Richard Widmark
Born: December 26 1914
Where: Sunrise, Minnesota, USA
Died: March 24 2008, Roxbury, Connecticut.
The tough guy actor's breakthrough came when he played a giggling psychopath who pushed a crippled old lady down a flight of stairs.
That electrifying role in the 1947 drama Kiss of Death earned him a best supporting actor Oscar nomination.
He followed up with another villainous role in the fine film noir Road House, but successfully worked to avoid typecasting after that.
Widmark later played the disinterested hero of Sam Fuller's striking, ambiguous Cold War thriller Pickup on South Street and was superb in the title role of Don Siegel's New York cop tale Madigan.
Widmark was born in Sunrise Township, Minnesota.
He attended Lake Forest College, where he studied acting and went on to teach it after graduation, before debuting on radio in 1938 in Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories.
He appeared on Broadway in 1943 in Kiss and Tell. (He was unable to join the military during World War II because of a perforated eardrum).
He made his big screen debut in Kiss of Death and his heroic appearance suited later roles in movies such as Down to the Sea in Ships and Panic in the Streets.
It also bode well for his many westerns, including two of John Ford's later efforts, Two Rode Together and Cheyenne Autumn.
He also played tough yet articulate leading roles in the well-received films Judgment at Nuremberg and The Bedford Incident.
Beginning with the worthy courtroom drama Time Limit, Widmark began producing occasional films under the banner of his own Heath Productions, including the spy thriller The Secret Ways, scripted by wife Jean Hazelwood.
Widmark's stardom began to ebb in the early 70s, but he still kept busy with prominent screen roles in all-star fare including Murder on the Orient Express and Rollercoaster.
Later appearances included 1978's Coma and Against All Odds and he pretty much bowed out of film-making when he played a senator in 1991's True Colours.
Widmark has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
During a career in which he appeared in sixty movies he maintained his privacy and never appeared on any talk show.
He died aged 93 in Connecticut.
