Jack Palance
| Jack Palance | |
|---|---|
Palance in 1953
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| Born |
Volodymyr Palahniuk February 18, 1919 Hazleton, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | November 10, 2006 (aged 87) Montecito, California, U.S. |
| Residence | Tehachapi, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Jack Brazzo Walter Palance Walter J. Palance Walter Jack Palance |
| Occupation | Actor, singer |
| Years active | 1947–2004 |
| Spouse(s) |
Virginia Baker (m. 1949; div. 1968) Elaine Rogers (m. 1987) |
| Children | 3, including Holly Palance |
Jack Palance (/ˈpæləns/ PAL-əns; born Volodymyr Palahniuk (Ukrainian: Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor and singer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1992 for his role in City Slickers.
Palance was born in Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania, the son of Anna (née Gramiak) and Ivan Palahniuk, an anthracite coal miner. His parents were Ukrainian immigrants, his father a native of Ivane Zolote in southwestern Ukraine (modern Ternopil Oblast) and his mother from the Lviv Oblast, an ethnic Pole. One of six children, he worked in coal mines during his youth before becoming a professional boxer in the late 1930s.
Fighting under the name Jack Brazzo, Palance reportedly compiled a record of 15 consecutive victories with 12 knockouts before losing a close decision to future heavyweight contender Joe Baksi in a Pier-6 brawl. Years later he recounted: "Then, I thought, you must be nuts to get your head beat in for $200."
With the outbreak of World War II, Palance's athletic career ended, and his military career began as a member of the United States Army Air Forces. Palance's face, which took many beatings in the boxing ring, was said to have become disfigured while bailing out of a burning B-24 Liberator bomber during a training flight over Southern Arizona (where Palance was a student pilot). His distinctive cheekbones and deep-set eyes were said to have been the result of reconstructive surgery. The story behind Palance's face was repeated numerous times (including in respected film reference works), but upon his death, several obituaries of Palance quoted him as saying that the entire story had been contrived: "Studio press agents make up anything they want to, and reporters go along with it. One flack created the legend that I had been blown up in an air crash during the war, and my face had to be put back together by way of plastic surgery. If it is a 'bionic face', why didn't they do a better job of it?"
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