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Known for:	Judgment at Nuremberg, The Alamo, Panic in the Streets
Birthday:	26 December 1914, Sunrise, Minnesota, USA
Height:	5' 10" (1.78 m)

Unforgettable in his screen debut (in 1947's 'Kiss of Death') as Tommy Udo, a psychopathic mob hit-man, who giggles gleefully even as he sends a wheelchair-bound old woman, portrayed by Mildred Dunnock, tumbling down a long stairway to her demise. Richard Widmark's daughter, Anne Heath Widmark, married baseball legend Sandy Koufax on January 1, 1969. President of his high school class. He was the Friday night host for CBS Radio's "Sears Mystery Theater" (1979). Widmark was a voice-over regular on the popular 1930s radio series “Gangbusters” that featured weekly episodes based actual crime incidents. Each program wended with various descriptions of wanted criminals, many of whom were later arrested due to avid listener participation. Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 2002. His sole Academy Awards nomination was for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Kiss of Death in 1948. Though he had won the Golden Globe for the role, he lost the Oscar to Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street. Was honored with a retrospective of his films by the Museum of Modern Art (New York, New York) in May 2001. When Kiss of Death was released to theaters in 1947, 20th Century Fox's publicity department encouraged theater owners to "Sell Richard Widmark!". Fox's publicity manual advised theaters to have a local printer make up "Wanted" with Widmark's face on them to advertise the film, in which he made his debut in the picture. The part was small but Widmark made it one of the most indelible performances in the history of cinema. Though he would never be typecast and his career went on for almost 50 years until he retired, Widmark's most vivid role would be as the killer Tommy Udo, who giggled over his victims with tongue poked lewdly through his teeth. In September of 1999 at age 84 Widmark married Susan Blanchard, who was Henry Fonda's third wife. His daughter with wife Jean, Anne Heath Widmark, married baseball legend Sandy Koufax on January 1, 1969. Widmark's most vivid movie scene of his career was as sociopathic villain Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death in which he is seen pushing a wheelchair-bound old lady (played by Mildred Dunnock) down a flight of stairs to her death. He has significantly contributed to the preservation of land and nature in his adopted hometown of Roxbury, Connecticut. As one of the founding members of the Roxbury Land Trust, he has tenaciously worked to preserve the pristine character of the Litchfield County town which has been the long-time home of celebrities the likes of Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe to artist Alexander Calder. Another actor and friend of his, Walter Matthau also owned property in bucolic Roxbury. It was at Widmark's urging and cajoling that Matthau made a generous contribution of property to the trust shortly before his death.

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