CELEBRATING THE HOLLYWOOD CAREER OF LAKE FOREST COLLEGE’S STAR GRADUATE

N O V E M B E R 2 2 & 2 3 , 2 0 0 8

Richard WidmarkFILM Retrospective

Richard WidmarkFILM Retrospective

R e t r o s p e c t i v e S c h e d u l e

O P E N I N G N I G H T !

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23

NIGHT AND THE CITY (1950)7 p.m., Lily Holt Reid ChapelPreceded by student documentary: From Lake Forest College to Hollywood: The Life and Career of Richard WidmarkSpeakers: Dr. Janet McCracken, Provost & Dean of Faculty; Dr. Leslie Abramson, Department of Communication; Arthur Miller, College Archivist/Librarian for Special Collections

Starring in what has been called “the definitive film noir,” Widmark gives a virtuouso performance in this tour de force as a hustler chasing fame and fortune through the backstreets of London. Pursuing his latest in a series of grandiose schemes to extricate himself from a life of conning for a sleazy nightclub proprietor and his duplicitous wife, Widmark’s character becomes a corrupt wrestling promoter, ignoring the entreaties of the woman who loves him as he races toward a dark destiny.

PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (1953)11 a.m., Meyer Auditorium (Brunch Included)Followed by “I Love Lucy” episode: “The Tour” (1955) guest starring Richard Widmark

Widmark stars as cynical pickpocket Skip McCoy, who steals more than he counted on while riding the New York subway. McCoy inadvertently becomes entangled in a Communist plot involving stolen government secrets and an alluring woman. In this Samuel Fuller film, Widmark is at his magnetic, insolent best.

NO WAY OUT (1950) Co-Starring Sidney Poitier 1 p.m., Meyer Auditorium Preceded by student documentary: From Lake Forest College to Hollywood: The Life and Career of Richard Widmark.

Paired with Sidney Poitier, who co-stars as a young doctor in his first credited screen performance, Widmark plays a hardened, virulently racist criminal who lands in the hospital under medical care that he fiercely resents. Widmark’s intensity reaches its peak in this early exploration of racial tensions and anxieties as his character, who eventually escapes, incites a riot and raises havoc among a former flame, the insecure physician, and the community at large.

PANIC IN THE STREETS (1950)Co-starring Jack Palance1 p.m., Lily Holt Reid Chapel

In a heroic early role and one of his few portrayals of a family man, Widmark plays a Public Health Service doctor tracking down the source of a threatened bubonic plague through the underworld of New Orleans. A dark thriller by Elia Kazan, “the best actor’s director there ever was,” according to Widmark, the doctor operates against the police and close-knit criminal culture under intense time constraints.

KISS OF DEATH (1947) 3 p.m., Meyer AuditoriumPreceded by student documentary: From Lake Forest College to Hollywood: The Life and Career of Richard Widmark.

Widmark makes his screen debut as Tommy Udo, a petty criminal-turned-gangster with a taste for sadism and a menacing laugh. This gripping performance earned Widmark an Oscar nomination and wide renown as a psychotic noir villain.

R e t r o s p e c t i v e S c h e d u l eDON’T BOTHER TO KNOCK (1952)Co-starring Marilyn Monroe3 p.m., Lily Holt Reid Chapel

Widmark and Marilyn Monroe star in this compelling, suspenseful hotel drama about a jilted pilot who tries to reunite with his lounge-singer girlfriend, yet discovers he has checked in for something unexpected. The pilot finds himself both attracted and repelled by a seductive, yet dangerously disturbed babysitter who ultimately evokes his sensitive side as this initially cynical, cold-hearted character undergoes a striking transformation.

JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961)Co-Starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Montgomery Clift, Judy Garland, Maximillian Schell, and William Shatner6 p.m., Lily Holt Reid ChapelSpeakers: Stephen Schutt, President of Lake Forest College; Dr. Abba Lessing, Department of Philosophy; Dr. Dan LeMahieu, Hotchkiss Presidential Professor of History, Chair of Communication Department; Dr. Chad McCracken, Department of Philosophy

In this intensely powerful, star-studded film centering on the Nazi war crime trials held in Germany after World War II, Widmark delivers one of his most forceful performances, as the U.S. Army’s fervent prosecuting attorney. Teeming with moral and legal complexities and riveting portrayals of victims, transgressors, and Americans determined to restore justice, this top-grossing drama directed by Stanley Kramer was awarded Oscars for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.

