Richard Widmark; Film, TV Actor Was Known for Enormous Range

He said Hathaway's assistant chased him and asked the actor to have lunch with the director. It was a wordless meal, but a respect was born. "After that, Henry left me alone," he said.

They worked together on several more films, including "Down to the Sea in Ships" (1949) and "Garden of Evil" (1954).

Mr. Widmark said he was glad when his seven-year studio contract ended so he could have more control over his choice of roles. In 1958, he was Robert Taylor's threatening former partner in "The Law and Jake Wade" and Doris Day's husband in the adoption comedy "The Tunnel of Love."

He formed a production company in the late 1950s and went on to appear as Jim Bowie in John Wayne's only directorial effort, "The Alamo" (1960). His other Westerns of the period included "How the West Was Won" and two of director John Ford's final films, "Two Rode Together" and "Cheyenne Autumn."

Despite his largely positive notices, he acknowledged he made some duds. He once joked that he forced his daughter to watch "Run for the Sun," his 1956jungle adventure film, when she misbehaved.

Generally reserved except about his liberal political beliefs, he said he modeled his portrayal of a recklessly hardened Cold War destroyer captain in "The Bedford Incident (1965) on Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), the conservative presidential candidate in 1964.

Starting in the 1970s, his age made leading parts scarce. He took roles, often with scripts he considered ludicrous ("The Swarm," for example), for the fun of working alongside top-flight actors.

He accepted the part of the corpse in "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974) just so he could say John Gielgud played his valet.

His first wife, Jean Hazlewood Widmark, whom he married in 1942, died in 1997.

In addition to his wife, whom he married in 1999, survivors include a daughter from his first marriage, Anne Heath Widmark of Santa Fe, N.M., who was divorced from Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax.