November 10, 2006
RIP, Jack Palance
Jack Palance has died. I'm sure others can be more eloquent about this well-loved and LONG successful actor (look at his IMDB page - especially look at the dates .. there isn't really a significant GAP like there are with many old actors, gaps that show that they couldn't get work for, oh, 10, 20 years ... No gap. Palance has always worked.) ... so I will just note his passing with sadness. I always liked having him around. Crotchety, old-school, talented, didn't make a big deal about it, but obviously gave a crap about his work.
Oh ... and a little bit crazy.
You know:
I love nuts like him.
He will be missed.
Update:
I knew I could count on Alex. She has written a beautiful and detailed tribute to the guy. Palance fans - you don't want to miss it.
A preliminary obit in The Times which kind of captures why I liked the guy.
Posted by sheilaoh, I second that RIP. They don't make guys like him any more.
one armed pushups. That still just slays me.
Posted by: ricki at November 10, 2006 6:37 PMSo sad. We will miss him.
Posted by: tracey at November 10, 2006 7:09 PMI'm a yearbook guy. If I see a yearbook, any high school, any college, any time, I can lose myself for two hours. Sometimes I get cool results like when I was leafing through a late 40s Stanford yearbook and there he was in a drama photo, unmistakably Jack Palance. Stanford guy was not the vibe he gave off. Unique and playfully bizarre, more like it. My kind of guy.
Posted by: steve on the mountian at November 10, 2006 8:50 PMI was just watching him in "Shane" recently. When he talks in that movie, he has that quiet inner intensity, like the creature in "Alien" when it prepares to thrust out it's snapping jaws, filled with a rage that no physical action can satisfy.
Posted by: Ken at November 10, 2006 9:06 PMTwo years ago, I did 20 one armed push-ups ala Jack Palance, because somebody at a business conference called me fat and out of shape (which I was)... 3 cortisone shots and 6 months of physical therapy later my left shoulder is ALMOST back to normal...
Posted by: JFH at November 10, 2006 10:27 PM