Richard Widmark, "a passionate liberal Democrat," dies at 93

[BurtWorm]

Somehow you can always tell who in Hollywood are the passionate, liberal Democrats: they tend to be the truly great ones.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/arts/26cnd-widmark.html?pagewanted=2&hp&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1206547789-ijAfCYYJKyzRZOlv8TQ7Ug


A passionate liberal Democrat, Mr. Widmark played a bigot who baits a black doctor in Joseph Mankiewicz’s “No Way Out” (1950). He was so embarrassed by the character that after every scene he apologized to the young actor he was required to torment, Sidney Poitier. In 1990, when Mr. Widmark was given the D.W. Griffith Career Achievement Award by the National Board of Review, it was Mr. Poitier who presented it to him.

Within two years after his Fox contract ended, Mr. Widmark had formed a production company and produced “Time Limit” (1957), a serious dissection of possible treason by an American prisoner of war that The New York Times called “sobering, important and exciting.” Directed by the actor Karl Malden, “Time Limit” starred Mr. Widmark as an army colonel who is investigating a major (Richard Basehart) who is suspected of having broken under pressure during the Korean War and aided the enemy.

Mr. Widmark produced two more films: “The Secret Ways” (1961) in which he went behind the Iron Curtain to bring out an anti-Communist leader; and “The Bedford Incident” (1964), another Cold War drama, in which he played an ultraconservative naval captain trailing a Russian submarine and putting the world in danger of a nuclear catastrophe.

Mr. Widmark told The Guardian in 1995 that he had not become a producer to make money but to have greater artistic control. “I could choose the director and my fellow actors,” he said. “I could carry out projects which I liked but the studios didn’t want.”

He added: “The businessmen who run Hollywood today have no self-respect. What interests them is not movies but the bottom line. Look at ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ which turns idiocy into something positive, or ‘Forrest Gump,’ a hymn to stupidity. ‘Intellectual’ has become a dirty word.”

He also vowed he would never appear on a talk show on television, saying, “When I see people destroying their privacy — what they think, what they feel — by beaming it out to millions of viewers, I think it cheapens them as individuals.”

[monmouth]

1. I remember my mother taking me to movies in the '40s and many were

with Richard Widmark. I can't think of the name, someone will, where he was a crazy gangster and had this wierd laugh and smile. He was such a fine actor and human being. We are losing a wonderful generation of true actors. RIP Mr. Widmark..

[BurtWorm]

2. Kiss of Death.

He played Tommy Udo.

[monmouth]

8. Thank you BurtWorm. He scard the hell out of this little kid. Hehehehhe...n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. He sounds like he was quite a man! (For myself, though, I liked Forrest)

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. Great Actor remember that creepy psychopath he played

in Kiss of Death, it was his first film debut, and the role made his career.

I didn't realize he was 93, I thought he was younger.

RIP

[sarge43]

10. That giggle.

:scared:

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. The movie scared the hell out of me as a kid

When he pushed her down the stairs and laughed manically it was really
shocking for its time.

[sarge43]

13. It's still shocking.

Right up there with Peter Lorrie's M.

[jojo54]

5. I have to admit, I had a crush on him when I was younger.

The Bedford Incident was my favorite movie of his, but Cold Sassy Tree (I think that was the name) came in a close second.

[magellan]

11. I still do

He first bowled me over as Johnny Gannon in "Warlock". And he was such a great person in real life.

It's very sad losing him and his generation of actors. There'll be nothing to approach them ever again.

RIP. :cry:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

16. Me too. So sad to see him leave this planet.

Peace to you, where ever you are.

[stanwyck]

6. Damn. One of my all-time favorites

A wonderful actor. RIP.

[book_worm]

7. Great actor. I just saw him in "Murder on the Orient Express"

Another of the great ones--gone. Will he be remembered in People, US or other publications of today? No.

[sarge43]

9. Good man, great actor.

Rest in peace, Mr Widmark and thank you.

[windbreeze]

14. One of my all time favorites...he was a giant of an actor...

and apparently the same type of man...why am I not surprised...?? RIP, Mr.Widmark, there are those of us who WILL miss you...wb

[calimary]

15. Damn. Such a talent.

Perhaps he'll run into Arthur C. Clarke while he's getting settled.

[EFerrari]

17. I still remember Lucy's autographed grapefruit.

Rest in peace, a great talent.