Cathy
03-26-2008, 09:34 PM
Richard Widmark, who shot to Hollywood stardom and a 40-movie career with his first screen role – as a giggling killer in the 1947 film noir Kiss of Death – has died after a lengthy illness. He was 93.
Widmark's wife, Susan Blanchard, said the Midwestern-born actor died at his Roxbury, Conn., home on Monday, the Associated Press reports. No further details were provided.
"It was a big shock, but he was 93," she said.
After graduating Lake Forest College in Chicago, Widmark became a radio actor and then appeared on Broadway before going Hollywood – and earning a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his movie debut as the psychotic Tommy Udo, who took delight in killing little old ladies.
He then branched out into other genres, including romances and even comedies, before riding to glory in such Westerns as John Wayne's 1960 The Alamo and director John Ford's 1961 Two Rode Together. Among his later roles was the murder victim in the 1974 all-star Murder on the Orient Express.
Even In an 'I Love Lucy'
The handsome, laconic actor even dabbled, though infrequently, on TV, including a memorable 1955 episode of I Love Lucy in which Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball), ordered off a Hollywood tour bus, ends up stranded in Widmark's backyard.
Madigan, a 1968 movie starring Widmark as a loner detective, was adapted into a TV series that ran from 1972-73.
Widmark's first marriage, to writer Jean Hazelwood, lasted from 1942 until her death in 1997. He and Blanchard married in 1999 and divided their time between a horse ranch in Hidden Valley, Calif., and a farm in Connecticut.
She survives him, as does Widmark's daughter from his first marriage, Ann Heath Widmark, who, from 1969 until their divorce in 1982, was married to baseball immortal Sandy Koufax, of the Brooklyn (and, later, Los Angeles) Dodgers.
Widmark's wife, Susan Blanchard, said the Midwestern-born actor died at his Roxbury, Conn., home on Monday, the Associated Press reports. No further details were provided.
"It was a big shock, but he was 93," she said.
After graduating Lake Forest College in Chicago, Widmark became a radio actor and then appeared on Broadway before going Hollywood – and earning a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his movie debut as the psychotic Tommy Udo, who took delight in killing little old ladies.
He then branched out into other genres, including romances and even comedies, before riding to glory in such Westerns as John Wayne's 1960 The Alamo and director John Ford's 1961 Two Rode Together. Among his later roles was the murder victim in the 1974 all-star Murder on the Orient Express.
Even In an 'I Love Lucy'
The handsome, laconic actor even dabbled, though infrequently, on TV, including a memorable 1955 episode of I Love Lucy in which Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball), ordered off a Hollywood tour bus, ends up stranded in Widmark's backyard.
Madigan, a 1968 movie starring Widmark as a loner detective, was adapted into a TV series that ran from 1972-73.
Widmark's first marriage, to writer Jean Hazelwood, lasted from 1942 until her death in 1997. He and Blanchard married in 1999 and divided their time between a horse ranch in Hidden Valley, Calif., and a farm in Connecticut.
She survives him, as does Widmark's daughter from his first marriage, Ann Heath Widmark, who, from 1969 until their divorce in 1982, was married to baseball immortal Sandy Koufax, of the Brooklyn (and, later, Los Angeles) Dodgers.