At the Oscar ceremonies in 1992

Born Vladimir Palanuik in Lattimer Mines, PA; attended the University of North Carolina, graduated from Stanford University (1949, drama). Former stage actor whose gaunt, leathery features (partially the result of plastic surgery for burns following a WW II bomber accident) were first seen on film in 1950, when Elia Kazan, who had previously directed Palance in the Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire, cast him as a plague-ridden gangster in PANIC IN THE STREETS (1950). Palance went on to earn two Oscar® nominations, for SUDDEN FEAR (1952) and SHANE (1953), and seemed subsequently fixed in the public mind as a menacing bad guy. He began appearing in foreign films from the late 1950s, notably as a crass American movie producer in Jean-Luc Godard's CONTEMPT (1963). He gave a fine performance against type as a vulnerable ex-fighter in Rod Serling's TV drama, REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT (1956). One of Hollywood's most prolific actors of the 1980s, Palance won new audiences with his offbeat performances as a courtly, aging artist in Percy Adlon's cult hit, BAGDAD CAFE (1988) and as a gruff veteran trail boss leading tenderfoot vacationers on a cattle drive in the mid-life crisis comedy CITY SLICKERS (1991). The film earned him his first supporting actor Oscar and led to another spritely performance -- at the Academy Award ceremony, where he joked about his virility and then dropped to the floor to perform a series of one-armed push-ups.  Nominated for Supporting Actor 1952: SUDDEN FEAR  Nominated for Supporting Actor 1953: SHANE  Best Performance By an Actor in a Supporting Role 1991: CITY SLICKERS 3 nominations, 1 Award