http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/26/obit.widmark.ap/index.html

Tough-guy actor Richard Widmark dies at 93
March 26, 2008 -- Updated 1834 GMT (0234 HKT)

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- Richard Widmark, who made a sensational film debut as the giggling killer in "Kiss of Death" and became a Hollywood leading man in "Broken Lance," "Two Rode Together" and 40 other films, has died after a long illness. He was 93.

Widmark's wife, Susan Blanchard, says the actor died at his home in Roxbury on Monday. She would not provide details of his illness and said funeral arrangements are private.

"It was a big shock, but he was 93," Blanchard said.

After a career in radio drama and theater, Widmark moved to films as 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; it was his only mention for an Oscar.

"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 such a ridiculous beast."

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."

Two years out of college, Widmark reached New York in 1938 during the heyday of radio. His mellow Midwest voice made him a favorite in soap operas, and he found himself racing from studio to studio.

Rejected by the Army because of a punctured eardrum, Widmark began appearing in theater productions in 1943. His first was a comedy hit on Broadway, "Kiss and Tell." He was appearing in the Chicago company of "Dream Girl" with June Havoc when 20th Century Fox signed him to a seven-year contract. He almost missed out on the "Kiss of Death" role.

"The director, Henry Hathaway, didn't want me," the actor recalled. "I have a high forehead; he thought I looked too intellectual." The director was overruled by studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck, and Hathaway "gave me kind of a bad time."

An immediate star, Widmark appeared in 20 Fox films from 1947 to 1954. Among them: "The Street With No Name," "Road House," "Yellow Sky," "Down to the Sea in Ships," "Slattery's Hurricane," "Panic in the Streets," "No Way Out," "The Halls of Montezuma," "The Frogmen," "Red Skies of Montana," "My Pal Gus" and the Samuel Fuller film noir "Pickup on South Street."

In 1952, he starred in "Don't Bother to Knock" with Marilyn Monroe. He told an interviewer in later years:

"She wanted to be this great star but acting just scared the hell out of her. That's why she was always late -- couldn't get her on the set. She had trouble remembering lines. But none of it mattered. With a very few special people, something happens between the lens and the film that is pure magic. ... And she really had it."

After leaving Fox, Widmark's career continued to flourish. He starred (as Jim Bowie) with John Wayne in "The Alamo," with James Stewart in John Ford's "Two Rode Together," as the U.S. prosecutor in "Judgment at Nuremberg," and with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas in "The Way West." He also played the Dauphin in "St. Joan," and had roles in "How the West Was Won," "Death of a Gunfighter," "Murder on the Orient Express," "Midas Run" and "Coma."

"Madigan," a 1968 film with Widmark as a loner detective, was converted to television and lasted one season in 1972-73. It was Widmark's only TV series.

He also was in some TV films, including "Cold Sassy Tree" and "Once Upon a Texas Train."

Richard Widmark was born December 26, 1914, in Sunrise, Minn., where his father ran a general store, then became a traveling 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 3, but I don't recall having any interest in acting," he said.

But at Lake Forest College, he became a protege of the drama teacher and met his future wife, drama student Ora Jean Hazlewood.

In later years, Widmark appeared sparingly in films and TV. He explained to Parade magazine in 1987: "I've discovered in my dotage that I now find the whole moviemaking process irritating. I don't have the patience anymore. I've got a few more years to live, and I don't want to spend them sitting around a movie set for 12 hours to do two minutes of film."

When he wasn't working, he and his wife lived on a horse ranch in Hidden Valley, California, or on a farm in Connecticut. Their daughter Ann became the wife of baseball immortal Sandy Koufax.

Sad, loved his work, especially on The Frogmen, Pick-up on South Street and The Bedford Incident. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

I saw a trailer for Alverez Kelly on TCM just last night and was wondering whether Widmark was still with us. First thing I ever saw him in was The Long Ships when I was 8 years old. In hindsight, that movie wasn't exactly a career highlight for Widmark. As I got older and was exposed to more of his work, I really came to appreciate the quality of his acting. Widmark was just cool.

Sad...another fine actor gone. I grew up watching his movies...a TV-movie he did, BROCK'S LAST CASE, is a favorite of mine, as is WHEN THE LEGENDS DIE.

If Hollywood had made an A-List Batman movie in 1947, Widmark would have made a perfect Joker.

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z43/sevenarts/cinema/kissofdeath.jpg

It was a shock to die at 93 ?? I hope I live that long.
My two favorite movies of his was Cheyenne Autum and
Hell and High Water. 2 great movies. He will be missed.

Holy crap, Zorro! yer right! AH hahahahahahahaha!!!

Tonight, I'll watch "Judgment at Nuremberg" in his honor.
May he rest in everlasting peace. :(

If Hollywood had made an A-List Batman movie in 1947, Widmark would have made a perfect Joker.He would have made a good Riddler too -- you can see elements of his screen persona in both Jack Nicholson and Frank Gorshin.

Two of my favorite performance of his are, coincidentally, both starring opposite Sidney Poitier: as a hate-filled bigot in No Way Out, and as a tough-minded navy captain in The Bedford Incident.

A shock that he died at 93? When you reach your ninth decade, it's a shock when you live another day! He'll be missed.

Oh crap...comPLETEly forgot about DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER...never did understand why "Alan Smithee" put his name on it...very good movie.

Oh crap...comPLETEly forgot about DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER...never did understand why "Alan Smithee" put his name on it...very good movie.
From the IMDb trivia page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064217/trivia):

"Star Richard Widmark and original director Robert Totten had "artistic differences," and Totten was replaced by Don Siegel. When the film was completed, Siegel, saying that Totten directed more of the film than he did, refused to take screen credit for it, but Widmark didn't want Totten's name on it. A compromise was reached whereby the film was credited to the fictitious "Alan Smithee" (originally to be called Al Smith, but the DGA said there had already been a director by that name), thereby setting a precedent for directors who, for one reason or another, did not want their name on a film they made."