RIP Richard Widmark

[nitrah55]

His first film appearance got him an Oscar nomination. He played Tommy Udo, the psychopath who tied Mildred Donnock into a wheelchair with an electrical cord and pushed her down a flight of stairs in "Kiss of Death."

Unsurprisingly, he got a lot of "bad guy" roles, but he also got a number of good guy parts too ("Madigan"). He produced a few movies, not so much to make money, as to make good movies.

He had a ranch in California and a large estate in Connecticut. Someone asked him if he'd been astute with his money, and he said, "No, just tight."

He was 93.

[silverscreenselect]

He was one of my personal favorites and a very underappreciated actor, mainly because he was typecast as villains early in his career. I had hoped that he would have been given an honorary Oscar one of these years, but it never seemed to happen.

Many people don't realize but he was quite instrumental in getting Sidney Poitier his start in Hollywood. Widmark was the villain in No Way Out, playing a racist crook who blames doctor Poitier for his brother's death and manages to stir up a race riot. It was quite a bold film for its day. Supposedly, Widmark was so uneasy about the things his character had to say in the film that he would continually apologize to Poitier for his lines. Later, the two became good friends and co-starred in several other movies together.

One of his better roles was Madigan, a solid cop film with him as a very complex character, which was dumbed down somewhat when it was made into a brief TV series. Another good Widmark film is The Bedford Incident, again opposite Poitier, which was a cautionary tale about a possible nuclear launch during the height of the Cold War. Widmark played a navy commander who has to decide whether to launch or not and his judgment is not very steady. He also played Jim Bowie in John Wayne's The Alamo and the victim in the all-star Murder on the Orient Express.

Two of his better Westerns that have not been out on video will be released on DVD in May, Garden of Evil with Gary Cooper and The Way West with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas (a sad commentary on the Oscars that none of the three ever managed to win one).

[T_Bone0806]

His first film appearance got him an Oscar nomination. He played Tommy Udo, the psychopath who tied Mildred Donnock into a wheelchair with an electrical cord and pushed her down a flight of stairs in "Kiss of Death."

The laugh as he did so is still bone-chilling.

[VAdame]

I can truly say, I didn't know Richard Widmark was still alive!

[MarkBarrett]

"Rollercoaster" is one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies and Richard Widmark was tough and funny with his interactions with George Segal as they tried to catch bad guy Timothy Bottoms.

"He's not at Coney Island.", "Prepare a letter of commendation.", "It wasn't necessary." Widmark delivered his lines as FBI agent Hoyt with authority and charm.

[SportsFan68]

I was pretty young when I saw it, and even then it was a long way from first run -- I think it was on television. But I loved that submarine movie. What the heck was its name . . . Hell and High Water!

Here's prolly why I loved it when I was a kid.

The script and dialog are something straight out of a comic book, but you've got to love it. It's got all of the marbles in one bag: submarines, underwater battles complete with ramming full speed ahead, a silent running sweatout, crash dives, commando shore raids, evil Commies, a spy guy named Chin Lee, a B-29 bomber, and just to put the cherry on the Boston cream pie, the obligatory nuclear explosion.

[silverscreenselect]

I was pretty young when I saw it, and even then it was a long way from first run -- I think it was on television. But I loved that submarine movie. What the heck was its name . . . Hell and High Water!

Here's prolly why I loved it when I was a kid.

The script and dialog are something straight out of a comic book, but you've got to love it. It's got all of the marbles in one bag: submarines, underwater battles complete with ramming full speed ahead, a silent running sweatout, crash dives, commando shore raids, evil Commies, a spy guy named Chin Lee, a B-29 bomber, and just to put the cherry on the Boston cream pie, the obligatory nuclear explosion.

Hell and High Water, which I 've seen on DVD, was the third or fourth film ever released in Cinemascope, which was a very big deal back in the 1950's. It's dated and goofy fun.

To the Devil a Daughter with Christopher Lee is a creepy horror movie that features a very very revealing look at a 16-year-old Nastassja Kinski.

Warlock is another good Widmark western with Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn, a very complicated character and morality study. I also like his last film, True Colors, with John Cusack and James Spader, a flawed but entertaining story about a ruthless and ambitious young politician (surprisingly Spader is the good guy and Cusack the bad guy here).

[peacock2121]

I can truly say, I didn't know Richard Widmark was still alive!

me too!

[ne1410s]

I liked "The Bedford Incident". Also starring Sidney Poitier and James McArthur.

AND: Wally Cox!!!!!

[Spock]

I was pretty young when I saw it, and even then it was a long way from first run -- I think it was on television. But I loved that submarine movie. What the heck was its name . . . Hell and High Water!

Here's prolly why I loved it when I was a kid.

The script and dialog are something straight out of a comic book, but you've got to love it. It's got all of the marbles in one bag: submarines, underwater battles complete with ramming full speed ahead, a silent running sweatout, crash dives, commando shore raids, evil Commies, a spy guy named Chin Lee, a B-29 bomber, and just to put the cherry on the Boston cream pie, the obligatory nuclear explosion.

The first time I skimmed this-I thought it said "young and pretty" instead of "pretty young"-but I suspect you could have written it either way

[ulysses5019]

I can truly say, I didn't know Richard Widmark was still alive!

Actually I'm surprised that I'm still alive....