Kiss of Death (1947)

The Street With No Name (1948)

Road House (1948)

Yellow Sky (1948)

Down to the Sea in Ships (1949)

Slattery’s Hurricane (1949)

Night and the City (1950)

Panic in the Streets (1950)

No Way Out (1950)

Halls of Montezuma (1950)

The Frogmen (1951)

Red Skies of Montana (1952)

Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)

O. Henry’s Full House (1952)

My Pal Gus (1952)

Destination Gobi (1953)

Pickup on South Street (1953)

Take the High Ground! (1953)

Hell and High Water (1954)

Garden of Evil (1954)

Broken Lance (1954)

A Prize of Gold (1955)

The Cobweb (1955)

Backlash (1956)

Run for the Sun (1956)

The Last Wagon (1956)

Saint Joan (1957)

Time Limit (1957)

The Law and Jake Wade (1958)

The Tunnel of Love (1958)

The Trap (1959)

Warlock (1959)

The Alamo (1960)

The Secret Ways (1961)

Two Rode Together (1961)

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

How the West Was Won (1962)

The Long Ships (1964)

Flight from Ashiya (1964)

Cheyenne Autumn (1964)

The Bedford Incident (1965)

Alvarez Kelly (1966)

The Way West (1967)

Madigan (1968)

A Talent for Loving (1969)

Death of a Gunfighter (1969)

The Moonshine War (1970)

Vanished (1971, TV)

When the Legends Die (1972)

“Madigan” (1972-1973, TV Series)

Brock’s Last Case (1973, TV)

Benjamin Franklin (1974, TV

miniseries)

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

The Last Day (1975, TV)

To the Devil a Daughter (1976)

The Sell-Out (1976)

Twilight’s Last Gleaming (1977)

The Domino Principle (1977)

Rollercoaster (1977)

Coma (1978)

The Swarm (1978)

Mr. Horn (1979, TV)

Bear Island (1979)

All God’s Children (1980, TV)

A Whale For the Killing (1981, TV)

National Lampoon’s Movie Madness

(1982)

Hanky Panky (1982)

Who Dares Wins (1982)

Against All Odds (1984)

Blackout (1985, TV)

Once Upon a Texas Train (1988, TV)

Cold Sassy Tree (1989, TV)

True Colors (1991)

Lincoln (1992, TV)

R I C H A R D W I D M A R K F I L M O G R A P H Y

Actor Richard

Widmark was

one of the most

in-demand film actors

between the late 1940s

through the early

1970s. During his half

century on screen, he

appeared in a total of

sixty-two feature films

starring alongside such

Hollywood greats as James Stewart, Spencer Tracy, Gary

Cooper, John Wayne, Sidney Poitier, Marilyn Monroe,

and Henry Fonda. Widmark’s acting career began in the

1930s at Lake Forest College, where he was a Garrick

Player; he continued on to become an established performer

in New York theater and on nationally broadcast radio

programs. He skyrocketed to stardom after his first, and

arguably his most famous film role, as the mobster, Tommy

Udo, in the 1947 film, Kiss of Death. By the late 1950s,

Widmark was paid as much as Marlon Brando and often

received top billing.

Richard Widmark was born in Sunrise, Minnesota on

December 26th, 1914. When he was a young child, his

father, Carl, a traveling salesman, relocated the family

to Princeton, Illinois, where he was raised. He credited

his grandmother for inspiring his love of cinema. In

an interview with the Chicago Daily Tribune, Widmark

said, “I’ve been a movie bug ever since I was four. My

grandmother, a tiny Scotswoman, used to take me--she was

a great Tom Mix fan.”

In 1932, Widmark enrolled at Lake Forest College. “I

was a kid who was terribly broke in the middle of the

Depression and [Lake Forest] gave me a scholarship, and

I got to go to college, which I didn’t think I was going to

[do],” he recalled. Widmark initially intended to study

law. As a young man from a small town in the mid-1930s,

he explained, “When a kid found out that he was able to

talk, he wanted to be a lawyer. That was automatic.” Yet,

Widmark soon turned his attention to Speech, a major that

included classes in the Dramatic Arts. He studied drama

under the instruction of Professor Russell C. Tomlinson,

one of Widmark’s most influential mentors. He also took

a number of courses in Politics. During his four years at

college, his classes included Interpretive Reading, Public

Address, Argumentative Debate, Acting , Shakespeare, Play

Directing, Shakespeare, Contemporary Drama, American

Municipal Government, and International Law.

