Before he was a successful actor, Jack Palance played college football and fought as a professional boxer.
This month marks the 20th anniversary of Jack Palance’s death. The Hollywood actor achieved stardom for his masculine portrayals of men in neo-noirs, crime dramas, and westerns.
Born Volodymyr Palahniuk in Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania, Palance won a football scholarship to the University of North Carolina, where he played for two years before leaving, appalled by the sport’s commercialization.
Palance then turned to boxing as Jack Brazzo. He was an exceptional boxer, winning 15 consecutive club fights, including 12 knockouts. He lost only one match, a four-round decision to future heavyweight contender Joe Baksi. Reports are that it was a rough Pier-6 brawl at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York.
After losing to Baksi, Palance left boxing to pursue a career in acting.
Palance (center) in the heralded TV production (photo courtesy Rotten Tomatoes)
Palance’s boxing experience came in handy when he starred in a 1956 episode of Playhouse 90 titled Requiem for a Heavyweight. Palance played Harlan “Mountain” McClintock, a once-promising boxer who was now facing the end of his career.
McClintock suffers from punch-drunk syndrome, a form of brain damage caused by boxing. As the story went on, a doctor refused to let McClintock continue fighting, saying that another tough match could lead to him becoming blind or dying.
Although it was only one episode, the appearance added to Palance’s fame, largely because it was widely applauded and earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Single Performance.
Before and after his Playhouse 90 appearance, Palance starred in many Hollywood films. The list includes: Panic in the Streets (1950), Halls of Montezuma (1951), Sudden Fear (1952), Shane (1953), Second Chance (1953), Arrowhead (1953), Flight to Tangier (1953), Man in the Attic (1953), Sign of the Pagan (1954), The Silver Chalice (1954), Kiss of Fire (1955), I Died a Thousand Times (1955), The Big Knife (1955), Attack (1956), The Lonely Man (1957), The Man Inside (1958), Beyond All Limits (1959), Austerlitz (1960), The Barbarians (1960), Sword of the Conqueror (1961), The Mongols (1961), Barabbas (1961), Contempt (1963), Once a Thief (1965), The Professionals (1966), The Desperados (1969), Che! (1969), Monte Walsh (1970), Compañeros (1970), Oklahoma Crude (1973), Batman (1989), Tango & Cash (1989), and City Slickers (1991).
Jack Palance lived a great life. He died in 2006 at the age of 87.
