Credit: Image donated by Corbis-Bettmann
Born Volodymyr Palahnyuk, to Ukrainian parents who had settled near the Lattimer Mines in northeastern PA, Jack Palance (1919 - 2006) worked in coal mines and then as a professional boxer before his induction into the military during World War II. Disfigured from burns during an airplane accident in Arizona, Palance made his Broadway debut in 1947. A highly successful character actor, Palance earned his first leading man role in Sudden Fear , with Joan Crawford, a role for which he won an Academy Award nomination in 1952.