As a student, Widmark took advantage of all Lake

R I C H A R D W I D M A R K : A B I O G R A P H Y

Young Widmark in Sunrise, Minnesota

Forest College had to offer. He was President of his senior

class and the Honor Society, Junior class Prom King, head

of the College’s debate team, a member of the College‘s

football team, and Grand Master of the Iron Key club,

an elite fraternity for men. As a Junior, Widmark won the

McPherson Oratory Contest. He also worked as the head

of the boys’ clothing department in the Marshall Fields in

downtown Lake Forest.

Most significantly, Widmark became a member of the

college theater group, the Garrick Club, later called the

Garrick Players. During his years on campus, he acted in

thirty modern plays. Widmark performed in his first drama,

It Never Rains, as a freshman, starring as a man who strikes

a business deal with a friend. The college newspaper,

The Stentor, called his performance “satisfactory.” As a

sophomore, he played the lead in Elmer Rice’s Counsellor-

at-Law. His performance as high-powered lawyer George

Simon was hailed by The Stentor as “dominat[ing] not

only the inner office but the entire play.” Widmark later

said that, ironically, his success at portraying an attorney

inspired him to give up his pre-law studies and pursue

acting. As a Junior, Widmark’s performance in the final

play of the season, Skidding, won him recognition as an

outstanding talent. The Stentor reviewer wrote, “Widmark

stole the sympathy of the audience from the minute he

walked on the stage until he left in the third act amid a burst

of applause commending his wonderful interpretation of

a dear old grandfather. . . Widmark is no doubt the most

versatile player Garrick has ever produced and his stellar

work has helped to make every play in which is cast a

success.” In his senior year, Widmark became President of

the Garrick Club.

Widmark graduated from Lake Forest College in

1936 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech. After he

completed his studies, the college offered him a job teaching

in the Speech and Dramatics Department, and he accepted.

As an instructor, Widmark earned $150 per month.

In the summer of 1937, Widmark and one of his close

companions embarked on a bicycle tour of Europe. During

the course of their six months of traveling, Widmark filmed

a documentary on Hitler German youth camps. His interest

in the issues that faced Germany and Europe during this

time began with a passionate professor at Lake Forest

College. “When Hitler got in, I was at school in 1933.

My professor got all steamed up, and got me steamed up,

about the Nazis…For two weeks we filmed Hitler youth

camps. At the time, it seemed slightly dull, but now it’s very

interesting. I’ve been interested in that period all my life.”

The trip would later take on added significance insofar

as one of Widmark’s most renowned films, Judgment at

Nuremberg, was to be a drama about the Nazi war crime

trials held in Germany after World War II.

After returning to the States, Widmark returned to Lake

Forest College. Although he taught at the College for two

years, through the spring of 1938, he never thought of

himself as a professor. In a 1953 interview with Hollywood

The Iron Key club in 1936 Widmark & fellow “oratorical winners”

The Garrick Club in 1936. Widmark stands in the top row, second from right.

columnist Hedda Hopper,

he said of his teaching

days, “I taught ‘em all

wrong. I shudder when

I think of it. It took me

fifteen years to unlearn

what I taught them.”

Unsatisfied with

teaching, Widmark

moved to New York in

pursuit of what would be a successful career in radio and

theater, a period in Widmark’s career that he thought many

had forgotten about. From 1938 to 1948, Widmark was

considered a top ranking figure in the New York radio

industry. He performed in New York Theater and radio

soap operas like Aunt Jenny’s Real Life Stories, Stella

Dallas, Gang Busters, Front Page Farrell and Inner Sanctum.

After being rejected by the Army three

times due to a perforated eardrum,

Widmark went to work on Broadway,

making his debut in the play Kiss and

Tell in 1943. In 1944, he received

positive reviews for the play Trio,

which was shut down after sixty-seven

shows due to a plot that touched on

lesbianism.

