MANILA, Philippines?When Richard Widmark was signed up by Hollywood, the lawyer-to-be was the assistant director in the Speech and Drama department of Lake Forest College. He changed careers after he appeared in a college production of ?Counselor-at-Law.?

In 1938, he scored a hit in ?Aunt Jenny?s Real Life Stories.? In 1943, he made his Broadway debut in ?Kiss and Tell.?

Top billing

He usually played good guys onstage, so it was quite shocking when Darryl F. Zanuck cast him as the homicidal Tom Udo in ?Kiss of Death,? his first film. Victor Mature had top billing in the feature, but it was Richard who got the Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. One critic wrote that the actor could make his fine set of teeth look more alarming than the prop-department fangs Boris Karloff bared.

He signed a seven-year contract with Fox, where he created characters that audiences loved to hate. New York Times critic, Bosley Crowther, wrote, ?The timbre of Widmark?s voice is that of filthy water going down a sewer.?

The actor also gave memorable performances in ?Road House,? ?Down to the Sea in Ship,? ?Judgment at Nuremberg,? as well as in Elia Kazan?s ?Panic in the Streets? and Jules Dassin?s ?Night and the City.?

In ?Don?t Bother to Knock,? he supported Marilyn Monroe. Sam Fuller cast him opposite Jean Peters in ?Pickup of South Street.? He also starred alongside Gary Cooper in ?Garden of Evil? and Robert Wagner in ?Broken Lance.?

Newcomer

Widmark was so versatile that he was also cast as the Dauphin in Otto Preminger?s ?St. Joan,? starring newcomer Jean Seberg.

John Ford and other great directors sought his services during a fruitful, five-decade career. The no-nonsense thespian once said: ?An actor should do his job and shut up.? Truly, Widmark practiced what he preached!