Richard Widmark’s Centennial Birthday - December 26, 1914 - ~ December 26, 2014. Widmark’s’ film debut was in the classic film noir, Kiss of Death (1947) which was a role that made quite an impact on the movie audience. Playing the sadistic killer Tommy Udo earned Widmark an Oscar nomination and made him an instant star. He did win the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer. With the success of that film, Fox Studios quickly followed up with The Street With No Name the next year, and Road House, each starring Widmark as an equally unpleasant character. At the time, Fox, which was not as committed to noir as Warners or RKO, decided to cast their new star in other film genres. He began starring in war films and westerns, usually as a good guy. Widmark returned to film noir in 1953 in Pickup On South Street, once again demonstrating his ability to captivate audiences as a thoroughly despicable character. Widmark may be best known as a western actor for the films he made in the 1950s and 1960s. -- The Alamo (1960) with John Wayne as Davy Crockett and Widmark as Jim Bowie, How the West Was Won (1962), John Fords Two Rode Together (1961) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964), and in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), but he earned an indelible place in film noir annals as Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death. Happy Heavenly 100th birthday, Richard Widmark. RIP.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 19:55:34 +0000
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