Walter Jack Palance[1] (/ˈpæləns/PAL-əns; bornVolodymyr Palahniuk; February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American screen and stage actor, known to film audiences for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for threeAcademy Awards, all forBest Actor in a Supporting Role, for his roles inSudden Fear (1952) andShane (1953), and winning almost 40 years later forCity Slickers (1991).
Subsequently, Palance played a variety of both supporting and leading film roles, often appearing in crime dramas and Westerns. Beginning in the late 1950s, he would work extensively in Europe, notably in a memorable turn as a charismatic-but-corrupting Hollywood mogul inJean-Luc Godard's 1963 filmContempt. He played thetitle character in the 1973 television filmBram Stoker's Dracula, which influenced future depictions of the character. During the 1980s, he became familiar to a new generation of audiences by hosting the television seriesRipley's Believe It or Not! (1982–86). His newfound popularity spurred a late-career revival, and he played high-profile villain roles in the blockbustersYoung Guns (1988) andTango & Cash (1989), and culminating in his Oscar andGolden Globe-winning turn as Curly inCity Slickers.
Off-screen, he was involved in efforts in support of the Ukrainian American community and served as a chairman of theHollywood Trident Foundation.
Boxing under the nameJack Brazzo, Palahniuk lost his only recorded match, in a four-round decision on points, to futureheavyweight contenderJoe Baksi in a Pier-6 brawl rough fight.[8][9][10] Other sources record him winning 15 consecutiveclub fights, with 12 knockouts.[1][7][11] Years later he recounted: "Then I thought, 'You must be nuts to get your head beat in for $200.' The theater seemed a lot more appealing."[12]
According to some sources he was awarded aPurple Heart,[7] though he does not appear on official rolls for the decoration. Purple Hearts are not awarded for training injuries.
After the war, Palance enrolled at Stanford to study journalism, but switched to drama.[7] He left one credit shy of graduating to pursue a career in the theater.[15] During his university years, he worked as ashort order cook, waiter,soda jerk, lifeguard atJones Beach State Park, and a photographer's model.[citation needed]
It was around this time that he changed his name toWalter Jack Palance, reasoning that most people could not pronounce his birth name. His last name was actually a derivative of his original name. In an episode ofWhat's My Line?, he described how no one could pronounce his last name, and how it was suggested that he be calledPalanski. From that he decided just to usePalance instead.[16]
Palance made his big-screen debut inPanic in the Streets (1950), directed byElia Kazan, who had directedStreetcar on Broadway. He played a gangster, and was credited as "Walter (Jack) Palance".
That year he was featured inHalls of Montezuma (1951), about United States Marines during World War II. He returned to Broadway forDarkness at Noon (1951) bySidney Kingsley, which was a minor hit.
Palance was second-billed in just his third film, oppositeJoan Crawford in the thrillerSudden Fear (1952). His character is a former coal miner, as Palance's father had been.[21] Palance received anOscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.[22]
He was nominated in the same category the following year for his role as hired gunfighter Jack Wilson inShane (1953).[23][24] The film was a huge hit, and Palance was now an established film name.[citation needed]
Warwick Films hired Palance to play the hero inThe Man Inside (1958), shot in Europe. He was reunited with Robert Aldrich and Jeff Chandler when they worked onTen Seconds to Hell (1959), filmed in Germany, playing a bomb disposal expert.
Palance returned to the U.S. to star in the TV seriesThe Greatest Show on Earth (1963–64).[29] The series only lasted one season, and the 30th and final episode. "You're All Right, Ivy," which starredBuster Keaton, also marked Palance's debut as a director. "For Keaton it was one of his peaks as an actor, an unforgettable role, and for Palance, an artist and a poet as well as an actor, it was the only time in his life that he ever tried directing anything."[30]
In 1964, his presence at a recently integrated movie theater inTuscaloosa, Alabama, prompted a riot from segregationists who assumed Palance was there to promote civil rights.[31]
Palance provided narration for the 1967 documentaryAnd Still Champion! The Story ofArchie Moore. He was in the TV filmThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde produced byDan Curtis, during the making of which he fell and injured himself.[32]
In Great Britain he appeared in a highly acclaimed TV film,Bram Stoker's Dracula (1973), in the title role; it was directed by Dan Curtis. Three years earlier, comic book artistGene Colan had based his interpretation of Dracula for the acclaimedMarvel Comics comic book seriesThe Tomb of Dracula on Palance, explaining, "He had that cadaverous look, a serpentine look on his face. I knew that Jack Palance would do the perfect Dracula."[33]
Palance later said his Italian sojourn was the most enjoyable of his career. "In Italy, everyone on the set has a drinking cubicle, and no one is ever interested in working after lunch", he said. "That's a highly civilized way to make a movie."[34] He went back to Canada forH. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come (1979).[35]
In 1982, Palance began hosting a television revival ofRipley's Believe It or Not!. The weekly series ran from 1982 to 1986 on the AmericanABC network. The series also starred three different co-hosts from season to season, including Palance's daughterHolly Palance, actressCatherine Shirriff and singerMarie Osmond.Ripley's Believe It or Not! was in rerun syndication on theSci-fi Channel (UK) and the Sci-fi Channel (U.S.) during the 1990s. He appeared in the filmsGor andBagdad Café (both 1987).[citation needed]
Palance had never been out of work since his career began, but his success onRipley's Believe It or Not! and the international popularity ofBagdad Cafe (1987) created a new demand for his services in big-budget Hollywood films.
