Palance Avoids
'Menace Roles
To Become Star
By JOHN BETKLEft
HOLLYWOOD, May t - Jack
Palance. t km fascinatingly
malevolent features in kin
quick fame h film, has brushed
Mid the mask of brutality aad
won stardom by sheer lorco of
SCtiBg-.
The planed far, evilly glinting
(yea aad the air at menace owed
more to make-up men and studio
lighting experts than to nature
And now the patent en them ti
about to expire.
Whir. U the way Palance
trhimes with balance wants it.
Over the lonj haul Its ability, so
freak looks, that counts.
Television has named Palance
the top actor af the year. The
movies rate him a solid bet for
highest honors. And the critics
sre running out of laudatory ad
jectives to describe his perform-
snces.
No longer is Palance confined
to wearing the black hat of the
bad man in Westerns or crammed
into the narrow limits of a hired
killer's role.
His last appearance, as a bril
liant film producer la the. tele
vision drams, ,The Last Tycoon."
made no concessions to Palance i
appearance. He s the good guy in
s forthcoming Western, and plays
a difficult dual role in a movie
shout to be released.
(Mdtty la His Prafeeaiea
To the general public, however
Pslanoe. J7, seems something of
in oddity in the acting profession
The fact that a msn who looks like
s prixeftghter which he once wss
should be sn extraordinarily
sensitive, crestive actor is con
trsry to the widely held belief that
sctors should look ' like well,
actors
It as s belief held even by
Palance. back in the days when
he a a towering. 115-pound teen
ager driven by a deep desire to
find some means of expressing
Himself.
"1 always wanted to express
myself through words." he said
Rut I thought I win ton hig In
be an actor 1 could see myself
knorkmg over taMe I thought
acting wan lor little, faggnty
guy
An a remit, he turned to athlet
in. where his site and his ability
to knock things down were Isr
Irom a handicap He starred In
lootball and basketball In high
school at Haselton, Pa., and start
ed boxing as an amateur.
A football scholarship sent aim
ts the UniTsrsity at North Caro
lina. fastball Carter Eaee
A ahoulder Injury ended Pa
Isnca'a football career la his
sophomore year, and after finish
ing the term be left college to be
come a professional fighter.
"When I went into fighting." be
recalls, "my thoughts were vague.
It waa aa If I were looking through
the wrong and of the binoculars
Way off there ia the distance was
the fight gams. Bat 1 still had
sn urge, to express myself either
physically or mentally and I was
surer of myself physically."
Fighting may have satisfied
Pilance'a urge for self-expression,
but It did little for him otherwise
Hn purees ranged between 1100
ind (400. His nose was broken,
set, broken, re-set and broken
igain. (Later, plastic surgery un
did the damage.) When the United
States entered World War II. be
wu glad to quit the ring and ap
ply for aviation cadet training.
Iajareel ia Tralatag Crash
Be waa com missioned as a
bomber pilot, but a training crash
just before he was to go overseas
caused Injuries that ended hla mil
itary career and made the further
pursuit of pugilism a risky under
tsklng.
Stilt yearning for self-expression
Palance went hack to college
this time to Stanford University,
where the mental finally caught
up with the physical In hit devel
opment and the Idea of acting took
firm bold.
A big break came when Palance
got the Job at understudy to An
thony Quinn la the road company
of "Streetcar Named Desire."
Though be performed the meaty
Kowolskl role only twice during
Quinn illnesses, he showed enough
so that when Marlon Brando kad
to leave the Broadway company,
Palance replaced him. And when
Elia Kazan, director of "Street
car," moved ta Hollywood the fol
lowing year to make "Panic In
the Streets," Palance went with
htm.
K fully Meaerlag Rates
His chilling portrayal of an un
derworld killer wen immediate
renpowe from the movie mak
ers, and Palance moved on to
equally menacing roles in "Sud
den Tear," and "Shane," for each
of which he won an Academy
Award nomination.
Movies, television and a success
ful appearance an Broadway la
"Darkness at Noon" have kept
Palance busy aver since, and of
the thre forms of the drama, be
prefers live television because It
offers him s variety of roles.
1 like the ides of giving a eon
Unuooa performance bat I
woo Mn t want to tie myself down
to one part for yesr, which is
what happens if yon get a hit on
Broadway," ha explains.
When Palance Isn't working, he
leads a simple, quiet life with bis
wife, the former Virginia Baker,
who was a promising y o a a g
Broadway actress when they were
married. They have two daugh
ters end a ana.
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