Kiss of Death

Richard Widmark, March 24, age 93: Widmark, who had been a talented and busy radio actor for years, created such a sensation in his first major film role -- as a sadistic, ghoulish thug in 1947's "Kiss of Death" -- that he became a film star overnight, and for that role was ... morenominated for his first and only Oscar. But it was just the beginning of a brilliant career that included such films as "The Alamo," "Judgment at Nuremberg," "Cheyenne Autumn" and "Madigan," which spawned the 1972 NBC series of the same name. Tough on screen, Widmark was a sweet, mild man in real life, married to his college sweetheart, the playwright Jean Hazelton, for 55 years, until her death in 1997 (he married Susan Blanchard in 1999, and she survives him). The New York Times reported that he once said, "The older you get, the less you know about acting, but the more you know about what makes the really good actors." Amen.

(Doc Pele/Stills/Retna Ltd.)