/arts/26cnd-widmark.html?ref=arts

 

[skyvue]

It's never a surprise when a 93-year-old man passes; still, I can't help but feel saddened by this news.

He was one of her favorite actors when she was young, my mom once told me, and he was one of mine, too. His career was long and varied, but he particularly left his mark on my beloved film noir genre. KISS OF DEATH, THE STREET WITH NO NAME, ROAD HOUSE, NIGHT AND THE CITY, PANIC IN THE STREETS, NO WAY OUT, PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET -- that's a career's worth of darkly entertaining highlights right there.

In 2001, the Walter Reade theatre at NYC's Lincoln Center held a 16-film retrospective to honor Widmark. They showed most of the aforementioned films, with a western or two thrown in for good measure. But the best part was that Widmark was on hand for several of the screenings.

Here's what I wrote at the time following the opening night double-bill:

Tonight launched the Walter Reade's Richard Widmark festival. It was great. They showed NIGHT AND THE CITY and PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET. Both were good-to-great prints, and Widmark himself was on hand to answer questions after each film.

The man's 87 and doesn't appear a day over 65. You'd recognize him if you saw him on the street. He's spry, and his memory is sharp. The only sign of age is his pure white hair (looks good), and the fact that he seems to be a bit hard of hearing.

He received standing ovations at both appearances and seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself.

He said the three actors with whom he would happily work anytime, any place (including today, he said, if they were still around) are Jimmy Stewart, Spencer Tracy, and Henry Fonda. He said he learned more from that trio than from every other actor he ever worked with, combined.​

I'm now kicking myself for not recording more of Widmark's remarks from that memorable evening, but I'm glad I put down for posterity what I did. I was thrilled to attend the event, and I guess I held out hope that one day there'd be a follow-up.

And there may well be, but Widmark, alas, won't be in attendance.

Rest in peace, Mr. Widmark, and thanks.

 

[jake_fink]

Lots of great work and a long life. If you gotta go, and we all gotta go, that's how to do it.

 

[blacklagoon]

That is sad news. R.I.P Richard Widmark.
He was magnificent in the old radio plays,and his performances melted beautifully into screen.A serious sad loss to the movie industry,he will be greatly missed.

 

[Avalon]

Rest well, Mr Widmark, and know you were loved. :eusa_clap

 

[Tomasso]

One of my aunts was a classmate of his at Lake Forest College, outside Chicago. She said he was the handsomest, wittiest and friendliest fellow on campus. All the girls swooned over him. When my aunt learned he was playing in "Kiss of Death" she and a bunch of her former classmates all went to see the movie together. They were shocked by his performance as they expected to see sweet old Dickie instead of a homicidal maniac.

 

[Shearer]

Oh, I was away from the computer and news all day and I was so sad to hear about this.

Who can forget his laugh in Kiss of Death?

 

[Solid Citizen]

HALLS of MONTEZUMA

Boy, Widmark had a long life & career! Always enjoyed the 1950 WWII flic above with him!

Solid Citizen

 

[Harley Quinn]

Reading the obits, he appears to have been an allround 'good egg'...

This memory from Sidney Poitier

[Widmark] was the most pleasant and refreshing surprise in my initial exposure to the Hollywood scene. The reality of Widmark was a thousand miles from the characters he played. That shy, gentle, very private person helped me to learn the ropes of filmmaking and was among the first in Hollywood . . . to open his home to me socially.

and another measure of the man (from the man himself)

"I never thought I was a star,I always figured I was a working actor waiting for the next job.[Fame is ...] all baloney and could blow away in a minute."

I grew up on Sunday afternoons with Mr Widmark as often the most watchable thing in the movie...

93 is a damned fine crack at wicket, in any dialect... still, sad to know he's not out there somewhere any more...

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

I love Richard Widmark. Of course I'm very sad to see him go. I always dreamed of meeting him, but if that was unlikely when I found out he was still living about a year age, it's totally impossible now!

One of the most totally real, at times very scary, and wonderful actors ever. I was reading about his performance in "No Way Out", and after acting out many of his most intense scenes in this movie, he would apologize for the racist things he had to say to the man acting the part of the black Doctor (even though it was just his part and makes the movie one of the most powerful anti racist movies I have ever seen). It's amazing how scary he could be on screen compared to the real "Mr. Nice Guy" that he really was.

He will be much missed! The departure is always to soon for me.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Wow. I expected ten more years at least.
Did Feraud and Senator Jack ever have that birthday party (I think it was to have been for his 92nd) for Richard Widmark?

 

[Hondo]

Harley Quinn: I grew up on Sunday afternoons with Mr Widmark as often the most watchable thing in the movie...

Same here, I’ll forever remember Richard Widmark from those Saturday afternoon westerns but one of the most memorable films in the early 1960s was The Long Ships along with all those adventure movies with Steve Reeves as Hercules.
The Long Ships was a totally different Widmark film, one of my first big screen theater viewing movies, he could be tough and funny. Thanks for posting the Sidney Poitier comments, they were good together, don’t make actors like Richard Widmark any more. R.I.P.

Looking for a rousing Viking adventure that's cheesy and entertaining? The Long Ships is just the movie for you. As England's greatest color cinematographer, Jack Cardiff had filmed 1958's The Vikings, so he was well-prepared to direct this exciting, occasionally grisly mini-epic (a British/Yugoslavian coproduction, filmed in Yugoslavia), which received mixed-to-favorable reviews when released in 1964. Back then, it was a perfect matinee marvel if you were young and impressionable, and it's still worth its weight in hot buttered popcorn. While that most contemporary of actors, Richard Widmark, is clearly out of place as a maverick Norse warrior, he's sufficiently valiant as he guides his Viking brother (Russ Tamblyn, still hot from West Side Story) and a long-ship full of warriors in search of a huge, solid-gold bell coveted by Mansuh (Sidney Poitier), a Moorish prince obsessed with retrieving the legendary bell at any cost. Treacherous maelstroms, lovely damsels, corny battles, and casual humor make The Long Ships a lot of fun--like a Ray Harryhausen adventure without the animated creatures. (Oh, and Mr. Poitier? James Brown called... he wants his hair back.) --Jeff Shannon

 

[pgoat]

my favorite performance of his was as the prosecutor in Judgement at Nuremberg. A very powerful performance; very low key, but strong enough to stand out, even with that amazing cast.

wow - a double whammy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abby_Mann