Classic Hollywood Actor Richard Widmark

It was actors the likes of Richard Widmark who's craft stood the test of time. For those of us who remember him, his acting and looks left a lasting impression. I was fortunate to grow up in a time with Black & White war movies and Technicolor westerns. A time in which the broadcast of a late night or Sunday afternoon classic movie was a family event. There weren't many channels to choose from and sports on television was seldom shown in the evening. Sunday afternoon television usually had an old war or western movie playing.

My mother enjoyed the classic drama movies and we kids watched what she watched. We got to know the older actors and actresses from my mom's youth. I always mistook Bette Davis and Joan Crawford for one another until I saw them together in " Whatever Happened to Baby Jane," a psychological thriller.

Richard Widmark played many roles where he was cast as a gangster, a soldier/lieutenant or an sheriff/outlaw in westerns. Though I would confuse the names of the many great actors of the day, I always remembered their unique faces. Jimmy Stewart, Henry Ford, Jack Palance, Richard Burton, William Holden and many more.

Richard Widmark had the perfect face for the roles he played. His eyes were dark and piercing, his facial bone structure was skeleton-like and sharp with leathery skin that seemed pulled on as if it were a mask. He seldom smiled and usually had a look of surprise, anger or disappointment, or at least that's how I remember him. You always took his character serious and new that wherever he was trouble or conflict was sure to follow. On the screen he was the long sizzling fuse slowly approaching the powder keg.

A bit of sports trivia about Richard Widmark, he was father-in-law to the late great Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax.

Richard Widmark, Classic Hollywood Actor


1914-2008