JackPalance

Jack Palance is one of those actors who has been around for so long and has been seen in so many varied projects, that when he dies, every type of entertainment publication feels compelled to run his obituary.

Palance died today of natural causes in his California home. He was 87. Palance is probably best known for his long career playing tough-guy roles in movies like Shane and City Slickers (for which he won an Oscar and did those one-handed pushups at the ceremony). On TV, played the lead role on Playhouse 90's landmark 1957 production of Requiem for a Heavyweight, which won a Peabody award. But younger TV fans will likely remember him as the host of the show Ripley's Believe It or Not, which ran from 1982-1986 on ABC.

God, was it creepy when he ended one of those segments about someone with two noses or some other equally freaky subject by slowly saying in his calm, low tone, "Believe it... (inhale) or not." Gave the teenaged me the willies. But I tuned in each and every week. Gonna miss the guy.