A nice Minnesota boy who got his big break playing a psychotic killer in Kiss of Death (1947), Richard Widmark has died at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut at the age of 93. His health failed after he broke a vertebra.

He made an indelible first impression on movie-goers as a crazed killer who ties up an elderly, wheelchair-bound woman and sends her to her death down a staircase with an impossibly creepy giggle.

At first typecast in gangster and tough-guy roles, Widmark broke through to play in westerns, including The Alamo, John Ford's Two Rode Together and Cheyenne Autumn. My favorite is Widmark's portrayal of the American prosecutor in Judgment at Nuremberg, matching wits with Maximillian Schell under the watchful eye of Spencer Tracy. It was a highlight in a splendid career.

A wreath is placed on Widmark's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame/by Charley Gallay, Getty Images