In 1942, Widmark married his

college sweetheart, playwright and

screenwriter Jean Hazlewood, who

studied at the American Academy of

Dramatic Arts in New York City in the late 1930s. His wife

was a former classmate and one of his students. Widmark

later recalled, “She told me later she only took the class

because she figured I’d give her a good grade. And

once she was in there I found myself ‘performing’ for her

benefit. I was more concerned with impressing her than

my teaching.” The two remained happily married for fifty-

five years and had one daughter, Anne. Hazlewood lost

a battle to Alzheimer’s disease in 1997. Widmark would

later remarry, to socialite and producer, Susan Blanchard.

Throughout his career, Widmark was able to sustain the

privacy of his family, although he appeared in several

magazine spreads with his wife, Jean, and daughter. “I

have always maintained a separate life, business and

home,” he remarked in an interview. “Even when I was [at

college], I was that way.”

By 1947, Widmark had auditioned for the role of

Tommy Udo in the film noir, Kiss of Death. The role had

Widmark playing a sadistic young gangster, most notorious

for pushing a woman confined to her wheelchair down a

flight of stairs. Widmark’s role in his first motion picture

landed him the only Academy Award

nomination in his entire cinema career.

Yet, he lost the Best Supporting Actor

award to Edmund Gwenn for his role

in Miracle on 34th Street. Widmark

had once said that he got the biggest

“boot” out of his first picture because “it

was all so unexpected.” The film made

Widmark an overnight star, but he was

almost turned down for what became an

iconic role. Director, Henry Hathaway,

thought Widmark was too “soft” for the

part, however he was anything but that

in his portrayal of Tommy Udo. Widmark’s performance

was described by author and film critic, David Thomson as

powerfully striking: “The sadism of that character, the fearful

laugh, the skull [showed] through drawn skin Widmark as

the most frightening person on screen.” This memorable

Professor Russell Tomlinson

Widmark as Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death

character was unfamiliar territory for Widmark, who

confessed, “I didn’t know any hoodlums. The laugh partially

came out of nervousness. When in doubt, I’d laugh. And

since it was my first picture and the mechanics of picture-

making were new to me, I laughed a lot.”

Widmark had caught the attention of Hollywood, and

in late 1947, he and his family moved to California.

Before filming Kiss of Death, he had signed a clause that

gave the studio, Twentieth Century Fox, the option to

extend his contract each year for up to seven years. At

the time, Widmark thought nothing of the agreement, later

recalling in an interview, “Nobody ever got picked up on

a long-term contract in those days from a part like [Tommy

Udo]…I didn’t even tell my wife.” Yet, after his success as

Udo, Twentieth Century Fox held on to Widmark, and he

remained under contract to the studio for seven years.

Widmark’s contract with Twentieth Century Fox had

both positive and negative affects on his career as a

film actor. He performed in two to three films a year for

seven years, making a total of twenty films for the studio.

However, it was clear that over the course of those seven

years, Widmark had experienced the frustrations of a

typecast actor. In an article by, Hedda Hopper, “Widmark

Revolts”, Widmark said, “Seven years in any one place is

enough for an actor, writer, or any creative person…The

studio has been fine to me, but you get into one thing and

you keep playing it and playing it--like a broken record.”

In a profile in the New Yorker in 1961, Widmark noted

that it was a combination of the studio’s influence and the

public’s perception that caused him to be typecast: “Movie

audiences fasten on to an aspect of the actor, and then they

decide what they want you to be. They think you’re playing

yourself. The truth is that the only person who can ever

really play himself is a baby.”

Typecast, or not, the 1950s proved to be the most

important and abundant period in Richard Widmark’s

career. In his twenty-five films during the decade, he played

starring roles in film noirs like Night and the City, Panic in

the Streets, and Pickup on South Street. He also made war

films, such as Halls of Montezuma, Take the High Ground

and The Frogmen, as well as such westerns as Broken

Lance, The Last Wagon, and Warlock. In 1952, after his

contract with Twentieth Century Fox expired, he formed

his own production company, Heath Productions, and

produced three films: Time Limit, The Secret Ways and The

Bedford Incident. Widmark said that he did not start his

own production company for financial gain, but rather for

more artistic control and integrity, an issue that Widmark

seemed to battle his entire career.

In the 1960s, there was a decline in the number of

Widmark films. “Occasionally, you get into the positions

of picking what you want; but, in general, the material

simply isn’t available,” Widmark said in an interview with

Widmark on the set of The Secret Ways

film critic Gene Siskel. In the 60s, he starred mainly in

westerns, such as The Alamo, How the West was Won, and

Cheyenne Autumn, directed by John Ford. One of his top-

grossing films of the 1960s was Judgment at Nuremberg,

about the Nazi war crime trials after World War II. This

film was one of Widmark’s favorites, partly because of the

fact that he studied political science in college and had

once filmed Hitler’s youth camps.

