Jack Palance was an American actor. During half a century of film and
television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all
for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City
Slickers. Early life
Palance was born Volodymyr Palahniuk on February 18, 1919 in the Lattimer Mines
section of Hazle Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, to Anna and Ivan
Palahniuk, an anthracite coal miner. Palance's parents were Ukrainian
immigrants, his father a native of Ivane Zolote in southwestern Ukraine and his
mother from the Lviv Oblast. One of six children, he worked in coal
mines during his youth before becoming a professional boxer in the late 1930s.
Fighting under the name Jack Brazzo, Palance reportedly compiled a record of
15 consecutive victories with 12 knockouts before losing a close decision
to future heavyweight contender Joe Baksi in a "Pier-6" brawl. Years later
he recounted: "Then, I thought, you must be nuts to get your head beat in for
$200". Palance's athletic ability ranged away from the squared circle, as well.
He was an outstanding high school football player and this skill was
recognized by Raymond Wolf, the Head Coach at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. Palance began his career at Carolina as a fullback,
but Coach Wolf and the staff felt that he was best-suited to play in the line
and, after some consideration, Palance left the game for good.
With the outbreak of World War II, Palance's athletic career ended and his
military career began as a member of the United States Army Air Forces. Palance's
rugged face, which took many beatings in the boxing ring, was said to have become
disfigured while bailing out of a burning B-24 Liberator bomber during a
training flight over southern Arizona. His distinctive cheekbones and deep-set
eyes were said to have been the result of reconstructive surgery. The story
behind Palance's face was repeated numerous times, but upon his death,
several obituaries of Palance quoted him as saying that the entire story had been
contrived: "Studio press agents make up anything they want to, and reporters go
along with it. One flack created the legend that I had been blown up in an
air crash during the war, and my face had to be put back together by way of
plastic surgery. If it is a 'bionic face,' why didn't they do a better job
of it?" Palance was honorably discharged from
the Army Air Corps in 1944. After the war he attended Stanford University,
leaving one credit shy of graduating to pursue a career in the theatre. During
his university years, to make ends meet he also worked as a short order cook,
waiter, soda jerk, lifeguard at Jones Beach State Park, and photographer's
model. Palance's last name was actually a
derivative of his original name. In an episode of "What's my line?" he
describes how no one could pronounce his last name and it was suggested he be
called Palanski. From that he decided to just use Palance instead.
Career Palance's acting break came as Marlon
Brando's understudy in A Streetcar Named Desire, and he eventually replaced
Brando on stage as Stanley Kowalski. In 1947, Palance made his Broadway
debut. He debuted on television in 1949, and this was followed a year later by
his screen debut in the movie Panic in the Streets. The very same year he was
featured in Halls of Montezuma about the U.S. Marines in World War II, where he
was credited as "Walter Palance." Palance was quickly recognized for his
skill as a character actor, receiving an Oscar nomination for only his third film
role, as Lester Blaine in Sudden Fear. The following year, Palance was again
nominated for an Oscar, this time for his role as the hired gunfighter Jack
Wilson in Shane. Several other Western roles followed, but he also played such
varied roles as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula and Attila the Hun. Three years
before Palance played the part, comic book artist Gene Colan based his
interpretation of Dracula for the acclaimed series The 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."
He became a Hollywood leading man after his Shane success, starring in Man in
the Attic, followed by mid-'50s films such as The Big Knife, in which he
played a conflicted Hollywood movie star, and I Died a Thousand Times, a
scene-by-scene remake of 1941's High Sierra with Palance in the Humphrey
Bogart role. In 1957, Palance won an Emmy for best
actor for his portrayal of Mountain McClintock in the Playhouse 90
production of Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight.
Jean-Luc Godard persuaded Palance to take on the role of Hollywood producer
Jeremy Prokosch in the 1963 nouvelle vague movie Le Mépris with Brigitte
Bardot and Michel Piccoli. Although the main dialogue was in French, Palance
spoke mostly English. Later, in 1966, he appeared in the movie
Alice Through the Looking Glass directed by Alan Handley in which he played the
Jabberwock. He had a featured role opposite Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster
in the 1966 western adventure The Professionals.
In 1969, Palance recorded a country music album in Nashville, released on
Warner Bros. Records. It featured Palance's self-penned song "The Meanest
Guy That Ever Lived". The album was re-released on CD in 2003 by the Water
label. Palance starred in the television series
Bronk between 1975 and 1976 for MGM Television.
