Richard Widmark: A Princeton legacy

I don’t think I’ll ever find out all the facts about this quiet man, Richard Widmark, but sometimes the pieces of the puzzle just kind of put themselves together with a little digging and some insight.

The five major studios in the Golden Era of Hollywood were Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, RKO and Paramount Pictures. They were known in the entertainment business as “The Big Five.” Their practices and management were known as the studio system, and they held most of the power in Hollywood until 1948, when a Supreme Court ruling against Paramount declared the studio system a monopoly, which was against the law. That decision effectively ended the Golden Era of Hollywood.

In 1948 it was only about a 20-minute drive, heading a little northeast, to get from 20th Century Fox Backlot at 10201 W. Pico Boulevard to RKO Radio Pictures Backlot at 780 N. Gower in Los Angeles (Hollywood), Calif., but if you had to drive from outside of Los Angeles, it could take two hours. For many of the actors though, there was the convenience of the studio’s “ranches” where most of the movies were shot. 20th Century Fox Ranch and RKO Encino Ranch were two.

“Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” was released June 4, 1948, from RKO Radio Pictures. It starred Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Melvin Douglas. It wasn’t uncommon for studios to film on each other’s ranches. The RKO movie was filmed at 20 Century Fox Ranch (Malibu Creek Park today).

The movie “The Boy with Green Hair” was released in December of 1948 by RKO Radio Pictures. It starred Pat Obrien, Robert Ryan, Barbara Hale and Dean Stockwell. It was filmed at the McKinley Home for Boys, Van Nuys, Calif., and RKO Encino Ranch. Richard Widmark made “Down to the Sea in Ships” with Lionel Barrymore and Dean Stockwell for 20th Century Fox. It was filmed at the West Pico Boulevard studio and 20th Century Fox Ranch. It was released two months later in February of 1949. The two pictures, besides both featuring the young 12-year-old actor Dean Stockwell and being released just two months apart, had one more thing in common. Stars in both pictures were high school graduates from Illinois towns only 75 miles apart.

Barbara Hale was born in DeKalb on April 18, 1922. She moved to Rockford two years later with her parents, Luther and Wilma Hale. Barbara grew up in Rockford with her sister and two brothers, graduated from high school in Rockford, and then attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. She worked as a model to pay for her education, and in 1943, she moved to Hollywood. She made “Higher and Higher” with Frank Sinatra that same year and was now under contract with RKO Radio Pictures.

In 1945 during the filming of "West of the Pecos," in which she costarred with Robert Mitchum, she met actor Bill Williams (Herman August Wilhelm Katt). Williams is best remembered as the star of the television series "The Adventures of Kit Carson" (1951-55). They were married in 1946 until his death in 1992. They lived in Van Nuys, Calif., northwest of Los Angeles. Their son, William Katt starred, with Robert Culp in the hit television series "Greatest American Hero" (1981-83). Van Nuys is about 22 miles straight north of Mandeville Canyon, where Richard Widmark lived. He would later move west to Hidden Valley. The Widmarks and Williams families were good friends.

Richard Widmark, Barbara Hale, Robert Mitchum and many other studio system actors lived west of Los Angeles and made movies at the studio ranches. Richard Widmark had a 25-minute drive northwest to 20th Century Fox Ranch from his home, and Barbara Hale had a 13-minute drive west to RKO Encino Ranch from hers. The two studio ranches were only 14 miles or 18 minutes apart. Both actors had just over an hour’s drive east to the Backlot Studios.

The Widmarks had family (Jean’s) in Evanston, and the Williams had family (Barbara’s) in Rockford, about 75 miles apart. The Widmarks came back to Illinois on many occasions as did the Williams. Richard Widmark grew up in and liked coming home to Princeton.

Lois (Christiansen) Simon was born in 1923 to John and Alice Christiansen in Wyanet. She graduated from Wyanet High School in 1942. She married William (Bill) Christiansen on July 19, 1944. They had two children, Susan and Bill. Lois liked to return home for the Bureau County Fair whenever possible, as they lived in Minneapolis, Minn. Lois was in Princeton for the fair in August of 1948. It was a Tuesday, the first day of the fair, that ran Aug. 24, 25, 26 and 27. Lois had dropped her son, 4, and her daughter, 6, off with her brother, Virden, and his wife, Eloise, to watch while she went shopping.

It was a bustling hectic time in Princeton that week of the fair. Rex Allen, the Arizona cowboy, who 10 years down the road would star in the television series “Frontier Doctor,” was the headliner and the horse that stood in for Crown Jewel in the “Green Grass of Wyoming” (1948), Katherine Ripper, an 8-year-old brown mare, would run at the fair on Thursday the 26th. Actor Smiley Burnett, perennial western sidekick, had been in town just prior to the fair and was shown around town by Sam Traynor. Smiley was a constant in the Charles Starrett, “Durango Kid” Saturday matinees at the Apollo Theatre. “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” (1948) with Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Melvin Douglas was playing at the Apollo on Tuesday the first day of the fair.

Tuesday, Aug. 24 was the hottest day of the month, 97 degrees, but the fair attendance was a record 1,607 people through the gate. Lois Simon spent as much time as she could in the stores with air-conditioning while shopping downtown. She was in front of the Toggery Shop (now Brandy’s at 460 S. Main) and a grand couple caught her eye. She watched as they crossed the street from just north of her in the late afternoon and headed to the sunned Apollo Theatre, just across the street. The man was Richard Widmark and the woman was Barbara Hale. Lois was a fan of both and knew that Widmark was from Princeton. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She stepped closer to the building in it’s cooler lengthening shadow. Maybe it was the heat? No, that was Widmark and Hale; she was sure. What was Barbara Hale doing in Princeton with Richard Widmark she thought? They went into the Apollo Theater.

Richard Widmark and Barbara Hale were going to see his old friend, Sam Traynor and catch part of the movie from their studios. They had both been with family north of Princeton, and Richard Widmark was showing Barbara Hale where he grew up. They had been at Henning and Son Bakery at 450 S. Main, former home of the Widmark family business, Henri’s Bakery. You don’t come thousands of miles to show a friend, and fellow actor where you grew up unless you had good memories. Barbara Hale came to see Richard Widmark’s Princeton roots, and Lois Simon was there to document that moment in her mind.

The Sunday following the fair, tornado like winds ravaged the amphitheatre where two days prior more than 1,600 had sat. The functioning structure used for “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” still stands today in Malibu Creek Park. Barbara Hale still lives in California, and Lois Simon lives here in Princeton. They are about the same age, in their early 90s. Richard Widmark, who died in 2008, would have been 100 this Dec. 26.