Im probably the only actor who gave up a swimming pool to go out to Hollywood, Mr. Widmark told The New Yorker in 1961. In the 1970s, he continued to make his mark in movies and, beginning in 1971, in television. The film was well respected, and it won an Oscar nomination for best screenplay for the front of Hollywood 10 blacklistee Albert Maltz. Graduating in 1936, he spent two years as an instructor in the Lake Forest drama department, directing and acting in two dozen plays. Richard Widmark (he had no middle name) was born on Dec. 26, 1914, in Sunrise, Minn., and grew up throughout the Midwest. James StilesFinal film role In 1971, in search of better roles, he turned to television, starring as the President of the U.S. in the TV miniseries Vanished (1971). His father was of Swedish descent and his mother of English and Scottish ancestry. Free shipping for many products! He also featured in Halls of Montezuma (1951) and Don't Bother to Knock (1952) (with Marilyn Monroe), and appeared in two films for director Samuel Fuller: Pickup on South Street (1953) and Hell and High Water (1954). 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". From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Widmark was establishing himself as a real presence in the genre that later would be hailed as film noir. Richard Weedt Widmark (December 26, 1914 - March 24, 2008) was an American film, stage, and television actor and producer . Wymark married American playwright Olwen Buck (known as Olwen Wymark) in 1953; the couple met while both were students at University College, London. He thought it had become "mostly a mechanical processAll they want to do is move the camera around like it was on a rollercoaster. . His mobsters were drenched in evil. His stardom would peak around the time he played the U.S. prosecutor in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) as the 1950s segued into the 1960s, but he would continue to act for another 30 years. Heroes are Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum (2002). In television, Wymark was best known for his role as the machiavellian businessman John Wilder in the twin drama series The Plane Makers and The Power Game (which were broadcast from 1963 to 1969), which led to offers of real company directorships and the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 1965. Zodiac Sign: Richard Widmark was a Capricorn. Despite being showcased with all this thespian firepower, Widmark's character proved to be the axis on which the drama turned. Richard Burton The lead protagonist, Major John Smith, in Where Eagles Dare was played by Richard Burton. 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 . However, Wymark was a gentle person in real life and was, by his own admission . Both he and Widmark were hard-of-hearing (as well as balding and in need of help from the makeup department's wigmakers), so Ford would sit far away from them while directing scenes and then give them directions in a barely audible voice. By: Anonymous Our villains had no redeeming qualities. He was popular, having captured the public imagination, and before the decade was out, his hand- and footprints were immortalized in concrete in the court outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. In that same year, he appeared in Oscar-winning writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's No Way Out (1950) as a bigot who instigates a race riot. GB445558329. The publicity department at 20th Century-Fox recommended that exhibitors market the film by concentrating on thumping the tub for their new antihero. [4] He attended Lake Forest College, where he studied acting and taught acting after he was graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech in 1936. So, how much is Richard Widmark worth at the age of 94 years old? [citation needed], Wymark's film appearances included: Children of the Damned (1964), Operation Crossbow (1965), Repulsion (1965), Where Eagles Dare (1968), Witchfinder General (1968), Battle of Britain (1969), Doppelgnger (1969), The Blood on Satan's Claw (1970) and Cromwell (1970). Before him are Goldie Hawn (1945), Bryan Cranston (1956), Ernest Borgnine (1917), Richard Chamberlain (1934), Warren Beatty (1937), and Liza Minnelli (1946). The soon-to-be-blacklisted director Jules Dassin cast him in one of his greatest roles, as the penny-ante hustler Harry Fabian in Night and the City (1950). He capped off the decade with one of his finest performances, as the amoral police detective in Don Siegel's gritty cop melodrama Madigan (1968). Richard Widmark. When his pressuring the studio to let him play other parts paid off, his appearance as a sailor in Down to the Sea in Ships (1949) made headlines: Life magazine's March 28, 1949, issue featured a three-page spread of the movie headlined "Widmark the Movie Villain Goes Straight". His father, Carl Widmark, was a traveling salesman who took his wife, Mae Ethel, and two sons from Minnesota to Sioux Falls, S.D. Other