Widmark went on to star in the television series Madigan

from 1972-73, based on a role he had played as a police

detective in a 1968 film of the same name. He costarred in

Murder on the Orient Express and Coma, and made some

low-budget films in the 1970s and 80s. In the 1990s, after

Hazlewood’s death from Alzheimer’s disease, Widmark

retired from the film industry. In 1973, he said in an

interview with Gene Siskel, “I’m not too interested in the

movies being made today… it’s a period of revolutionary

change … this new freedom is a good thing, but it

involves responsibility, and unfortunately in about ninety-

eight percent of the case, it’s brought in hustlers--cheap

hustlers--who exploit freedom, not to any artistic or creative

advantage, but strictly for a fast dollar.”

In honor of his cinema career, Widmark was given the

D.W. Griffith Career Achievement Award by the National

Board of Review in 1990. The award was presented by

close friend, actor Sidney Poitier, with whom he had starred

in the films No Way Out, The Long Ships, and The Bedford

Incident.

On March 24th, 2008, Richard Widmark passed away

at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, at 93 years of age.

He left behind his wife, Susan Blanchard, who he had

married in 1999, and his daughter, Anne Heath Widmark.

Widmark said regarding his career and his first cinematic

role as Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death, in a statement quoted

in his New York Times obituary, “It’s a bit rough priding

oneself that one isn’t too bad an actor and then finding

one’s only remembered for a giggle.” Journalist Hedda

Hooper disagreed: “It was a combination of competence and

audience penetration which turns the trick for [Widmark].

With Widmark something stands out beyond what others

contribute, and this is the most important part of his talent.”

It was Widmark’s knowledge of acting, confidence, self-

reliance, and his awareness of the art of performance that

made him such a successful star. After sixty-two films, twelve

made-for-T.V. movies, and a television series, it is clear that

the actor’s talent was far greater than his role as the notorious

Tommy Udo. His career is one that will be remembered for

years to come.

-Melika Mansouri

Garrick Club material contributed by Kelly Crook

Widmark and John Wayne in The Alamo

Widmark as detective Madigan

Film noir—meaning “black film”—is a genre that arose

in the 1940s as a response to the brutality and immorality

of humankind which surfaced during World War II. Film

noirs are highly stylized, featuring intense lighting contrasts,

and they emphasize darkness and pessimism, presenting

cynical perspectives on the

world. The genre of film

noir encompasses detective

films, police stories, gangster

films, crime melodramas,

thrillers, and women’s

films, many of which are

based on the hard-boiled

crime fiction of the 1930s.

The protagonist may be

presented as a lone crusader

for justice or an anti-hero

who in some way interacts

with the usually inept and

ignorant police department.

The dangerous, alluring

female character known as

the “femme fatale” often

brings the protagonist to

his downfall. Further, film noirs emphasize dialogue as

opposed to action, and the criminal’s psychopathology as

opposed to physical violence.

Like most film noirs, Night and the City takes place at

night in a labyrinthine city rife with immorality and criminal

activity, accentuating the shadiness of the characters.

Richard Widmark plays Harry Fabian in this 1950 film

noir, just three years after his debut in the famous role of

Tommy Udo, the sociopathic criminal who pushes an old

woman in a wheelchair down the stairs. Harry Fabian,

on the other hand, is a hustler on the streets of London

who aspires to fame and fortune through get-rich-quick

schemes, though none of his plans ever pan out. Fabian

finds himself concocting

a scheme involving a

famous aged Greco-Roman

wrestler, Gregorius, and

his protégé. Through

cunning and luck, Fabian

manages to persuade them

to sign on with his new

wrestling outfit with the

intent that the protégé will

challenge all wrestlers in

the city, mainly the peerless

Strangler. Fabian believes

he has finally created a

fool-proof plan for success,

but his confidence comes

from nothing more than self-

deception.

