“I can still see Widmark turning the pages of the script, and his voice was so frightening. He was not repeating his most famous role [i.e., Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death], but you knew that evil son of a bitch was somehow still lurking, still inside him, ready and willing to kill you but, more than that, anxious to put you in agony.” — William Goldman recalling a moment in ’75 or thereabouts when Richard Widmark read for the part of Szell in front of Goldman and John Schlesinger, at a time when it wasn’t 100% certain that Laurence Olivier would be able to play the part.
