Richard Widmark dies at 93

[OmahaBlueDog]

From his obit on AP:

"A quiet, inordinately shy man, Widmark often portrayed killers, cops and Western gunslingers. But he said he hated guns.

'I know I've made kind of a half-assed career out of violence, but I abhor violence,' he remarked in a 1976 Associated Press interview. 'I am an ardent supporter of gun control. It seems incredible to me that we are the only civilized nation that does not put some effective control on guns.'"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obit_widmark

[terrya]

1. The last movie I saw him in was "Twlight's Last Gleaming"

Which *I* personally liked.

Widmark was especially good in "Kiss of Death"

Sorry to hear about this.

[Suich]

2. He was one of my favorites. n/t

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. He was gonna shoot Lucy Ricardo, too

while he was showing Ricky his guns and the critters he'd bagged in big-game hunting.



Dude could flat act, though.

[trof]

4. And he was a self described liberal.

Richard Widmark was born on Boxing Day (the Day After Christmas) in 1914 in Sunrise, Minnesota. He says that he loved the movies from his boyhood, claiming "I've been a movie bug since I was 4. My grandmother used to take me". The teen-aged Widmark continued to go to the movies, and was thrilled by Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931). "I thought Boris Karloff was great", Widmark said. Although he loved the movies and excelled at public speaking while attending high school, Widmark attended Lake Forest College with the idea of becoming a lawyer. However, he won the lead role in a college production of, fittingly enough, the play "Consellor-at-Law", and the acting bug bit deep.

After taking his bachelor of arts degree in 1936, he stayed on at Lake Forest as the Assistant Director of Speech and Drama. However, he soon quit the job and moved to New York to become an actor, and by 1938, he was appearing on radio in "Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories". He made his Broadway debut in 1943 in the play "Kiss and Tell", and continued to appear on stage in roles that were light years away from the tough cookies he would play in his early movies. After World War II, he was signed by 20th Century Fox to a seven-year contract. After seeing his screen-test for the role of "Tommy Udo", 20th boss Darryl F. Zanuck insisted that the slight, blonde Widmark - no one's idea of a heavy, particularly after his stage work - be cast as the psychopath in Kiss of Death (1947), which had been prepared as a Victor Mature vehicle.

Even though the role was small, Widmark stole the picture. 20th Century Fox's publicity department recommended that exhibitors market the film by concentrating on thumping the tub for their new anti-hero.
<snip>
In 1960, he was appearing in another notorious production, 'John Wayne''s ode to suicidal patriotism, " The Alamo" (1960), with the personally liberal Widmark playing Jim Bowie in support of the very-conservative Wayne's Davy Crockett. Along with character actor Chill Wills, Widmark arguably was the best thing in the movie.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001847/bio

[OmahaBlueDog]

5. Very nice

OT, I would point out that many liberal actors worked with Wayne and they got along fine.

IIRC, Wayne was more forgiving than many conservatives of Jane Fonda's visit to Hanoi.

[Forkboy]

6. The Bedford Incident was one of the first political movies I had ever seen.

Not even sure how much I understood the first time around, but I know I liked it.

He was a great actor, and very underrated.

R.I.P. Richard. :toast: