Richard Widmark - biography

“Anne Baxter was a very good actress, Donna Reid was great.  You couldn’t name an actress I wasn’t crazy about.”

“Gary Cooper was a good friend.  He was a great nature lover.  He was like an American Indian, he knew every leaf that was turned over.  It was an education to go for a walk with him.”

“I think a performer should do his work and then shut up.”

“Marilyn was terrible to work with.  I was fond of her, she was a nice girl, but she was a damaged girl.  She was very difficult.  You couldn’t get her on the set; she didn’t know the words.”

“There was something about Marilyn.  She couldn’t act her way out of a bag, but she became an icon because something happened between her and the lens, and no one knows what it is.”

“A lot of actors said they hated the studio system, but I loved it.  It was like a college; it was a great place to learn.”

“Hoods are good parts because they’re always flashy and attract attention.  If you’ve got any ability, you can use that as a stepping stone.”

“I felt pretty comfortable with Westerns, apart from the fact I couldn’t ride.”

“I was never a part of the Actor’s Studio, because two friends of mine started it in 1947 and by that time I’d gone to California.”

“I was playing this horrible part.  I didn’t didn’t want to play it because the character was an awful racist.  But I’m glad I did it because I met Sidney Poitier.”

“Other actors like to rehearse on film-they like 30 or 40 takes.  When you get an actor like that, it becomes difficult for me because I’m ready to quit after number two.”

“You have to compromise all the way.  The only thing that counts is the result.”

“Many of my friends were blacklisted.  America should be ashamed of it forever.”

“Ford used to come to work in a big car with two Admiral’s flags, on each side of the car.  His assistant would be there with his accordion, playing, Hail to the Chief.”

“I loved Jack Ford.  I got him in his later days, and he was a total tyrant and a total autocrat and an Irish drunk.  But I had a great time.”

“John Ford was so funny that I couldn’t wait to go to work in the morning.”

“Kazan was an old friend, I met him in 1938.  He picked up radio jobs for eating money, so I met him on a couple of radio shows.  Later on I was in a play he directed.”

“Mankiewicz was a brilliant director.”

“Cheyenne Autumn was received not too successfully.  I still think it was a very good movie.  It was kinda Ford’s apology for the way he had treated Indians in his past pictures.”

“Most movies are made today for teenage boys.  Once in a while a good one comes along.”

“The heavies in my day were kid stuff compared to today.  Our villains had no redeeming qualities.  But there’s a new morality today.  A villain is a guy with a frailty.  Heroes are villains.”

Richard Widmark has appeared in the following films:
Kiss of Death (1947)
The Street with No Name (1948)
Road House (1948)
Yellow Sky (1948)
Down to the Sea in Ships (1949)
Slattery’s Hurricane (1949)
Night and the City (1950)
Panic in the Streets (1950)
No Way Out (1950)
Halls of Montezuma (1950)
The Frogmen (1951)
Red Skies of Montana (1952)
Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)
O. Henry’s Full House (1952)
My Pal Gus (1952)
Destination Gobi (1953)
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Take the High Ground! (1953)
Hell and High Water (1954)
Garden of Evil (1954)
Broken Lance (1954)
A Prize of Gold (1955)
The Cobweb (1955)
Backlash (1956)
Run for the Sun (1956)
The Last Wagon (1956)
Saint Joan (1957)
Time Limit (1957)
The Law and Jake Wade (1958)
The Tunnel of Love (1958)
The Trap (1959)
Warlock (1959)
The Alamo (1960)
The Secret Ways (1961)
Two Rode Together (1961)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
How the West Was Won (1962)
The Long Ships (1964)
Flight from Ashiya (1964)
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
The Bedford Incident (1965)
Alvarez Kelly (1966)
The Way West (1967)
Madigan (1968)
A Talent for Loving (1969)
Death of a Gunfighter (1969)
The Moonshine War (1970)
When the Legends Die (1972)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
To the Devil a Daughter (1976)
The Sell Out (1976)
Twilight’s Last Gleaming (1977)
The Domino Principle (1977)
Rollercoaster (1977)
Coma (1978)
The Swarm (1978)
Bear Island (1979)
National Lampoon Goes to the Movies (1982)
Hanky Panky (1982)
Who Dares Wins (1982)
Against All Odds (1984)
True Colors (1991)