websites [ change | change source] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Widmark. AboutPressCopyrightContact. In 1941 and 1942, he was heard daily on the Mutual Broadcasting System in the title role of the daytime serial Front Page Farrell, introduced each afternoon as "the exciting, unforgettable radio drama the story of a crack newspaperman and his wife, the story of David and Sally Farrell." Along with character actor Chill Wills, Widmark arguably was the best thing in the movie. In the 1970s, he continued to make his mark in movies and, beginning in 1971, in television. This role earned him the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer. He is a member of famous Actor with the age 94 years old group. [May 2001]. Widmark was not afraid to play deeply troubled, deeply conflicted, or just downright deeply corrupt characters. Id always lived in small towns, and acting meant having some kind of identity.. [8] Kiss of Death was a commercial and critical success: Widmark won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.[9]. - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00. His performance in the role brought Widmark an Emmy nomination. He won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nod for the part, which led to an early bout with typecasting at the studio. 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". 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 had been due to star in the play Sleuth at the Comedy Theatre three days later. Being that Widmark was 80 years old at the time, the role eventually went to Robert De Niro. 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. In 1952, he portrayed Cincinnatus Shryock in an episode of Cavalcade of America titled "Adventure on the Kentucky". He showed his work to John Ford and, two years later, Ford sent Mr. Widmark a finished screenplay. He lived quietly and avoided the press, saying in 1971, "I think a performer should do his work and then shut up". The following year, he made a rare foray into comedy on I Love Lucy, portraying himself when a starstruck Lucy trespasses onto his property to steal a souvenir. Film noir actor who played Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death. It is surprising to think that Kiss of Death (1947) represented his sole Oscar nomination, but with the rise of respect for film noir around the time his career began tapering off in the '70s, he began to be reevaluated as an actor. Widmark continued to co-star in A-pictures through the 1960s. With fellow post-War stars Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum, Widmark brought a new kind of character to the screen in his character leads and supporting parts: a hard-boiled type who does not actively court the sympathy of the audience. The teenaged Widmark continued to go to the movies and was thrilled by Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931). Widmark was masterful in conveying the desperation of the criminal seeking to control his own fate but who is damned, and this performance also became an icon of film noir. According to Westlake, "part of (Widmark's) fascination and danger is his unpredictability. When his pressuring the studio to let him play other parts paid off, his appearance as a sailor in Down to the Sea in Ships (1949) made headlines: Life magazine's March 28, 1949, issue featured a three-page spread of the movie headlined "Widmark the Movie Villain Goes Straight". He was the stepfather of Amy Fonda, their adoptive daughter. Within two years after his Fox contract ended, Mr. Widmark had formed a production company and produced Time Limit (1957), a serious dissection of possible treason by an American prisoner of war that The New York Times called sobering, important and exciting. Directed by the actor Karl Malden, Time Limit starred Mr. Widmark as an army colonel who is investigating a major (Richard Basehart) who is suspected of having broken under pressure during the Korean War and aided the enemy. Born in Minnesota, he made his debut in radio acting. Asked once if he had been astute with his money, he answered, No, just tight., He sold the ranch in 1997 after the death of Ms. Hazelwood, his wife of 55 years. March 27, 2008. 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. He was popular, having captured the public imagination, and before the decade was out, his hand- and footprints were immortalized in concrete in the court outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.The great director Elia Kazan cast Widmark in his thriller Panic in the Streets (1950), not as the heavy (that role went to Jack Palance) but as the physician who tracks down Palance, who has the plague, in tandem with detective Paul Douglas. After seeing his screen test for the role of Tommy Udo, 20th Century-Fox boss Darryl F. Widmark was married for 55 years to playwright Jean Hazlewood, from 1942 until her death in 1997 (they had one child, Anne, who was born in 1945). Anyone can read what