Oscar winner Jack Palance dead at 87
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Actor Jack Palance, who often played a craggy-face menace in films and won an Oscar for “City Slickers,” died Friday of natural causes in his home in Montecito, California, surrounded by his family. Known for hard, grizzled roles in numerous Westerns during his six-decade career, Palance gained a second wind of fame when he won the best supporting actor Oscar for playing Curly in “City Slickers.”
His acting break came after the war as Marlon Brando’s understudy in “Streetcar Named Desire.” He replaced Brando on stage as Stanley Kowalski, a working class construction worker with a fierce temper in Tennessee Williams’ classic play.
Palance was nominated for an Academy Award in 1952 after portraying the ardent lover who stalks a terrified Joan Crawford in “Sudden Fear.” In 1953, the Academy nominated him again for his role as Jack Wilson, the swaggering gunslinger who bullies peace-loving Alan Ladd into a barroom duel in the Western classic “Shane.”
Palance also won an Emmy Award, for a role on “Playhouse 90,” in 1957.
He is survived by his wife, Elaine Rogers; two children by his first wife, Holly Palance and Brook Palance Wilding; his brother, John; sister, Anne Despiva; and three grandchildren.
