Richard Widmark

Born Dec. 26, 1914, in Sunrise, Minn., Richard Widmark was a stage actor who taught drama before skyrocketing to fame and copping an Oscar nod as a giggling maniacal killer in Kiss of Death (1947).

Though Widmark memorably portrayed the villain again in Road House (1948), he played an impressive range of parts throughout his career. Among his most notable movies are the Westerns Two Rode Together (1961), How the West Was Won (1962) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964); Judgment at Nuremberg (1961); The Bedford Incident (1965); and Madigan (1968). In subsequent years, his roles ebbed, but he remained prominent in films such as Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Coma (1978) and Against All Odds (1984).

Widmark earned considerable buzz for his performance in the 1989 made-for-cable movie Cold Sassy Tree (opposite Faye Dunaway) and later appeared as a powerful senator in True Colors (1991). He died at age 93 on March 24, 2008.

Filmography