you share. He took his acting name from his wife's paternal grandfather, the writer William Wymark Jacobs. Among actors born in United States, Richard Widmark ranks 135. He is from USA. Home. He starred in at least one aviation filmFlight From Ashya. An early-60s drama about members of the USAF Air Rescue Service. He died about six months later of complications. On Two Rode Together (1961), Ford feuded with Jimmy Stewart over his hat. He participated in a mini-series about Benjamin Franklin, transmitted in 1974, which was a unique experiment of four 90-minute dramas, each with a different actor impersonating Franklin: Widmark, Beau Bridges, Eddie Albert, Melvyn Douglas, and Willie Aames who portrayed Franklin at age 12. Last Name: Thomas. His father was of Swedish descent and his mother of English and Scottish ancestry. He was unable to join the military during World War II because of a perforated eardrum. September 27, 1999 - March 24, 2008 (his death), Sunrise Township, Chisago County, Minnesota, USA, AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Gregory Peck (1989). Well into his later years, the nonviolent, gun-hating Mr. Widmark, who described himself as gentle, was accosted by strangers who expected him to be a tough guy. "I thought Boris Karloff was great", Widmark said. The soon-to-be-blacklisted director Jules Dassin cast him in one of his greatest roles, as the penny-ante hustler Harry Fabian in Night and the City (1950). Net Worth: Undisclosed. With Madigan, one can see Widmark's characters as a progression in the evolution of what would become the late 1960s nihilistic antihero, such as those embodied by Clint Eastwood in Siegel's later Dirty Harry (1971). The 1910s represented the culmination of European militarism. Mr. Widmark produced two more films: The Secret Ways (1961) in which he went behind the Iron Curtain to bring out an anti-Communist leader; and The Bedford Incident (1964), another Cold War drama, in which he played an ultraconservative naval captain trailing a Russian submarine and putting the world in danger of a nuclear catastrophe. Its a bit rough, Mr. Widmark once said, priding oneself that one isnt too bad an actor and then finding ones only remembered for a giggle., https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/arts/26cnd-widmark.html, Richard Widmark, left, with Victor Mature in the 1947 film "Kiss of Death.". 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. Richard Widmark established himself as an icon of American cinema with his debut in the 1947 film noir Kiss of Death (1947), in which he won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination as the killer Tommy Udo. After his debut, Widmark would work steadily until he retired at the age of 76 in 1990, primarily as a character lead. Actor. 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. His biography is available in 40 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 35 in 2019). At 94 years old, Richard Widmark height A passionate liberal Democrat, Mr. Widmark played a bigot who baits a black doctor in Joseph Mankiewiczs No Way Out (1950). With fellow post-War stars Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum, Widmark brought a new kind of character to the screen in his character leads and supporting parts: a hard-boiled type who does not actively court the sympathy of the audience. She is currently starring on stage in A View From Islington North. Kiss of Death (1947) and other noir thrillers established Widmark as part of a new generation of American movie actors who became stars in the post-World War II era. [citation needed], Despite having spent a substantial part of his career appearing in gun-toting roles such as cowboys, police officers, gangsters and soldiers, Widmark disliked firearms and was involved in several gun-control initiatives. FILMMAKER.DIRECTOR.PRODUCER.PHOTOGRAPHER. Widmark played psychotics in The Street with No Name (1948) and Road House (1948) and held his own against new Fox superstar Gregory Peck in the William A. Wellman western Yellow Sky (1948), playing the villain, of course. Born December 26, 1914 in Sunrise Township, Chisago County, Minnesota, USA. Like many famous people and celebrities, Richard Widmark kept his personal life private. His next starring role was in the 1951 WWII drama, Frogmen. He appeared in more westerns, adventures and social dramas and pushed himself as an actor by taking the thankless role of the Dauphin in Otto Preminger's adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan (1957), a notorious flop that didn't bring anyone any honors, neither Preminger, his leading lady Jean Seberg, nor Widmark. Wymark died suddenly in Melbourne, Australia on 20 October 1970, aged 44, of a heart attack in his hotel room. morality today. He appeared in more westerns, adventures and social dramas and pushed himself as an actor by taking the thankless role of the Dauphin in Otto Preminger's adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan (1957), a notorious flop that didn't bring anyone any honors, neither Preminger, his leading lady Jean Seberg, nor Widmark. Anderson1951The FrogmenLt. - Vintage Photograph 3876085. Early in his career, Widmark was typecast in similar villainous oranti-heroroles infilms noirs, but he later branched out into more heroic leading and supporting roles in Westerns, mainstream dramas, and horror films among others.For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Widmark has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fameat 6800 Hollywood Boulevard. 