Jack Palance

Born: 18 February 1919 Birthplace: Lattimer, Pennsylvania Best Known As: Curly in City Slickers Name at birth: Walter Jack Palahnuik Jack Palance was one of the great movie heavies of the 1950s, often cast as sinister villains in film noirs, westerns and melodramas. His impressive debut in 1950's Panic in the Streets was followed by Oscar-nominated performances in Sudden Fear (1952, starring Joan Crawford) and Shane (1953, starring Alan Ladd). He starred in television's Requiem for a Heavyweight (1956) and won and Emmy, but in the 1960s and '70s he made several forgettable movies in both the U.S. and internationally. In 1989 his faded career was resurrected when he played a mean crime king in Tim Burton's Batman, and his turn as the comically creepy trail boss in City Slickers (1991, co-starring Billy Crystal) earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and a starring role in the 1994 sequel. During the 1990s he worked mostly in television. The story goes that Palance was badly burned during WWII when a bomber he was piloting crashed; the resulting plastic surgery gave his face its taut, leathery look.