MovieChat Forums > No Way Out Discussion > Richard Widmark

Richard Widmark

posted 16 years ago by srklondie
17 replies | jump to latest

You would be oh so very hard-pressed to find an actor who could play a louse better than ol' Dickie W.; 'Tommy Udo', 'Harry Fabian', 'Ray Biddle', to mention a few. Absolutely wonderful!

[–] mmattagirl 16 years ago

Yes, he was always horrible, wasn't he? I wonder what he was like in real life.

George... don't do that!

[–] srklondie 16 years ago

He was married to the same woman for 55 years. That's a pretty honorable achievement.

[–] gbennett5 14 years ago

And he gets my vote as the sexiest actor I've ever seen. And his
ability to play rotten villains, then nice guys is quite amazing.
Let's face it: Richard Widmark was just plain hot!!

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] uhriaheap69 14 years ago

In real life John Wayne did not care for Dickie Widmark because of Widmark's liberal views.

[–] vpilutis 14 years ago

Yet he got along fine with Kirk Douglas who also was liberal, made I think three or four films with him.
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[–] lottapaws 13 years ago

I'm curious where you heard this. After all, Widmark was in The Alamo, Wayne's "baby". As for Wayne, he had liberal friends, something you would know if you did any research at all.

[–] Zanza8 11 years ago

In real life he was good friends with Sidney Poitier and found this movie difficult to do. I also read that Richard Widmark was the first actor to have a black leading lady-he was a big fan of Lena Horne and made the movie Death of a Gunfighter with her.

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/

[–] LCShackley 16 years ago

Yeah, I prefer the early, wacko Widmark to the later, more "establishment" characters he played.

[–] joeparkson 15 years ago

For a far different Widmark performance, see "Halls Of Montezuma" 1950 where Widmark plays a sympathetic school teacher turned US Marine. He's kind, understanding, and barely able to handle his fear during combat. It's a good thing Widmark alternated playing loathsome creeps with heroes, otherwise he'd have gotten typecast like Jack Palance.

His performance in "No Way Out" was his most repellent performance, even more so than "Kiss Of Death".

I kept wanting to step on his injured leg, like Clint Eastwood did to the serial killer in "Dirty Harry".

[–] dfeigin 15 years ago

Watch Panic in the Streets- 1950, with Widmark, Jack Palance and Zero Mostel, directed by Kazan. GREAAAAAAAAT.

[–] shadycady 14 years ago

No one played more loathsome roles than Widmark. He was a very effective actor.

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[–] Flight_of_Fantasy 11 years ago

Yes, I love Richard Widmark. He's probably one of the most underrated actors ever. He was the best at being bad!

"He's already attracted to her. Time and monotony will do the rest."

[–] johnnyb10 10 years ago

I know it's been a year since the last comment, but I have to say that Robert Mitchum was a bit better at playing a loathsome SOB. Cape Fear & the Night Of The Hunter come to mind. R.W. was great in this movie though.

[–] marhefka 10 years ago

@johnnyb10.

I agree on most "loathsome SOB." But if we were to just talk about the "slimiest SOB," then we're in the George Sanders and Dan Duryea category.

[–] peterduray-bito 10 years ago

Have to agree Widmark's performance is almost delicious in its loathsomeness.

[–] ProFromDover (286) 2 months ago

Wayne didn't like a lot of actors, including Clint Eastwood. Widmark did 2-3 films for John Ford so it should have been good enough for Wayne (a friend). I doubt Wayne worried about it. Like he apparently did do about Robert Mitchum's kid.

I've wondered how Widmark ended up in Ct. in retirement? He worked pretty consistently for a generation, some being prestiege films and others not so much. He was a very good character actor who could also carry a film as star.