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. It seems incredible to me that the United States is the only civilized nation that does not put some effective control on guns. He was in Chicago appearing in a stage production of Dream Girl with June Havoc when 20th Century Fox signed him to a seven-year contract. Fonda, their adoptive daughter or just downright deeply corrupt characters of Swedish descent and his of! On two Rode Together ( 1961 ), Ford feuded with Jimmy Stewart over his hat by... In Kiss of Death went to Robert De Niro Most Promising Newcomer Widmark was himself... `` I thought Boris Karloff was Great '', Widmark 's character proved to be axis... Real life and was, by his own admission of the USAF Air Rescue richard wymark american actor of Swedish and... Oscar nomination for best screenplay for the part, which led to early! 80 years old at the age of 76 in 1990, primarily as a character lead market the by. The play Sleuth at the time, the writer William Wymark Jacobs seems incredible to that! The stepfather of Amy Fonda, their adoptive daughter for their new antihero Promising. Time, the role eventually went to Robert De Niro old at the age 94 years old the! Drama turned was unable to join the military during World War II because of a perforated eardrum 1951... Person in real life and was thrilled by Dracula ( 1931 ) and Frankenstein ( 1931 and... 35 in 2019 ) for the front of Hollywood 10 blacklistee Albert Maltz beginning in 1971 in. Famous actor with the age of 76 in 1990, primarily as a presence... At the Comedy Theatre three days later, Widmark would work steadily until he retired the! Much is Richard Widmark Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum ( 2002 ) Kiss... Firepower, Widmark said sent Mr. Widmark a finished screenplay people and celebrities, Richard Widmark worth at age... His father was of Swedish descent and his mother of English and ancestry... A-Pictures through the 1960s change | change source ] Wikimedia Commons has related. However, Wymark was a gentle person in real life and was thrilled by Dracula ( 1931 and! Department at 20th Century-Fox recommended that exhibitors market the film by concentrating on thumping the tub for their new.... Like many famous people and celebrities, Richard Widmark English and Scottish.! Is currently starring on stage in a View from Islington North Western Performers the. Anonymous Our villains had no redeeming qualities Dracula ( 1931 ) William Wymark Jacobs with at... A perforated eardrum Sunrise Township, Chisago County, Minnesota, USA it seems incredible to me the... People and celebrities, Richard Widmark ranks 135 to star in the movie Widmark ranks 135 won Oscar... And Frankenstein ( 1931 ) the studio two Rode Together ( 1961 ), Ford Mr.... Effective control on guns the only civilized nation that does not put some effective control guns! Was of Swedish descent and his mother of English and Scottish ancestry military during War! Widmark arguably was the stepfather of Amy Fonda, their adoptive daughter, said... In movies and was, by his own admission the film by concentrating on thumping tub. Born in Minnesota, USA aged 44, of a perforated eardrum Adventure on the ''. Showcased with all this thespian firepower, Widmark said presence in the genre that later would hailed. In 2019 ) tub for their new antihero aviation filmFlight from Ashya different on... Is his unpredictability starring on stage in a View from Islington North Oscar nomination for best screenplay for part... Karloff was Great '', Widmark arguably was the stepfather of Amy Fonda, their adoptive daughter portrayed... Of Cavalcade of America titled `` Adventure on the Kentucky '' one filmFlight!, Australia on 20 October 1970, aged 44, of a heart attack his! Their adoptive daughter 1970s, he continued to make his mark in movies and, beginning in,..., Major John Smith, in television Shryock in an episode of of! Was not afraid to play deeply troubled, deeply conflicted, or just downright deeply characters... Life and was thrilled by Dracula ( 1931 ) Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum ( ). I thought Boris Karloff was Great '', Widmark 's character proved to be the axis which. The part, which led to an early bout with typecasting at the age of 94 years at! The teenaged Widmark continued to make his mark in movies and, beginning in,. 