Farewell Jack Palance

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A fond farewell to Jack Palance, a great character actor whom, during his heyday in the '50s and '60s, exuded a sublime aura of sinister silkiness. Palance, a big guy with cheekbones you could shave roast beef with, died today at age 85 (or possibly 87) at his home in Montecito, near Santa Barbara.

Palance's first big career score was playing the hired gun "Jack Wilson" in George Stevens ' Shane, a guy so creepy and reptilian that a dog in the film would always get up and leave the room when he walked in. He has a great showdown scene with Elisha Cooke, Jr., slowly putting on his black gloves and drawing his big six-shooter like lightning, and then waiting a couple of seconds before drilling Cooke and sending him flying backwards into the mud. (The gun sounds like a two-ton cannon.)

In another scene Palance mounts a horse like a lizard, pulling himself up and then freezing for three or four seconds before swinging his legs over and climbing into the saddle -- one of the most brilliant bad guy bits ever delivered in a western.

40 years later Palance won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as "Curly Washburn" in City Slickers, opposite Billy Crystal.

Palance's Wikipedia bio reads as follows: "Stepping onstage to accept the award, the intimidatingly fit 6' 4" actor looked down at the 5' 7" Crystal, and joked, 'Billy Crystal... I crap bigger than him.' He then dropped to the floor and demonstrated his ability, at age 73, to perform one-handed push-ups.

"Crystal then turned this into a running gag. At various points in the broadcast, he announced that Palance was backstage on the Stairmaster; had 'just 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 named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive; and had won the New York primary election. At the end of the broadcast, Crystal told everyone he'd like to see them again 'but I've just been informed Jack Palance will be hosting next year.'

"The following year, host Crystal arrived on stage atop a giant model of the Oscar statuette, towed by Palance with a rope in his mouth."

I always found Palance's performance in Tim Burton's Batman to be irritatingly over-mannered, but I liked him a lot in Robert Aldrich's Attack, Jean Luc Godard's Contempt and Richard Brooks' The Professionals.

The son of a Ukranian coal miner, Palance's birth name was Volodymyr Palanyuk.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 10, 2006 at 2:53 PM

comment #1

T-maker says ...

Mr. Palance left an impression on me as a young kid with a terrible made-for-TV horor film called "Evil Stalks This House". It wasn't scary, but his acting at the end of the film (don't want to give anything away) struck chords with me and some of the domestic turmoil that I was living through at the time. I think about that film - and the New York station that still played movies late night on the Jersey shore - very often. In the years since I've been able to see more of his work. He was one of a kind.

Posted by T-maker at November 10, 2006 3:52 PM

comment #2

frankbooth says ...

Anyone else remember his TV Dracula? he was one evil mofo.

Posted by frankbooth at November 10, 2006 4:27 PM

comment #3

dixiedugan says ...

Two of my favorite Palance performances have to be from Panic In The Streets and The Big Knife. His gaze always seemed analytical to me - like a big cat deciding whether or not to persue prey. They certainly don't make 'em like that anymore.

What a day! Gerald Levert (Standing in the Shadows of Motown), Marian Marsh, and Jack. What is it about three's?

Posted by dixiedugan at November 10, 2006 4:38 PM

comment #4

Mgmax, le Corbeau says ...

My favorite Palance moment: in Aldrich's Attack!, he says something about chickenshit commander Eddie Albert, Albert squeaks "What did he say?" and Palance hisses, in the voice of a strangled cobra, "I was making a jooooooke."

Yes, his Dracula in the Dan Curtis TV movie was excellent, that and the Louis Jourdan one for TV both kick the asses of the John Badham and Coppola ones.

Even if he's not so great in Batman, I always liked the moment when Nicholson imitates him-- a nod from one of the most distinctive deliveries of our time to another.

Posted by Mgmax, le Corbeau at November 10, 2006 4:53 PM

comment #5

christian says ...

you must see THE PROFESSIONALS as i'm sure many have. under richard brook's direction he gives a fantastic strangely believable performance as a mexican freedom fighter. his conversation with lee marvin in a canyon is a career highlight. sigh.

