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Jack Palance quite often exemplified evil incarnate on film, portraying some of the most intensely feral villains witnessed in 1950s westerns and melodrama. Enhanced by his tall, powerful build, icy voice, and piercing eyes, he earned two "Best Supporting Actor" nominations early in his career. It would take a grizzled, eccentric comic performance 40 years later, however, for him to finally grab the coveted statuette.

Of Ukrainian descent, Palance was born Volodymyr Ivanovich Palahniuk (later taking Walter Jack Palance as his legal name) on February 18, 1919 (although some sources, including his death certificate, cite 1920) in Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania (coal country), one of six children born to Anna (nee Gramiak) and Ivan Palahniuk. His father, an anthracite miner, died of black lung disease. Palance worked in the mines in his early years but averted the same fate as his father. Athletics was his ticket out of the mines when he won a football scholarship to the University of North Carolina. He subsequently dropped out to try his hand at professional boxing. Fighting under the name "Jack Brazzo", he won his first 15 fights, 12 by knockout, before losing a 4th round decision to future heavyweight contender Joe Baksi on December 17, 1940.

With the outbreak of World War II, his boxing career ended and his military career began, serving in the Army Air Force as a bomber pilot. Wounded in combat and suffering severe injuries and burns, he received the Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. He resumed college studies as a journalist at Stanford University and became a sportswriter for the San Francisco Chronicle. He also worked for a radio station until he was bit by the acting bug.

Palance made his stage debut in "The Big Two" in 1947 and immediately followed it understudying Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski in the groundbreaking Broadway classic "A Streetcar Named Desire", a role he eventually took over. Following stage parts in "Temporary Island" (1948), "The Vigil" (1948), and "The Silver Tassle" (1949), Palance won a choice role in "Darkness of Noon" and a Theatre World Award for "Promising New Personality." This recognition helped him secure a 20th Century-Fox contract. The facial burns and resulting reconstructive surgery following the crash and burn of his WWII bomber plane actually worked to his advantage. Out of contention as a glossy romantic leading man, Palance instead became the archetypal intimidating villain equipped with towering stance, imposing glare, and killer-shark smile.

He stood out among a powerhouse cast that included actors such as Richard Widmark, Zero Mostel and Paul Douglas in his movie debut in Elia Kazan's Hoảng Sợ Trên Đường Phố (1950), as a plague-carrying fugitive. He was soon on his way. Briefly billed as Walter Jack Palance before eliminating the first name, the actor made fine use of his former boxing skills and war experience for the film Halls of Montezuma (1951) as a boxing Marine in Richard Widmark's platoon. He followed this with the first of his back-to-back Oscar nods. In Sudden Fear (1952), only his third film, he played rich-and-famous playwright Joan Crawford's struggling actor/husband who plots to murder her and run off with gorgeous Gloria Grahame. Finding just the right degree of intensity and menace to pretty much steal the proceedings without chewing the scenery, he followed this with arguably his finest villain of the decade, that of sadistic gunslinger Jack Wilson who takes on Alan Ladd's titular hero, played by Shane (1953), in a classic showdown.

Throughout the 1950s, Palance doled out strong leads and supports such as those in Man in the Attic (1953) (his first lead), The Big Knife (1955) and the war classic Attack (1956). Mixed in were a few routine to highly mediocre parts in Flight to Tangier (1953), Sign of the Pagan (1954) (as Attila the Hun), and the biblical bomb The Silver Chalice (1954). In between filmmaking were a host of television roles, none better than his down-and-out boxer in Requiem for a Heavyweight (1956), a rare sympathetic role that earned him an Emmy Award.

Back and forth overseas in the 1960s and 1970s, Palance would dominate foreign pictures in a number of different genres -- sandal-and-spear spectacles, biblical epics, war stories and "spaghetti westerns." Such films included Austerlitz (1960), I mongoli (1961), Barabbas (1961), Il criminale (1962), Khinh Miệt (1963), Tay Súng Siêu Đẳng (1968), Marquis de Sade: Justine (1969), The Desperados (1969), Si può fare... amigo (1972), Chato's Land (1972), Sangue di sbirro (1976), Welcome to Blood City (1977). Back home, he played Fidel Castro in Che! (1969) while also appearing in Monte Walsh (1970), Oklahoma Crude (1972) and The Four Deuces (1975).

On the made-for-television front, Jack played a number of nefarious nasties to perfection, ranging from Mr. Hyde (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968)) to Dracula in Dracula (1974) to Ebenezer Scrooge in a "Wild West" version of the Dickens classic Ebenezer (1998). He also played one of the Hatfields in The Hatfields and the McCoys (1975). Jack switched gears to star as a "nice guy" lieutenant in the single-season TV cop drama Bronk (1975). In later years, the actor mellowed with age, as exemplified by roles in Out of Rosenheim (1987), but could still display his bad side as he did as an evil rancher, crime boss or drug lord in, respectively, Những Tay Súng Trẻ (1988), Người Dơi (1989) and Cặp Đôi Khó Xơi (1989). Into his twilight years he showed a penchant for brash, quirky comedy capped by his Oscar-winning role in Dân Bịp Thành Thị (1991) and its sequel. He ended his film career playing Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1999).

