Hollywood actor Richard Widmark died on Monday at the age of 93; he was also Sandy Koufax‘s father-in-law for a time. The New York Times obituary, by Aljean Harmetz, is here. From which,
In reality, the screen’s most vicious psychopath was a mild-mannered former teacher who had married his college sweetheart, the actress Jean Hazelwood, and who told a reporter 48 years later that he had never been unfaithful and had never even flirted with women because, he said, “I happen to like my wife a lot.”
He was originally turned down for the role of Tommy Udo [in Kiss of Death -- see previous link] by the movie’s director, Henry Hathaway, who told Mr. Widmark that he was too clean-cut and intellectual. It was Darryl Zanuck, the Fox studio head, who, after watching Mr. Widmark’s screen test, insisted that he be given the part. …
Movie crazy, he was afraid to admit his interest in the “sissy” job of acting. On a full scholarship at Lake Forest College in Illinois, he played end on the football team, took third place in a state oratory contest, starred in plays and was, once again, senior class president. …
A passionate liberal Democrat, Mr. Widmark played a bigot who baits a black doctor in Joseph Mankiewicz’s ‘No Way Out’ (1950). He was so embarrassed by the character that after every scene he apologized to the young actor he was required to torment, Sidney Poitier. In 1990, when Mr. Widmark was given the D.W. Griffith Career Achievement Award by the National Board of Review, it was Mr. Poitier who presented it to him. …
Mr. Widmark told The Guardian in 1995 that he had not become a producer to make money but to have greater artistic control. “I could choose the director and my fellow actors,” he said. “I could carry out projects which I liked but the studios didn’t want.”
He added: “The businessmen who run Hollywood today have no self-respect. What interests them is not movies but the bottom line. Look at ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ which turns idiocy into something positive, or ‘Forrest Gump,’ a hymn to stupidity. ‘Intellectual’ has become a dirty word.”
He also vowed he would never appear on a talk show on television, saying, “When I see people destroying their privacy — what they think, what they feel — by beaming it out to millions of viewers, I think it cheapens them as individuals.” …
Mr. Widmark, who hated the limelight, spent his Hollywood years living quietly on a large farm in Connecticut and an 80-acre horse ranch in Hidden Valley, north of Los Angeles. Asked once if he had been “astute” with his money, he answered, “No, just tight.” …
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. There is even a story that Joey Gallo, the New York mobster, was so taken by Mr. Widmark’s performance in “Kiss of Death” that he copied the actor’s natty posture, sadistic smirk and tittering laugh.
“It’s a bit rough,” Mr. Widmark once said, “priding oneself that one isn’t too bad an actor and then finding one’s only remembered for a giggle.”
To my kids, Richard Widmark will always be remembered as Jim Bowie and “the good captain”, and to me he’ll always be one of Hollywood’s brightest lights, and a decent man to boot.
Other obituaries and appreciations:
The Times Online (UK)
Filed under: Commemorations, Movies
Hear hear! I put him right up there with Robert Mitchum.
My mom loved him dearly-her version of the secret boyfriend. I was sad to hear the news. Your book is in transit.
Mary Lou, wasn’t the young RM gorgeous? And even creepier and scarier in “Cape Fear” than RW ever was.
Mrs. G., now I see where you get your smarts and your passion. If I was the SB type, it would be Richard Widmark, Stewart Granger, and Colin Firth. With Stewart it wasn’t much of a secret, because I wrote him a fan letter shortly before he died and he wrote back quite the lively and appreciative reply, which I still have (in a frame)… Thanks again for the book — how much fun to anticipate!