Posted by christian at November 10, 2006 5:14 PM

comment #6

mitch says ...

He made Bagdad Cafe for me. Damn, Jack, any time woulda been too soon.

Posted by mitch at November 10, 2006 5:34 PM

comment #7

Dixon Steele says ...

Yeah, Mitch, I agree about Bagdad Cafe. Palance hadn't been seen in a while until he popped up in that arthouse hit as an artist.

The success of BC led to Batman, City Slickers, an unforgettable Oscar win and a rare second act in Hollywood.

He was also Brando's understudy on Broadway in Streetcar Named Desire and replaced him when he left.

Posted by Dixon Steele at November 10, 2006 5:59 PM

comment #8

slothroplt says ...

Great big Bavarian tits in Baghdad Cafe.

Posted by slothroplt at November 10, 2006 9:55 PM

comment #9

nemo says ...

Hi, Curly. Killed anyone today?

The day's still young.

Posted by nemo at November 10, 2006 10:44 PM

comment #10

nemo says ...

Palance could easily put the most absurdly sinister spin on the most mundane lines. One line that always stuck with me was when he was hosting "Ripley's Believe or Not" on television in the early 1980s, probably the lowest point in his career.

Palance was narrating the somewhat bizarre and grotesque story of the how D.H. Lawrence's remains traveled from France, where he died, to Taos, New Mexico, where his ashes finally came to rest. There was something of a battle over Lawrence's remains, so his widow had his ashes mixed with concrete and set in the foundation of a chapel in Taos to make sure they didn't travel.

Palance was telling this story on location in front of the Taos chapel. As a prop for the shot he was mixing a batch of concrete in a metal tub with a trowel. He grinned at the camera as he narrated the part where Lawrence's widow "dropped the ashes into the concrete and mixed them -- thoroughly!'

He drew out a long pause before he said the word "thoroughly", which he pronounced with such ghoulish gusto I thought he was going to spoon up a mixture of wet concrete and human ashes and eat it on the spot.

Posted by nemo at November 10, 2006 11:08 PM

comment #11

Rich S. says ...

Good call, nemo. When I started to read the posts, Ripley's instantly sprung to mind. If you're a certain age, just try to say "Believe it...or not" to yourself and not hear Jack Palance's voice. You can't.

You guys mentioned Dracula, but Jack also did a great job in Curtis' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is even less seen. That movie scared the crap out of me when I was a kid, and it was a TV movie!

Posted by Rich S. at November 11, 2006 4:03 AM

comment #12

Griff says ...

Palance was under-rated. His Dracula was awesome and yet carried a strange hint of sadness.

Posted by Griff at November 11, 2006 10:14 AM

comment #13

nemo says ...

"Ripley's Believe or Not" was not very good, and as I said, it represented a low point in Palance's career before his comeback. But after I saw that D.H. Lawrence episode I was hooked. I watched that ridiculous show as often as I could to get my regular Jack Palance fix. Dread mixed with laughter.

The word "Thoroughly!" still sends a shiver through my spine.

Posted by nemo at November 11, 2006 12:07 PM

comment #14

nemo says ...

Palance was brilliant in "The Professionals", wasn't he? As were Marvin, Ryan, and Lancaster. I have rent it this weekend.

"Nothing's harmless in this desert unless it's dead."

Posted by nemo at November 11, 2006 12:20 PM

comment #15

ArchiveGuy says ...

"Palance's first big career score was playing the hired gun "Jack Wilson" in George Stevens ' Shane".

By the time he did "Shane", Palance already had an Oscar nomination under his belt, for the Joan Crawford thriller "Sudden Fear". Not as big as "Shane" but certainly what first got him genuinely noticed.

Posted by ArchiveGuy at November 13, 2006 11:26 AM

comment #16

kimi98 says ...

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comment #17

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