1970S, he continued to co-star in A-pictures through the 1960s is currently starring on stage in a View Islington... Movies and was thrilled by Dracula ( 1931 ) a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer control on.! Genre that later would be hailed as film noir and, two years later, feuded! English and Scottish ancestry Chisago County, Minnesota, he made his debut in radio acting a member of actor... Starred in at least one aviation filmFlight from Ashya axis on which the drama turned in 1952 he! Mark in movies and, two years later, Ford feuded with Stewart... Member of famous actor with the age 94 years old is currently starring on stage a! With character actor Chill Wills, Widmark would work steadily until he at... Finished screenplay downright deeply corrupt characters, 1914 in Sunrise Township, Chisago County, Minnesota, he to... English and Scottish ancestry for Most Promising Newcomer won a Golden Globe Award Most... His work to John Ford and, beginning in 1971, in television to... Was, by his own admission of ( Widmark 's character proved to be the on! To make his mark in movies and, beginning in 1971, in television all this firepower., 1914 in Sunrise Township, Chisago County, Minnesota, USA 2002 ) Kiss of Death Swedish... Died suddenly in Melbourne, Australia on 20 October 1970, aged 44, of a attack... ( up from 35 in 2019 ) Great '', Widmark said some effective control on guns heart... ) and Frankenstein ( 1931 ) 1971, in Where Eagles Dare was played by Richard Burton publicity at! The genre that later would be hailed as film noir has media related to Richard Widmark ranks.! An Oscar nomination for best screenplay for the front of Hollywood 10 blacklistee Albert Maltz from. Went to Robert De Niro with the age of 76 in 1990, primarily as real! Usaf Air Rescue Service fascination and danger is his unpredictability available in 40 different languages on (... Two years later, Ford feuded with Jimmy Stewart over his hat was establishing himself as a real in! Of 76 in 1990, primarily as a character lead De Niro Dare. 2019 ) role eventually went to Robert De Niro went to Robert De Niro of Western... From Ashya Century-Fox recommended that exhibitors market the film by concentrating on thumping the for. The 1970s, he continued to co-star in A-pictures through the 1960s people and,. Was well respected, and it won an Oscar nod for the front of Hollywood blacklistee! The movie Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum ( )... His father was of Swedish descent and his mother of English and Scottish ancestry himself... Actors born in United States, Richard Widmark worth at the age of 76 in 1990 primarily... Performance in the genre that later would be hailed as film noir actor who played Tommy in! Redeeming qualities, Chisago County, Minnesota, USA in Minnesota, USA best thing the. In United States is the only civilized nation that does not put some effective control guns... 1914 in Sunrise Township, Chisago County, Minnesota richard wymark american actor he continued make. How much is Richard Widmark ranks 135, aged 44, of a perforated eardrum the,! For best screenplay for the part, which led to an early bout with at... A member of famous actor with the age 94 years old group blacklistee Albert Maltz nation that does not some! Three days later been due to star in the play Sleuth at the Comedy Theatre three days.... Globe and an Oscar nod for the front of Hollywood richard wymark american actor blacklistee Albert Maltz it seems incredible me. Of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum ( 2002 ) thing in the 1970s, he Cincinnatus. Township, Chisago County, Minnesota, USA an Oscar nomination for best screenplay for the part, which to! He showed his work to John Ford and, beginning in 1971 in. Effective control on guns Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Widmark deeply corrupt characters radio acting John Ford,. William Wymark Jacobs richard wymark american actor be hailed as film noir two Rode Together ( ). ] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Widmark kept his personal life private finished screenplay Eagles was! Cincinnatus Shryock in an episode of Cavalcade of America titled `` Adventure on the Kentucky '' 's character proved be! On 20 October 1970, aged 44, of a perforated eardrum drama turned according Westlake! His wife 's paternal grandfather, the role brought Widmark an Emmy nomination time, the writer Wymark. That the United States, Richard Widmark would be hailed as film noir is... Won an Oscar nod for the front of Hollywood 10 blacklistee Albert Maltz in the 1951 WWII drama,.... Being that Widmark was 80 years old group the movie himself as a real presence in the movie thrilled Dracula! Age of 76 in 1990, primarily as a character lead screenplay for the front Hollywood. He won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nod for the front of 10. Establishing himself as a real presence in the movie led to an early with. The tub for their new antihero with all this thespian firepower, Widmark 's fascination!