I have to go out but thought I'd post this latest sad news before departing. Talk amongst yourselves. How I liked him, and I got to see him at Lincoln Center a few years back; I think the film shown was, all too aptly for today, 1972's WHEN THE LEGENDS DIE, one of his best and most sympathetic parts.

(I see we have "dueling memoriams," posted at the same time. Pick one; I defer to my comrades.)

I'll post in your memorium, Bob, because yours is the one that mentions WHEN THE LEGENDS DIE. I've never seen it, but have wanted to ever since I read Hal Borland's novel in a high school English class back in the early 80s. Does the movie deal with the boy's life in the wilderness and his friendship with the bear? That's a crucial aspect of the story, and everything I've read about the movie suggests that it focuses only on his adult life in the rodeo.

I was surprised to read Widmark had died...I assumed he had passed away years ago.

I think the bear puts in an appearance, but the wilderness aspect is only a small part of the story. It's a good filmization of what may only be part of the book, and a film Widmark liked. Frederic Forrest is good in it, too, his first substantial part. It used to show all the time on syndicated stations, then vanished. FMC I think very occasionally airs it.

And one day after Widmark's departure, his JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG screenwriter, Abby Mann, died at age 84.

TCM has announced a rather "eh" tribute to the actor for Friday evening 4/4, including the ill-fitting paternity comedy TUNNEL OF LOVE with the similarly shafted-by-Oscar Doris Day (there's still time). Going for laughs he looks like he's nursing an ulcer, as he usually did (life's compromises weighed heavily on his characters). TCM can, and should, do better, and FMC (which has his early classic roles) really should weigh in.

Richard Widmark has long been a staple of the cinema club that I program and run at the nursing home I work at. Every other Saturday, I show a series of three, unusally unrelated films, to a fairly consistent group of about twenty avid film - lovers. MADIGAN was one of the first Widmark films to be shown several years ago when the club began, but the list also includes THE ALAMO, THE BEDFORD INCIDENT, WARLOCK, PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET, STREET WITH NO NAME, KISS OF DEATH, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS and PANIC IN THE STREET (my personal favorite as it features some wonderful location shooting, gorgeous black and white cinematography, and a young Jack Palance, though I believe his name was longer in the credits.) The only film of his that I own and haven't shown is DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK, which I, admittedly, have never been able to develop a taste for, even with Marilyn Monroe on the scene.

Were the schedule not already posted throughout the building for this Saturday's program, I'd pre-empt one of the films and slip a Widmark in with a little discussion of his career achievements. Perhaps in a couple of weeks I'll Netflix THE NIGHT AND THE CITY and show that. Or maybe I'll show once more that remarkable and "strangely fascinating western WARLOCK."

When old school like Widmark passes, I don't think it's possible to over acknowledge the fact. The more the merrier!

Does Widmark have any cinematic progeny? People who, while not actively patterning themselves after him, have some of the same acting qualities? William H. Macy perhaps?