American Bad Boy Jack Palance Dies at 87

Hollywood’s tough guy and Academy Award winner Jack Palance, 87, died yesterday of natural causes.

Spokesman Dick Guttman informed that Palance was surrounded by family when he died at his Montecito, California home.

Born as Vladimir Palaniuk in Pennsylvania, Palance was of Ukranian descent and the son of an anthracite coal miner.

In his youth, he worked in the mines and was also a boxer, starting a professional career in boxing in late 1930s. Fighting under the name Jack Brazzo, Palance reportedly compiled a record of 15 consecutive victories with 12 knockouts.

He then shifted to military with the outbreak of the World War 2. To make ends meet, he also worked as a short order cook, waiter, soda jerk, lifeguard at Jones Beach State Park, and as a photographer's model, during his university years.

He came to limelight when he essayed the role of Marlon Brando's substitute in ‘Streetcar Named Desire’, eventually replacing Brando on stage as Stanley Kowalski.

He made his screen debut with the movie ‘Panic in the Streets’ in 1950 and was promptly renowned for his talent as a character actor, receiving an Academy Award nomination for the role of Lester Blaine in ‘Sudden Fear’.

The role of the cold-blooded gunfighter Jack Wilson in 1953s classic ‘Shane’ fetched him his second Oscar nomination. Several other roles followed, and he enjoyed portraying varied roles as ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, ‘Dracula’, and ‘Attila the Hun’.

Palance also co-hosted telly series ‘Ripley’s Believe It Or Not’ in 1980s with his daughter Holly Palance.

With a career spanning for decades, Palance finally won an Oscar after 4 decades for Best Supporting Actor on March 30, 1992, for his performance as cowboy Curly Washburn in the 1991 comedy ‘City Slickers’.

After a small and somewhat awkward acceptance speech, the then 73 year old dropped to the stage and did one-handed push ups. He later quipped, "I didn't know what the hell else to do."

Oscar host Crystal made the feat a running joke for the rest of the awards show.

Palance is survived by his second wife and two daughters. A memorial service is planned for 16 December.