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Appearing in the better part of 100 movies over a career that spanned 50 years, Richard Widmark is a man that everyone has seen at multiple points in their movie-watching lives. Although not a "superstar" on his own, he played supporting roles alongside the biggest names there ever were: with John Wayne in How The West Was Won and The Alamo, Gregory Peck and Anne Baxter in Yellow House, Spencer Tracy and Burt Lancaster in Judgement at Nuremberg, or holding Marilyn Monroe in his arms in Don't Bother To Knock.
He was cast in lead roles after his notorious debut in 1947 as a cackling maniac who pushes an old woman in a wheelchair down a huge flight of stairs to her death in Kiss Me Deadly. Notable roles were in primarily film noir vehicles such as Night and the City, Panic In The Streets, and the incredible Sam Fuller-directed Pickup On South Street.
Always humble and self-deprecating, the AP quotes Widmark, often cast as a gangster or gunslinger, as an advocate of gun control "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". Widmark, who died at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, was also an environmentalist, who convinced his neighbor, Walter Matthau, to help him support the purchase and preservation of vast tracks of land in their town to provide contiguous open space for wildlife, no mean task in this very expensive and development-pressured area. As someone who has visited the preserve, I can say that he helped save a beautiful place that will continue to entertain generations to come, much like his films.
Here's to hoping that Turner Classic Movies provides us with a Widmark retrospective in the near future.
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Such a versatile actor Widmark was, and what a wonderful career he had. In the wake of Roy Scheider and Brad Renfro's absence from the "In Memorium" segment of last month's Oscars maybe we should cc: this post to the Academy so they make sure not to leave Widmark out next year.
P.S. Thanks for the tip on "Pickup on South Street." Never heard of it but it's just been added to my Netflix list.
Will, thanks for your note. Definitely check out "Pickup On South Street" - noir at its best!
I'll always remember Richard Widmark from his appearance on I Love Lucy. Lucy climbed over his fence to steal a grapefruit, fell over his wall and could not get out.
Lucy then had to sneak through his house to leave through the front door, and while hiding she pretended to be a bear by hiding under a bear skin rug.
Richard Widmark picked up his shotgun and, with Lucy's husband Ricky next to him pretended he was going to shoot Lucy.
I'm not doing this episode justice, but I would have never known Mr. Widmark were it not for his appearance on that classic episode.
Yeah sithandra, that's a great episode and the fact that Widmark was the straightman for what was the biggest show on television gives one an idea of his status as a star at that time.
Tom,
I can only imagine how big a star Mr. Widmark was during this golden era. I only know these stars through I Love Lucy (I'm not much for renting DVDs ) but I know their names due to countless viewings of I Love Lucy reruns over the years. All I know is if they were on her show, they must have been huge stars in the 1950s:
--Richard Widmark (episode I described above)
--Robert Taylor ( Lucy also took an orange from his back yard during the same episode)
--William Holden (Lucy accidentally threw a pie in his face)
-- Van Johnson (Lucy did a routine with Van)
-- John Wayne (Lucy stole his footprints from Grauman's Chinese Theatre with her best friend and landlady Ethel Mertz)
-- Bob Hope (Lucy caused him to get hit in the head with a baseball at a Mets game)
I do know Bob Hope and John Wayne but not because of their movies (though I am sure they were good actors). I just know Bob Hope from his charity work with the USO, and John Wayne, well just because he's John Wayne.
I am such an I Love Lucy nerd, but Lucy was and is the greatest comedienne of all time.
Here's to all of those great stars and especially to Mr. Widmark.
I remember that episode with William Holden (a favorite of mine) but I didn't know about Van Johnson being on the show - gotta keep my eye open for that!
To "sithandra" regarding Robert Taylor on I Love Lucy. Actually, he was never on the show. They just always talked about the orange that he autographed for Lucy. And she got it at the Farmer's Market, not his yard. The only yard she got fruit from was Richard Widmark's.
Mr. Widmark's first movie was called "Kiss Of Death" which co-starred Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy and Coleen Gray. Being a member of the Richard Widmark Fan Club I represent a group of people around the world that admired Mr. Widmark's film work and also for the family man he was. He will be sorely missed but his films will be watched for many years to come.