From one Jack to another. “It’s movie night and you’re still hangin’ around…” “So many pictures in which you frown…” “From the fifties you could never slow down…” “For awhile…” “Mmm-hmm…” “So you do your westerns and act really mean…” “And you gawk at co-stars and steal the scene…” “It’s like some Fangoria magazine…” “And you smile…” “Mmm-hmm…” “Jack Palance will stare you down tonight!!!” “And show you all his special madness!!!” “Jack Palance will look you eye to eye!!!” “Just a little pause, and you’ll be dying!!!” Entering the world as Volodymyr Palahniuk, he was born in Pennsylvania to Ukrainian immigrants. He worked in the coal mines as a youngster then tried his hand at boxing. As Jack Brazzo, he fought only once to Joe Baksi and lost. He said decades later, “I thought ‘You must be nuts to get your head beat in for $200.’ The theater seemed a lot more appealing.”
Going to Stanford University and quitting to seek theatre opportunities, Jack shortened his last name to Palance when no one could pronounce it. Making it to Broadway in 1947 as a Russian Soldier in The Big Two, his big break arrived as Marlon Brando’s understudy in A Streetcar Named Desire when Jack took over for Brando. Elia Kazan directed Streetcar on stage and cast Palance as a heavy in his film Panic in the Streets (1950). In short succession, Jack co-stars in Halls of Montezuma (1951), returns to Broadway in Darkness at Noon, and shares the screen with Joan Crawford in Sudden Fear (1952). This and his next role in Shane (1953) earned him back to back Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor. Suddenly the offers flew in. Second Chance (1953), Arrowhead (1953), Flight to Tangier (1953), Man in the Attic (1953), I Died a Thousand Times (1955), The Big Knife (1955), Attack (1956), The Lonely Man (1956), House of Numbers (1957), his Emmy winning turn in Requiem for a Heavyweight.
He flew overseas and worked in Europe. The Man Inside (1958), Ten Seconds to Hell (1959), Beyond All Limits (1959), Austerlitz (1960), The Barbarians (1960), Sword of the Conqueror (1961), The Mongols (1961), The Last Judgment (1961), Barabbas (1961), Night Train to Milan (1962), Warriors Five (1962). Back in America, he did Once a Thief (1965) and The Professionals (1966) and went wherever there was work. Torture Garden (1967), Kill a Dragon (1967), The Mercenary (1968), The Desperados (1969), Che! (1969), Monte Walsh (1970), Companeros (1970), Horsemen (1971), Chato’s Land (1972), Oklahoma Crude (1973), Craze (1974), Welcome to Blood City (1977), The One Man Jury (1978), Angels Revenge (1979), H.G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come (1979), Cocaine Cowboys (1979), Without Warning (1980), Hank the Slayer (1980), Alone in the Dark (1982), and he hosted Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Post-Ripley’s? Gor (1987), Bagdad Cafe (1987), Young Guns (1988), Outlaw of Gor (1988), Batman (1989), Tango & Cash (1989), won an Oscar for City Slickers (1991), Cops & Robbersons (1994), City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold (1994). The man got around and he dazzled or baffled with equal skill. He refused a Bond film, accepted lots of cheapies, and blew in to three MST experiments. Outlaw of Gor, Angels Revenge, and H.G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come. His quirks and delivery were a boon for the show. He even inspired The Jack Palance Impersonator Kit in Episode 405. Scaramanga or City Slicker?
