Thursday, March 27, 2008

Richard Widmark

Just a word (from Nige) to mark the death of Richard Widmark, one of those great, capable, characterful, instantly recognisable screen presences who are easily taken for granted - until you realise that they're not making them any more. Nor are they making film stars as publicity shy as Widmark - these days it's more a case of strategically backing into the limelight. Widmark vowed never to appear in a talk show, and he stuck to it. He also stuck to his first wife for nearly 55 years. He made few public comments, but here's one: 'I know I've made kind of a half-assed career out of violence, but I abhor violence.' Half-assed it wasn't. RIP.

5 comments:

  1. Amen to that, a star especially in Cheyenne Autumn. Probably he didn't need talk shows if he was married for 55 years.

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  2. Ah, my Auntie Kitty's fave...
    Getting his autograph now she will.

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  3. Widmark the man, the antithisis of narcissism? On film something else again, at times the most narcissistic of them all. I recently watched 'Pickup on South Street' (1953) and, as was so often the case with Widmark, I was held only slightly short of spellbound by that look, especially that grin, that could convey every unspoken message from 'trust me' to 'be very frightened of me'. A middle-aged Widmark in 'The Sopranos', now that would have been something very special.

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  4. An actor that could say the line "Okay men, follow me over the top" without tittering in the audience.

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  5. A real "star" and one could understand every word. Perhaps a selection of his films could be shown to the mumble and whisper tribe that infest Hollywood today.

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