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Richard Widmark was born in Minnesota in 1914, but he grew up in Illinois. He went to college there, and began acting at that time in college productions, and switched from pre-law to being an acting teacher, and he did that at his college after he graduated. He got some roles on radio and on Broadway, and in 1947 he was cast in the tiny role of Tommy Udo in Kiss Of Death (nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for this film), a film noir starring Victor Mature. The movie was supposed to be centered on Mature and newcomer Colleen Gray, but Widmark played Udo as a giggling slight psychopathic killer (one scene in particular is extremely memorable!) who terrorizes the physically imposing Mature, and he was what audiences remembered from the movie, and he became a star in his first role. Naturally Hollywood wanted to stereotype him in psychotic killer roles, and for a few pictures he had no choice but to comply. But he begged his studio (20th Century Fox) to give him at least some other roles, and once they saw that the public liked him in whatever parts he played (from roles as no-nonsense detectives to the lead in light romantic comedies) he was cast in a wide range of movies. One of his very best roles was as "Harry Fabian", the small time wrestling promoter with big dreams in Night and the City, for director Jules Dassin. Widmark had not been young when he got his big break (he was 32) and when his studio contract expired in 1954 after 7 years he was pushing 40 and they did not re-sign him, and he became an independent. He soon settled into important supporting roles, usually opposite a major star. He stood out in John Wayne's The Alamo in 1960, playing Jim Bowie, and in 1961 he played the prosecutor in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg, and he held his own against the greatest stars of that time. He continued in mostly supporting roles throughout the 1960s,and one of his very best movies ever was in the starring role in 1968's Madigan, where he played a homicide detective who doesn't play by the rules and who would be an exact carbon copy for Harry Callaghan in Dirty Harry three years later. Widmark made another 30 or so movie and TV appearances until 1992 when he retired, and he lived until 2008. He left behind a solid legacy of excellent movie appearances over many decades, having seamlessly made the transition from leading man to supporting actor. Widmark passed away in 2008 at the age of 93.

Important Added Info: Note that this still has been personally autographed (signed) by Richard Widmark! Also note that this is a deluxe still printed on double weight paper stock. Note that this autographed 8x10 is one of 91 that were consigned to us by a former theater owner. He owned two different major theaters in Louisiana from the 1940s through the 1970s, and he sometimes had premieres of movies at his theaters, at which time some of the celebrities connected to the movies would appear in person (this was often done in the 1950s and 1960s). When celebrities came to his theater, he would have them autograph 8x10 stills for him in person, and that got him started collecting signed stills, so at some point in the 1950s, he began requesting the studios to have them send him stills signed by the stars of movies he had recently shown at his theater when he was holding a special event or having the anniversary of his theater's opening! Over the next decade, he collected 91 signed stills that were sent to him by the studios through the mail, as well as several dozen that he obtained in person. We auctioned those "in person" signed stills in our previous auctions, and now we are auctioning the 91 stills where he obtained the signatures through the mail from the studios.

We know for certain that he received these stills directly from the studios, but we can't say for certain if the stills were signed by the stars or if they were signed by secretaries. But since he owned a major theater, and since many of the stills were personalized to him (or to his theater), we would think it likely that most, if not all, of these 91 stills have genuine signatures that are NOT secretarial signatures. But we suggest that anyone bidding on these stills compare their signatures to other examples of that star's signature, so they can best determine if the signature is from that star.

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