The Transition of Hollywood Star Richard Widmark on March 2008
Hollywood star Richard Widmark has died at good age of 93 at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. Widmark was born Dec. 26, 1914, in Sunrise, Minn. Richard Widmark was a prolific and versatile film actor. His first movie in his way to stardom was his 1948film thriller "Kiss of Death". Widmark portrayed a string of killers, cops and cowboy gun slinger on films. Richard Widmark became a Hollywood leading man in films like Judgment at Nuremberg, Broken Lance, Two Rode Together, The Street With No Name, Road House, and some 70 other films. In 1952 he starred opposite Marilyn Monroe in the movie "Don't Bother to Knock". One of his movies "Halls of Montezuma" (1950)
After leaving Fox, Widmark's career continued to flourish. He starred (as Jim Bowie) with John Wayne in "The Alamo," with James Stewart in John Ford's "Two Rode Together," as the U.S. prosecutor in "Judgment at Nuremberg," and with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas in "The Way West." Also: "St. Joan" (as the Dauphin), "How the West Was Won," "Death of a Gunfighter," "Murder on the Orient Express," "Midas Run" and "Coma."
Judgment at Nuremberg, 1961. This film had its origins as a television play scripted by Abby Mann in 1959. In transition to the big screen in this lengthy film by Stanley Kramer it has retained Maximilian Schell as the German defence counsel but gained a raft of famous stars. Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy) is an old district court judge who has accepted an invitation to preside over a tribunal in the eponymous city, where four jurists under the Nazi regime are tried with various crimes against humanity. Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster) is a senior jurist who thought that he could hold back the excesses of the regime from within. The other defendants were either pro-Nazi or simply made of weaker stuff than Janning.
The bulk of the film takes place in the courtroom, where prosecuting counsel (Richard Widmark) matches wits with Janning's defence counsel Hans Rolfe (Schell). Various witnesses are called, including a mental defective who was sterilized (Montgomery Clift) and a woman who fell foul of the anti-fraternization laws (Judy Garland). Outside the court, Haywood meets the former owner of the plush house he is staying in, the widow Bertholt (Marlene Dietrich).
Actress Shirley Jones, who appeared with Widmark and James Stewart in "Two Rode Together" and became a good friend, said she was devastated about Widmark's death.
The passing of Richard Widmark is a passing of an era.
After leaving Fox, Widmark's career continued to flourish. He starred (as Jim Bowie) with John Wayne in "The Alamo," with James Stewart in John Ford's "Two Rode Together," as the U.S. prosecutor in "Judgment at Nuremberg," and with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas in "The Way West." Also: "St. Joan" (as the Dauphin), "How the West Was Won," "Death of a Gunfighter," "Murder on the Orient Express," "Midas Run" and "Coma."
Judgment at Nuremberg, 1961. This film had its origins as a television play scripted by Abby Mann in 1959. In transition to the big screen in this lengthy film by Stanley Kramer it has retained Maximilian Schell as the German defence counsel but gained a raft of famous stars. Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy) is an old district court judge who has accepted an invitation to preside over a tribunal in the eponymous city, where four jurists under the Nazi regime are tried with various crimes against humanity. Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster) is a senior jurist who thought that he could hold back the excesses of the regime from within. The other defendants were either pro-Nazi or simply made of weaker stuff than Janning.
The bulk of the film takes place in the courtroom, where prosecuting counsel (Richard Widmark) matches wits with Janning's defence counsel Hans Rolfe (Schell). Various witnesses are called, including a mental defective who was sterilized (Montgomery Clift) and a woman who fell foul of the anti-fraternization laws (Judy Garland). Outside the court, Haywood meets the former owner of the plush house he is staying in, the widow Bertholt (Marlene Dietrich).
Actress Shirley Jones, who appeared with Widmark and James Stewart in "Two Rode Together" and became a good friend, said she was devastated about Widmark's death.
The passing of Richard Widmark is a passing of an era.
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