Palance was then cast as cowboy Curly Washburn in the 1991 comedyCity Slickers, directed by Ron Underwood. He quipped:
I don't go to California much any more. I live on a farm in Pennsylvania, about 100 miles from New York, so I can go into the city for dinner and a show when I want to. I also have a ranch about two hours from Los Angeles, but I don't go there very often at all...But I will always read a decent script when it is offered, and the script toCity Slickers made sense. Curly (his character in the film) is the kind of man I would like to be. He is in control of himself, except for deciding the moment of his own death. Besides all that, I got paid pretty good money to make it.[34]
Four decades after his film debut, Palance won anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor on March 30, 1992, for his performance as Curly.[37] Stepping onstage to accept the award, the 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) actor looked down at 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) Oscar hostBilly Crystal (who was also his co-star in the movie) and joked, mimicking one of his lines from the film, "Billy Crystal ... I crap bigger than him." He then dropped to the floor and demonstrated his ability, at the age of 73, to perform one-armedpush-ups.[citation needed]
The audience loved the moment and host Crystal turned it into a running gag. At various points in the broadcast, Crystal announced that Palance was "backstage on theStairMaster", had bungee-jumped off the Hollywood sign, had rendezvoused with the space shuttle in orbit, had fathered all the children in a production number, had been namedPeople magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive", and had won the New York primary election. At the end of the broadcast Crystal said he wished he could be back next year, but "I've just been informed Jack Palance will be hosting."[citation needed]
Years later, Crystal appeared onInside the Actors Studio and fondly recalled that, after the Oscar ceremony, Palance approached him during the reception: "He stopped me and put his arms out and went, 'Billy Crystal, who thought it would be you?' It was his really funny way of saying thank you to a little New York Jewy guy who got him the Oscars."[38]
In 1993, during the opening of the Oscars, a spoof of that Oscar highlight featured Palance appearing to drag in an enormous Academy Award statuette with Crystal again hosting, riding on the rear end of it. Halfway across the stage, Palance dropped to the ground as if exhausted, but then performed several one-armed push-ups before regaining his feet and dragging the giant Oscar the rest of the way across the stage.[39]
Palance, at the time chairman of theHollywood Trident Foundation, walked out of a Russian Film Festival in Hollywood in 2004. After being introduced, Palance said, "I feel like I walked into the wrong room by mistake. I think that Russian film is interesting, but I have nothing to do with Russia or Russian film. My parents were born in Ukraine: I'm Ukrainian. I'm not Russian. So, excuse me, but I don't belong here. It's best if we leave."[40] Palance was awarded the title of "People's Artist" byVladimir Putin, president of Russia; however, Palance refused it.[40]
Palance lived for several years aroundTehachapi, California. He was married to his first wife, Virginia (née Baker), from 1949 to 1968. They had three children, of whomHolly Palance andBrooke Palance became actors. On New Year's Day, 2003, Virginia was struck and killed by a car in Los Angeles. In May 1987, Palance married his second wife, Elaine Rogers. His death certificate listed his marital status as "Divorced".
Palance painted and sold landscape art, with a poem included on the back of each picture. He was also the author ofThe Forest of Love, a book of poems published in 1996 by Summerhouse Press.[41]
Palance enjoyed raising cattle on his ranch in theTehachapi Mountains.[42] He gave up eatingred meat after working on his ranch, commenting that he couldn't eat a cow.[43]
Palance acknowledged a lifelong attachment to his Pennsylvania heritage and visited there when able. Shortly before his death, he sold his farm inButler Township and put his art collection up for auction.[44]
Palance died at the age of 87 from natural causes at his daughter Holly's house inMontecito, California on November 10, 2006.[45] Following his death a memorial service was held at St. Michael'sUkrainian Catholic Church in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.[46]
The song "And now we dance" by punk bandThe Vandals features the lyrics, "Come on and do one hand pushups just like Jack Palance."
American comedianBill Hicks incorporated a reference to Palance in one of his most famous routines, likening Palance's character inShane to how he views the United States' role in international warfare.[50]
NovelistDonald E. Westlake stated that he sometimes imagined Palance as the model for the career-criminal characterParker he wrote in a series of novels under the name Richard Stark.[51]
In 2023, Palance was inducted into the Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame. He was included among the inaugural class of inductees.[52]
^Hopper, Hedda, "Menace Jack Palance Cast as Apache Chief",Los Angeles Times, October 17, 1952, B6.
^Scheuer, Philip K., "Jack Palance as Attila Dominant 'Pagan' Figure",Los Angeles Times, December 24, 1954, p. 10.
^"Jack Palance Has Operation",The New York Times, October 19, 1955: 39.
^Coppola, Jo (March 22, 1957). "Palance Scores Again".Newsday. p. 3C.ProQuest879938015.When Jack Palance accepted the Emmy Award Saturday for his role as Mountain, the washed-up fighter in 'Requiem for a Heavyweight' done on 'Playhouse 90' in October, his diction was as precise as a diamond cutter's hand when handling a 100-carat gem.
^Page, Don, "Jack Palance: In the center ring",Los Angeles Times, September 1, 1963, p. C3.
^Curtis, James (2022).Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life (First ed.). United States: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 647.ISBN978-0-385-35421-9.
^"Jack Palance Presence Sparks Tuscaloosa Riot",Los Angeles Times, July 11, 1964, p. 7
^"Jack Palance Injured in Stunt Mishap",Los Angeles Times, September 9, 1967, B5.
^Field, Tom (2005).Secrets in the Shadows: The Art & Life of Gene Colan. Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 99.
^abWuntch, Philip, "Jack Palance's Image Follows Him Offscreen",Sun Sentinel, July 3, 1991: 3E.
^Shales, Tom, "Jack Palance: The Tough Guy Behind the Tough-Guy Exterior: Jack Palance",The Washington Post, August 22, 1980, C1.
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