OBIT: Rod Steiger

Subject: Rod Steiger
From: kendall
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 07:11 PM

A great character actor from the Brando school. He was a perfect prick in Dr. Zhivago.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: Amergin
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 07:15 PM

here's an article about him: Tuesday, 9 July, 2002, 20:08 GMT 21:08 UK Screen legend Rod Steiger dies

Steiger made his first film appearance in 1951

Oscar-winning actor Rod Steiger, best-known for appearing in some of the biggest critical and box office successes of the 1950s and 60s, has died. The star, who won an Academy Award for his role as a small-town sheriff in 1967's In the Heat of the Night, was 77.

Steiger got his big break in On The Waterfront He went into hospital in Los Angeles for gall bladder surgery, but died at 1700 BST on Tuesday after suffering pneumonia and kidney failure, his publicist said.

Steiger found fame soon after launching his big screen career in 1951, and made more than 120 film appearances before his final role in 2001.

He was praised for his dominating screen presence, passion and meticulous acting craft.

"It is very sad, very surprised, I was shocked to get the call," his publicist Lori de Waal told TV channel BBC News 24.

"He went into hospital for a gall bladder surgery and up until that time he was working and travelling and he had another picture lined up, so we're all very sad.

He loved to act - he was acting up until the end Lori de Waal Publicist "The phones are going off the hook, so a lot of people must have loved him."

He got his big break and first Oscar nomination for playing Marlon Brando's racketeer brother in 1954's On the Waterfront before starring as the lovelorn Jud in Oklahoma! the following year.

He also played the Jewish shopkeeper in Harlem in The Pawnbroker in 1965 and the evil Komarovsky in 1965's Doctor Zhivago.

Steiger had a son, Michael, by fourth wife Paula Ellis "My generation of actors was taught to be able to create different people - that's what an actor is supposed to do," he once said.

He turned down the lead role in Patton - which won an Oscar for George C Scott and was a move that Steiger called the "biggest mistake of my life".

Ms De Waal said: "He loved to act. He was acting up until the end. He loved it and he was very good in so many memorable pictures. The list just goes on and on."

Current Hollywood stars found themselves on the receiving end of Steiger's strong opinions when he criticised them for surrendering principles for money.

"They're not going to defend anything if they think they're going to lose a dollar," he said of the industry he called "show business, business, business".

He also campaigned against the stigma of mental illness He was married five times, including a 10-year marriage to UK actress Claire Bloom. He wed his last wife, Joan Benedict, in October 2000.

He and former co-star Bloom had a daughter, Anna, who is now an opera singer, while a son, Michael, was born to him and fourth wife Paula Ellis in 1993.

An long bout of depression followed a heart bypass operation, but he recovered to campaign and raise awareness on mental health, and addressed Congress on the issue.

"He was very open about it, he did a lot of appearances, he wanted to fight the stigma against mental illness and let people know it's a chemical imbalance and nothing to be ashamed of," Ms De Waal said.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Stiger
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 07:18 PM

I hate to see anybody go.

I would never have rated Rod Steiger as one of the greats, but he did have his moments.

RIP

Murray

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 08:04 PM

The Pawnbroker was classic Steiger. "Poor Jud" (is dead and gone) in Oklahoma still baffles me.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: Micca
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 08:24 PM

Yeah, a personal fave actor, his Napoleon in "Waterloo" and his mastery of disguise( more by putting on a personality than costume and makeup)in "No way to treat a Lady", he was a great to me, and will be missed.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: alison
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 08:51 PM

I liked him in Oklahoma

Poor Judd is dead


slainte

alison

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: kendall
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 09:05 PM

...it's summer, and we're running out of ice. great line!

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 10:24 PM

What was the name of the Western Flick he co-starred in with Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine????

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: AliUK
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 10:39 PM

Rod Steiger was one of the greatest actors in that pantheon of real movie actors from the fifties and sixties ( those included Brando before he sold out), he never let a studio pick his parts for him and had the integrity to do what he felt he was good at. The world is less one more great character ( I always rememember him as The Illustrated Man....a good intepretation of a Bradbury character)

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: GUEST,Ard Mhacha
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 05:31 AM

A class act is gone, an all time great. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: Hrothgar
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 05:36 AM

Was the Glenn Ford movie "The Sheepman?" Or am I thinking of Mickey Shaugnessy?

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: greg stephens
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 05:46 AM

Sadly missed.Wonderful array of characters. And what he did in Oklahoma was quite extraordinary.
Poor Judd indeed

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: Fiolar
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 06:01 AM

The movie he starred in with Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine was "Jubal." Rod was in my humble opinion one of the great actors. His ability to portray menace was better than almost any other actor. Try watching "Cry Terror" in which he starred with James Mason or his role as Capone. The scene in which he sings a duet with the actor playing Johnny Torrio in order to distract him for the killers is great stuff. He had opera singer training. His role in "Across the Bridge" could not have been played by any other actor as well and of course his Oscar winning role in "In the Heat of the Night." He was the ultimate W.C. Fields in the bioflic of the great comedian. The greats of the silver screen are sadly being thinned out. Rod Steiger will be remembered when many of those who claim to be actors today will be long forgotten.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 10:15 AM

Another great lost... and a singer, too. Sigh...

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: GUEST,Don
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 12:55 PM

Didn't he play the lead in the live TV drama "Marty" (not talking about the movie version)? With Nancy Marchand (I think her name was) as the young woman he meets at the local dance. "Face it, Ma, whatever it is that girls want, I ain't got it." A very powerful performance.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: GUEST,johntm
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 06:48 PM

He did play Marty on TV. He was the most believable Al Capone I have ever seen, better than DeNiro, Jason Robards or any of the others. Great in Pawn Broker

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: fat B****rd
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 03:08 AM

A great shame. Although I love his parts in "On The Waterfront" and "In The Heat Of The Night" his line about effeminacy in "No Way To Treat A Lady" always tickles me. "It doesn't mean you're a bad person" RIP Mr. Steiger

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: alanabit
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 12:02 AM

I thought his Napoleon in "Waterloo" was inspired. Although he he was really physically too big for the part, his presence totally convincing. He sure had his moments. Sorry he's gone.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 11:44 AM

I'm still blown away by his sheer versatility as an actor. "No Way To Treat a Lady" is probably the best example of that -- and one of my all time favorite films. I really wish that "The Sergeant" will be finally released on video/DVD. The only time I saw it was on the big screen when it came out.

I think he was an incredible actor -- and will very much miss watching his art.

Linn

Subject: RE: OBIT: Rod Steiger
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 11:58 AM

The Pawnbroker....Holy Cow, what a film!

And I know it's cliched now, but the "back seat" scene is amazing.

Saw an interview with him from about five years ago, and the emotions were positively scary.....no wonder directors were scared of him in his later days.

Wonderful actor. Thanks Ken.

Rick