JULES DASSIN

Night and the City was directed by Jules Dassin, a

prominent film noir director. Dassin was born in 1911

in Middletown, Connecticut to Russian-Jewish immigrant

parents. He began his career in show business as an actor

but soon decided that directing and writing were more well-

suited to his talents. When Dassin moved to Hollywood, he

N I G H T A N D T H E C I T Y A N D F I LM N O I R

Widmark as Harry Fabian in Night and the City

apprenticed under Alfred Hitchcock and Garson Kanin. His

first film, The Tell-Tale Heart (adapted from the Edgar Allen

Poe short story), was released in 1941 by MGM studios.

Dassin later worked for Twentieth Century Fox and directed

more films, including Brute Force (1947), The Naked City

(1948), and Night and the City (1950). In 1951, during

the McCarthy movement, Dassin was accused of being a

communist and, after refusing to appear before the House

Un-American Activities Committee, he was blacklisted. Still

determined to write and direct, Dassin moved to France,

where his career blossomed. He won two awards at the

Cannes Film Festival, and his talent was later accepted

again in the United States as the anti-communist movement

faded. Dassin also later sat on the juries of the Cannes Film

Festival and other international film festivals.

PRODUCTION AND RECEPTION

Night and the City is based on British author Gerald

Kersh’s novel of the same name and was shot on location

in London with American actors, which reportedly incensed

their British counterparts. At the time of its release,

reception of the film was less than enthusiastic. Mae Tinee

of the Chicago Daily Tribune wrote, “It’s too bad so many

competent people, and some expert shots of London are

wasted on such a fevered plot for the film will appeal solely

to those who have a taste for blood and thunder.” Reviewer

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times described it as

“a pointless, trashy yarn…a turgid pictorial grotesque.”

Although response to the film was not fervent in the 1950s,

critics acclaimed its genius in later years.

AN ECHO OF HELPLESS IMMORALITY

Night and the City highlights the importance of setting

as a mirror of the corruption in the world and as a reflection

of the characters’ psyche. The labyrinthine city’s constantly

curving streets, dead ends, narrow staircases, and dark

alleyways encase its inhabitants with a menacing and

oppressing countenance. The criminals know the secret

paths of the town and escape law enforcement with ease;

the police rarely keep up with criminals and in turn provide

the felons with free rein. The city emulates the ineffectuality

of the world’s attempts to keep order and peace during

WWII and magnifies the consequences. In the opening

shots of the movie, the narration emphasizes the normalcy

of such a corrupt city, represented by nighttime screenshots

of a foggy, misty London, meant to symbolize any city in

the world. The shots exhibit a closed-off and claustrophobic

city, which heightens the feeling of repression and

imprisonment of the inhabitants. The buildings are tall, the

streets are narrow, and the lights are either blindingly bright

or murky and dull. Every object and setting displays high

contrast and sharp edges. Even the apartment of Mary

Bristol, Harry Fabian’s love interest, seems claustrophobic—

the walls are congested with furniture covered with a

copious, crammed assortment of random odds and ends.

The setting of Night and the City provides no place of

tranquility for the characters; they are always overwhelmed

by their surroundings.

Fabian and Helen Nosseross (Googie Withers)

This disconcerting setting amplifies the corrupt

psychological tendencies of the characters. The beginning

of the film introduces the audience to Fabian as he

maneuvers around an array of obstacles: he first jumps over

a fence, then runs down an alleyway ending in a staircase,

and then heads down to a street connecting with another

alleyway connected to even steeper stairs, which are

encased with close walls and a low ceiling. All the twists

and turns reflect the untrustworthy nature of many of the

film’s characters. Fabian runs from a man who looks almost

exactly like him. Both are wearing fedoras and suits, and

are about the same height and build — the only vivid

distinction is that one is chasing the other. The story never

reveals who first chases him through the streets of London,

implying that this is a regular occurrence for Fabian, and

their similar attire emphasizes the commonality of Fabian’s

character, a theme which persists throughout the film.

Fabian’s boss, Phil Nosseross, who owns the Silver

Fox nightclub, manipulates everyone in order to succeed

financially. He tries to buy the love of his wife, Helen,

with expensive accessories, and only helps Fabian when

he needs cash because he sees his aid as a prudent

investment. To add insult to injury, Nosseross also strives

to punish and ruin Fabian. The scheming involves Helen,

the femme fatale, who has promised to help Fabian only if

he can secretly procure illegal documents for her. Nothing

comes easily—there is always an obstacle or restrictive path

which the characters must follow to attain their goals, and

none ever succeed—a common theme in many film noirs.