His three children by his first wife, actress Virginia Baker -- Holly Palance, Brooke Palance, and Cody Palance -- all pursued acting careers and appeared with their father at one time or another. A man of few words off the set, he owned his own cattle ranch and displayed other creative sides as a exhibited painter and published poet.

His last years were marred by both failing health and the 1998 death of his son Cody from melanoma. He was later diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died at the Santa Barbara County home of his daughter, Holly Palance, in 2006.

Anicée Alvina was born on 28 January 1953 in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France. She was an actress, known for Friends (1971), Paul and Michelle (1974) and Glissements progressifs du plaisir (1974). She died on 10 November 2006 in Paris, France.

Diana Coupland was born on 5 March 1928 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Tiến Sĩ No (1962), Bless This House (1972) and The Twelve Chairs (1970). She was married to Marc Miller and Monty Norman. She died on 10 November 2006 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, UK.

Gerald Levert was born on 13 July 1966 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Kẻ Lập Dị (2006), Coming to America (1988) and Quá Nhanh Quá Nguy Hiểm (2001). He died on 10 November 2006 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Chubby Oates was born on 23 December 1942 in Bermondsey, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Doctor Who (1963), Killer's Moon (1978) and Cribb (1980). He died on 10 November 2006 in Deal, Kent, England, UK.

H.F. Hap Kollmeyer was born on 28 June 1921 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor, known for Hawaii Five-O (1968). He died on 10 November 2006 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

Betty Brian was born on 10 July 1923 in Rexburg, Idaho, USA. She was an actress, known for Sing While You're Able (1937), High School (1940) and Thanks for Listening (1937). She died on 10 November 2006 in Torrance, California, USA.

Joe moved into a cottage on the Motion Picture and TV Country House plantation, in California in November of 2000. There, in the serenity of Showbiz-Heaven-on-Earth he is preparing "The Cast Of This Show" for publication. It is his revelatory amplification of the drama, excitement, scandal, laughs, mystery, tears and screams behind his vividly extensive Filmography. The ..This Show of the title is his life. Its cast is stellar!

John Stewart "Jack" Williamson was a prolific fiction writer of novels and short stories in the science-fiction genre. He replaced Robert A. Heinlein as the "Dean of Science Fiction" in 1988.

His novel "Darker Than You Think" (1948) is perhaps his best known and has since been included in the Gollancz SF and Fantasy Masterworks collection that also includes Ray Bradbury's 1962 novel "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and Richard Matheson's 1954 masterpiece "I Am Legend". "Darker Than You Think" is the tale of an ongoing war between humankind and werewolves, that latter living hidden amongst the former.

Jack Williamson sadly passed away in 2006, but will be remembered as one of the best science-fiction authors of all time.

Nicholas Proffitt's novel "Gardens of Stone" was based on his service as a member of the 3rd U.S. Infantry detachment detailed to serve as the honor guard at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C. After his military service, he graduated from the University of Arizona with a journalism degree and went to work for Newsweek as a reporter, subsequently working in Vietnam and Lebanon. He eventually rose to the position of Newsweek's Bureau Chief in London and, later, Nairobi; he retired in 1981 and devoted his time to writing book-length fiction and short stories.

Hans-Peter Minetti was born on 21 April 1926 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor and director, known for Ernst Thälmann - Sohn seiner Klasse (1954), Martin Luther (1983) and Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse (1955). He was married to Irma Münch. He died on 10 November 2006 in Cheb, Czech Republic.

Kathleen Clarke was born on 26 December 1920 in Morpeth, Northumberland, England, UK. Kathleen was married to William Clarke. Kathleen died on 10 November 2006.

Johurul Islam was an actor, known for Private Detective (2005). He was married to Dolly Johur. He died on 10 November 2006 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Doug Friedline was born on 13 July 1957 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. He died on 10 November 2006 in Treasure Island, Florida, USA.

Elena Da Vinci was born on 3 April 1925. She was an actress, known for The Girl in the Kremlin (1957), Ghost Diver (1957) and Naked Gun (1956). She died on 10 November 2006 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Dragoljub Mancic was born on 23 August 1936 in Krusevac, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He was a cinematographer, known for Vise od igre (1976), Srecna porodica (1979) and Osvajanje slobode (1979). He was married to Spomenka Mancic. He died on 10 November 2006 in Belgrade, Serbia.