| # | Fact |
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| 1 | His father, Carl Widmark, ran a general store, and then became a traveling salesman. The family moved around a lot before settling in Princeton, Illinois. |
| 2 | Stereotyped onscreen as a hot-headed villain, Widmark fought for better roles and went on to give complex performances in such film classics as No Way Out, Night and the City and Madigan. |
| 3 | Two years out of college, Widmark headed to New York City in 1938 when a friend offered him an audition for a radio soap opera. Widmark won the role and soon became a busy player in broadcasting and on the Broadway stage (debuting in 1943). |
| 4 | After a turbulent childhood, lightened by his frequent trips to the movies, Widmark became an accomplished high school scholar, a college football star, and eventually a teacher of speech and drama at Lake Forest College in Illinois. |
| 5 | Stereotyped onscreen as a hot-headed villain, Widmark fought for better roles and went on to give complex performances in such film classics as Panic in the Streets (1950), No Way Out (which introduced him to close friend Sidney Poitier), Night and the City, Broken Lance (co-starring his idol, Spencer Tracy), and Madigan. |
| 6 | In September 1999, Widmark married Susan Blanchard, who was Henry Fonda's third wife. |
| 7 | Despite his rising career, and happy marriage to his college sweetheart, Ora Jean Hazlewood, the 1940s were a time of great stress for the actor. Unable to serve in World War II due to a perforated eardrum, he spent three anxious years fearing for the life of his brother Donald, a bomber pilot who was injured and held as a prisoner-of-war by the Nazis. Although Donald Widmark was freed at the war's end, his failing health over the next decade would be the most agonizing tragedy in Richard's life. |
| 8 | Actor Richard Widmark was offered an audition for a radio soap opera two years after college and soon after made his screen debut as the cackling psychopath Tommy Udo in the crime drama Kiss of Death (1947). |
| 9 | In 1947, the crime drama Kiss of Death catapulted Widmark to movie stardom. The actor made one of the most shocking film debuts in movie history as his character, the cackling psychopath Tommy Udo, shoved an older wheelchair-bound woman down a flight of stairs to her death. The role earned Widmark an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and proved to be the beginning of a distinguished five-decade film career. |
| 10 | Widmark and Jean Hazlewood had a daughter, Anne Heath Widmark, who was married to Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax (1969-82). Hazlewood died in March 1997. |
| 11 | Director Henry Hathaway thought Widmark's high forehead looked too intellectual to play Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death (1947), so he had the young actor wear a hairpiece for his screen test. |
| 12 | Was Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal's first choice to play the character based on him in Casino (1995). Being that Widmark was 80 years old at the time, the role eventually went to Robert De Niro. |
| 13 | He appeared in a public service short entitled "Off the Highway", which was made by USC students and directed by Fred Zinnemann, who talked Widmark--his neighbor at the time--into appearing in it. |
| 14 | He was the first choice of playwright Robert Anderson for both the stage and film versions of I Never Sang for My Father (1970) in the role eventually played by Gene Hackman. |
| 15 | Very touched by Sidney Poitier presenting him with the D. W. Griffith Lifetime Achievment Award in 1990, Widmark said to his old friend, "Sid, I can't believe you came all the way to California to do this for me." Poitier replied, "For you I would have walked!". |
| 16 | From Sidney Poitier's speech about Widmark at the D. W. Griffith Award for Life Achievment: "... the generosity of spirit that lights his way will also warm your heart...". |
| 17 | He was a lifelong liberal Democrat. |
| 18 | Although 27 years old at the time, Widmark was considered for the role of the cocky young sailor eventually played by Robert Walker in Bataan (1943). |
| 19 | Good friends with Sidney Poitier. They co-starred in three films together. |
| 20 | Featured in "Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir" by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry (McFarland, 2003). |
| 21 | Before he ever became a film actor, Widmark was busy with voice-over work on various radio programs during the 1930s and 1940s. |
| 22 | His acting idol was Spencer Tracy. |
| 23 | Born to Carl Widmark, a salesman, and his wife Ethal Mae. |
| 24 | Was on the first cover of German teen magazine "Bravo" together with Marilyn Monroe (1956). |
| 25 | Resided on his mansion in Roxbury, Connecticut from the 1950s until his death. |
| 26 | Activist for strengthening gun control laws in the United States. |
| 27 | John Wayne/Richard Widmark is the sign/countersign used by soldiers holding the Alamo in Viva Max (1969). |
| 28 | Spent his later years divided between a ranch in Hidden Valley, California, and a farm in Connecticut. |
| 29 | Born in Sunrise, Minnesota, his father, Carl, was a general store manager before becoming a traveling salesman. The family eventually settled in Princeton, Illinois, where his father owned a downstairs bakery. |
| 30 | In high school he wrote for the school newspaper. |
| 31 | Earned several awards in oratory contests while a pre-law student at Lake Forest College. He was also active in the drama department and played the lead in the play "Counselor-at-Law" as a sophomore. |
| 32 | Despite playing heartless killers and bigots on film, he personally denounced all kinds of violence and the usage of guns. He admitted that once he went fishing and regretted the fact he caught a trout and took its life. He also apologized profusely to Sidney Poitier during the shoot of the movie No Way Out (1950) after filming scenes together which called for Widmark to spew out racist remarks. |
| 33 | Was not able to see active duty during WWII due to a perforated eardrum, but did serve as an air raid warden and entertained servicemen as a member of the American Theatre Wing. |
| 34 | When his contract at Fox expired in 1954 after seven years, he deliberately went independent in order to have more artistic control over his films. He formed his own company, Heath Productions. |
| 35 | In the fall of 2007 he sustained a fractured vertebrae after a fall. He died about six months later of complications. |
| 36 | He was the stepfather of Amy Fonda, daughter of Henry Fonda and Susan Blanchard. |
| 37 | His father was Swedish by descent; his mother was Scottish, English and Irish. |
| 38 | At 5'10" he was one of the shorter leading men of his era. |
| 39 | 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, Marilyn Monroe, and artist Alexander Calder. Actor and Widmark's friend, Walter Matthau also owned property in bucolic Roxbury and at Widmark's urging, Matthau made a generous contribution of property to the trust shortly before his death. |
| 40 | His daughter with wife Jean Hazlewood, Anne Heath Widmark, an artist and author, married baseball legend Sandy Koufax on 1 January 1969. |
| 41 | When Kiss of Death (1947) 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. The part was small, but Widmark made it one of the most indelible performances in the history of cinema. |
| 42 | Was honored with a retrospective of his films by the Museum of Modern Art (New York, New York) in May 2001. |
| 43 | His sole Academy Awards nomination was for best actor in a supporting role for Kiss of Death (1947) in 1948. Though he had won the Golden Globe for the role, he lost the Oscar to Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street (1947). |
| 44 | Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 2002. |
| 45 | President of his high school class. |
| 46 | Unforgettable in his screen debut in Kiss of Death (1947) as Tommy Udo, a psychopathic mob hit-man, who giggles gleefully even as he shoves a wheelchair-bound old woman, portrayed by Mildred Dunnock, tumbling down a long stairway to her demise. |
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