In 1982, Palance began hosting a television revival of Ripley's Believe
It or Not!. The weekly series ran from 1982 to 1986 on the American ABC
network. The series also starred three different co-hosts from season to
season, including Palance's daughter Holly Palance, actress Catherine
Shirriff and singer Marie Osmond. Ripley's Believe It or Not! was in rerun
syndication on the Sci-fi Channel and Sci-fi Channel during the 1990s.
Palance's success on Ripley's Believe It or Not! resulted in a demand for his
services. He made memorable appearances in Young Guns, Tango & Cash and Tim
Burton's Batman, all of which served to reinvigorate his movie career. Palance
would be involved in new projects each year right up to the start of the 21st
century. He also performed on Roger Waters' first solo album release The
Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking in 1984. Palance, at the time chairman of the
Hollywood 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." Palance was awarded the title of "People's Artist" by the
President Vladimir Putin on that occasion; however, Palance refused the
title. In 2001, Palance returned to the
recording studio as a special guest on friend Laurie Z's Heart of the Holidays
album to narrate the famous classic poem "The Night Before Christmas."
In 2002, he starred in the television movie Living with the Dead opposite Ted
Danson, Mary Steenburgen and Diane Ladd. In 2004, he starred in another
television production, Back When We Were Grownups opposite Blythe Danner; Palance
played Poppy. This would be his final performance.
According to writer Mark Evanier, comic book creator Jack Kirby modeled his
character Darkseid on the actor. Legendary advertising copywriter Eric
Molina repeatedly states the Palance's Skin Bracer commercial is the reason he
entered the profession. = Academy Award=
Four decades after his film debut, Palance won an Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actor on March 30, 1992, for his performance as cowboy Curly Washburn
in the 1991 comedy City Slickers. Stepping onstage to accept the award,
the intimidatingly fit 6' 4" actor looked down at 5' 7" Oscar host Billy
Crystal, 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 age 73, to perform one-handed push-ups.
Crystal turned this into a running gag. At first, he quipped, "I told Jack
before the ceremony, 'Decaf, Jack, decaf'" then at various points in the
broadcast he announced that Palance had done the following:
was backstage on the Stairmaster; "...just bungee-jumped off the Hollywood
sign"; rendezvoused with the Space Shuttle in
orbit; fathered all the children in a
production number; been named People magazine's Sexiest Man
Alive; had won the New York primary election.
At the end of the broadcast, Crystal told everyone he would like to see them
again, "But, I've just been informed Jack Palance will be hosting next year."
Years later, Billy Crystal appeared on Inside the Actors Studio with James
Lipton 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".
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. Half way 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. Death and legacy
On November 10, 2006, Palance died of natural causes at age 87 at his daughter
Holly's home in Montecito in Santa Barbara County. His remains were
cremated, his ashes retained by family and friends. Jack Palance lived for a
number of years around Tehachapi, near Bakersfield, in southern California.
Palance has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6608 Hollywood Boulevard. In
1992, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National
Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Personal life Palance was married to his first wife,
Virginia Baker, from 1949 to 1968, they had three children: Holly, an actress,
Brooke and Cody. On New Year's Day 2003, Palance's first wife Virginia Baker, was
struck and killed by a car in Los Angeles.
His daughter Brooke married Michael Wilding, son of Michael Wilding Sr. and
Elizabeth Taylor; they have three children.
Cody Palance, an actor himself, appeared alongside his father in the film Young
Guns. Cody would die from malignant melanoma at age 42 on July 16, 1998.
Palance had hosted The Cody Palance Memorial Golf Classic to raise awareness
and funds for a cancer center in Los Angeles. Aside from acting Cody was also
a musician. In May 1987, Palance married his second
wife, Elaine Rogers. Palance painted and sold landscape art, with a poem included
on the back of each picture. He was also the author of The Forest of Love, a book
of poems published in 1996 by Summerhouse Press.
Palance acknowledged a lifelong attachment to his Pennsylvania heritage
and visited there when able. Shortly before his death he placed his Butler
Township, Pennsylvania, Holly-Brooke farm up for sale and his personal art
collection up for auction. Filmography
= Television movies/mini-series= = Television shows=
Discography Palance, Warner Bros, 1969
References External links
Jack Palance at the Internet Movie Database
Jack Palance at the TCM Movie Database Jack Palance at the Internet Broadway
Database Jack Palance at Find a Grave
BBC News – Western Star Jack Palance dies
CNN News – Oscar winner Jack Palance dead at 87