Harry Fabian, however, is blind to this fact and continues to

concoct new schemes career after each failure.

Deluded by a dream to “just be somebody,” Fabian

wallows in London’s cutthroat world wrought with

ruthless criminals, and he exhibits signs of paranoia and

megalomania. In the first scene, Fabian constantly looks

over his shoulder, incessantly concerned about the proximity

of his pursuer. He is too consumed by his passion to

succeed and rise above the life in the backstreets to realize

his own limitations and inadequacies. Fabian’s behavior

turns completely reckless at the end of the film when

paranoia finally consumes him, and he becomes so blinded

by fear that he can no longer think logically. Though

Fabian believes he works as diligently as he possibly can to

better his situation, his actions have only further imbedded

him in the city’s life of crime. Because his plans have relied

on the corrupt methods of criminals, Fabian is doomed to

stay a criminal. Yet, Harry Fabian is not the only character

who fails in attempts to succeed. The city suppresses each

character, preventing him or her from ever thriving in a

society of honest prosperity and comfort. In Night and the

City, the city forces each character to live a life of crime,

dishonesty, and distrust.

-Karen Larson

BIBLIOGRAPHYArthur, Paul. “In the Labyrinth.” Night and the City DVD insert.

Crowther, Bosley. “The Screen: Quartet of Newcomes Arrives; Richard Widmark Is Seen in ‘Night and the City,’ New Fox Film at Roxy Theatre ‘Fortunes of Captain Blood’ at Rivoli--Strand Has Western --German Import at Thalia At the Rivoli At the Strand at the Thalia.” The New York Times 10 June 1950.

Shelokhonov, Steve. The Internet Movie Database. 1990-2008. 18 October 2008 <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0202088/bio>.

Tinee, Mae. “Movie, ‘Night and the City,’ Is Pretty Grim.” Chicago Daily Tribune 15 June 1950: C6.

“U.S. Actors in British roles stir English.” Chicago Daily Tribune 29 June 1950: 4.

In popular magazines of the 1940s and 1950s, Widmark was lauded as a family man, a loyal husband, and a clean-cut heartthrob.

While the public was repeatedly getting glances at his dark side through his films, the media was praising Widmark for his stable,

happy home life in an abundance of articles with such titles as “Richard the Light-Hearted,” “Bad Guy With a Heart of Gold,” and

“How Phony Can You Get,” the latter in response to his fake on-screen criminal persona in comparison to his real personality. His

calm off-screen life and his charismatic persona were both factors in his evolution from Noir villain to Hollywood star, as the media

constantly probed him about his personal life to dispel the myth that he might be the villain he often played.

-Alexandra Fisher

From Modern Screen, February 1955

Richard Widmark struggled greatly with typecasting early in his career because he was almost too good at being the character that every

film noir needed: a tough, maniacal, terrifying villain who is easy to hate. Although these characters are individuals condemned by society,

they also possess traits that men have traditionally striven for: power, influence, emotional strength, and a “take-charge” attitude. Many of

Widmark’s characters feel they must have ubiquitous control of their surroundings, power over the women in their lives, and the ability to

create fear in those who know them. -CC Hayne

...

Judging from the sheer volume of references to Lake

Forest College in his interviews, Widmark regarded his

college years as significant ones. What follows is a

description of Widmark’s life on campus as a student and

an instructor–in Widmark’s own words and in the words of

his wife, Jean Hazlewood, who also attended Lake Forest

College–assembled from magazine and newspaper articles

published throughout his career.

Widmark attended Lake Forest College as an

undergraduate from 1932 to 1936 and taught in the

Speech and Dramatics Department from 1936 to 1938. “It

was. . . beautiful and quiet. There were only 300 students

then . . . and some nice people whom I’ll always remember

very fondly [including drama professor] Russell Tomlinson,

who really started me in acting as a career. . .”

“[I] probably worked harder at Lake Forest College

than I ever have, before or since. I was constantly busy,

always in a play, about 30 in all. I debated all over and

played on the football team. . . . [It was] one of the periods

of my greatest activity.”

“My first two years in college were in pre-law. In my

day, coming from a little town, California and New York

were places that could have been on the moon. When a

kid found our that he was able to talk, he wanted to be a

lawyer. That was automatic. I always loved movies and

had a feeling I’d like to do them; but when I found out I

could talk, I thought I’d like to be a lawyer. Theater and

movies were a million miles away, totally removed from

my ken.”

