Another of the rapidly dwindling members of Hollywood's Golden Age of stars has passed on. Richard Widmark, the versatile leading man who began his career on screen in 1947, has died at age 93. Widmark disdained publicity and gave very few interviews over the decades. He preferred keeping a low profile at his Connecticut estate. Widmark was as versatile as leading men get- he could play heroes and villains with equal ease and appeared in a wide variety of genres. He often played unsympathetic characters and his roles as sneering bad guys in Kiss of Death (in which he infamously pushed an elderly woman in a wheelchair down a staircase while laughing maniacally) and in No Way Out as a racist thug opposite Sidney Poitier were praised by critics. Widmark excelled in playing strong men with deep psychological problems. In the Cold War thriller The Bedford Incident he played a by-the-book U.S. Naval captain whose uncompromising hunt for a Soviet nuclear submarine brings the world to the brink of war. In John Wayne's The Alamo, his performance as Jim Bowie won praise, as he portrayed the heroic Texan as a courageous man compromised by an addiction to alcohol. The strong-willed Widmark clashed with star/director Wayne, but rumors that the men came to blows were exagerrated according to Widmark. Widmark also made a strong impression as the star of Don Siegel's 1968 detective thriller, Madigan - which was so successful, it spawned a TV series years later, even though the character was killed in the film! For a full look at Widmark's life and career click here