Richard Widmark

Mar 28 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

THERE was something mean in the cold stare of his blue eyes, which suggested the cut of steel. But this worked well for the man, whose shadow stretched across the big screen at a time when the princes of Hollywood were riding high.

Gary Cooper, James Stewart, John Wayne and perhaps even Gregory Peck stayed on this side of Hell. Richard Widmark, in his best parts, crossed the line and seemed to find himself at home there.

To followers of 20th- century cinema, he was one of the biggest names, a fine actor and a star, but never a celebrity.

Although he enjoyed a good pipe, Widmark, a tee-totaller, was never the subject of gossip, marrying Jean Hazelhurst, the actress and screenwriter, in 1942. They remained together until her death in 1997. He married Susan Blanchard two years later.

Widmark, the son of a travelling salesman, was born in Sunrise, Minnesota. Clever, athletic and scholarly, young Widmark watched films, but studied law at Lake Forest College, Illinois. A fine debater with a keen interest in the news, he stayed at the college for two years after graduation to teach drama.

After a spell on radio, he made his film debut in Kiss of Death (1947), as the psychopathic gangster Tom Udo, who chuckled in a most chilling manner after pushing an elderly wheelchair user down the stairs to her death.

The scene was cut from the film when it was shown in Britain. It was a superb depiction of evil from Widmark, and won him an Oscar nomination as the best supporting actor.

For a while he was typecast, playing a similar role in the excellent London thriller Night and the City (1950).

Although unable to serve in the Army because of a perforated ear-drum, he played roles in the Halls of Montezuma, The Bedford Incident and the political thriller, Twilight’s Last Gleaming.

In Westerns, he was sometimes a moody cowboy and other times as a cavalryman chasing Indians, most notably in John Ford’s belated tribute to the Native Americans, Cheyenne Autumn.

But it is as the surly, buckskin-clad Jim Bowie in John Wayne’s The Alamo (1960) that he will be longest remembered. Murder on the Orient Express, Who Dares Wins and Blackout were among his more recent offerings.

Widmark leaves a daughter and his wife.

Richard Widmark, actor; born December 26, 1914, died March 24, 2008.