Widmark was encouraged by a friend to try out for

the college drama group, the Garrick Club (later called

the Garrick Players) and he was accepted. “Funny thing.

I was going to be a lawyer and the first play I did was

Counsellor-at-Law. It was the part of that lawyer that made

me decide to become an actor!”*

Jean Hazlewood offered a different perspective on her

future husband: “Dick was a lone wolf, even then. That’s

what made him so attractive. He never acquired any social

graces; he didn’t have time. Teen-

age frivolities left him cold. He

stalked around the campus, lost in

a dozen things--football, debating,

honor societies, class presidency,

dramatics and, of course, finally

teaching. Most of the time he

worked, waiting tables at Marshall

Field’s branch store. It was

thrilling just to see the ambition

that burned him up so intensely. A

guy like that is irresistible.”

W I D M A R K O N W I D M A R K :L I F E A T L A K E F O R E S T C O L L E G E

Widmark (top row, center) and the Committee for the Student Trip, 1935

“I met Dick on a blind date when I was being rushed by

a sorority at Lake Forest. Dick, a football hero, was a big

shot on the campus. A member of the sorority arranged the

date hoping I’d be impressed. I was and joined the sorority

which had provided such a desirable escort. For two weeks

Dick dated me every night.

I assumed he was falling for

me, as I was for him. Then

he stopped phoning. I said

to my sorority sister, ‘What

goes?’ I thought Dick liked

me.’ They assured me Dick

didn’t want to go steady

with any girl, and that no

girl lasted more than two

weeks with him.

“Occasionally I’d see him on the campus and we’d nod

to each other. One day he asked if I’d go on a boat ride.

“We started dating again. This time we became a

steady twosome, and Dick gave me his fraternity pin.

When he began to teach drama and speech, I just had to

be an actress.””

Although Hazlewood looked forward to Widmark’s

class, not all her fellow students felt similarly: “My husband

is a punctual man, never more than five minutes late.

Usually he arrives just on time. When he was a college

instructor, the students used to hope he would be ten

minutes late, since the college rules permitted cutting of

the class if the instructor was that late. Occasionally, Dick

would be five minutes late but never more than that.”

Widmark found himself with an unexpected motivation

as an instructor when Hazlewood enrolled in his speech

class. “She told me later she only took the class because

she figured I’d give her a good grade. And once she was

in there I found myself ‘performing’ for her benefit. I was

more concerned with impressing her than my teaching.”

“It was about that same time when I realized what I

really wanted to do was act, not teach. So I decided to

become an actor just about the same time I decided to

become a husband.”

“I was the world’s

lousiest teacher. And Lake

Forest, apparently, was

equally hard pressed for an

instructor.” “I taught ‘em

all wrong. I shudder when

I think of it. It took me 15

years to unlearn what I

taught them.”

Yet, Widmark found his early training in theater

invaluable to his career. “You seldom learn to act in

movies. I learned the fundamentals on the stage. In

movies, you learn to do things on a minute scale, and

there’s nowhere to go from there. If you start in the theater,

you can learn, later, how to scale things down for pictures.”

*Counsellor-at-Law was actually Widmark’s third college play.

Sources: “Nutsy Fagan at Home,” Modern Screen, February

1955; “Unmasking Dick Widmark,” Motion Picture &

Television Magazine, May 1953; “Richard Widmark: ‘It’s

a New Day,’” Lake Forest College Alumni Quarterly, Fall

1970; “Richard Widmark” (Part One), Films in Review, (Part

One), April 1986; “Richard the Light-Hearted,” Photoplay,

August 1954; “Widmark Revolts,” Chicago Daily Tribune,

Sept. 27, 1953; “An Actor Returns to Scenes of His Youth,”

The Independent-Register, June 7, 1973; “The Player-III,”

The New Yorker, November 4, 1961.

Jean Hazlewood (top row, third from left) & the Gamma Rho Delta sorority

Richard Widmark on the campus of Lake Forest College in the 1930s

Richard Widmark film retrospective, documentary, and program produced by The Richard Widmark Practicum: Melika Mansouri, Karen Larson, Kelly Crook, CC Hayne, Alexandra Fisher, Dr. Leslie Abramson

Graphic Design: Omar Garcia

www.lakeforest.edu/widmark