Redfield
07-10-2002, 04:27 PM
Oscar Winner Rod Steiger Dies
By From Associated Press
Rod Steiger, the beefy, intense actor who won the Academy Award as best actor of 1967 for his role as the redneck police chief of a small Southern town in "In the Heat of the Night," died today. He was 77.
Steiger died at a Los Angeles-area hospital at 9 a.m. of pneumonia and kidney failure, said his publicist, Lori DeWaal.
A devoted practitioner of method acting, Steiger prided himself in undertaking challenging roles, especially real-life persons. "My generation of actors was taught to be able to create different people; that's what an actor is supposed to do," he explained.
In movies and television, he convincingly portrayed such figures as Mussolini, Rasputin, Pope John XXIII, Rudolph Hess, Pontius Pilate, Napoleon, W.C. Fields and Al Capone.
By From Associated Press
Rod Steiger, the beefy, intense actor who won the Academy Award as best actor of 1967 for his role as the redneck police chief of a small Southern town in "In the Heat of the Night," died today. He was 77.
Steiger died at a Los Angeles-area hospital at 9 a.m. of pneumonia and kidney failure, said his publicist, Lori DeWaal.
A devoted practitioner of method acting, Steiger prided himself in undertaking challenging roles, especially real-life persons. "My generation of actors was taught to be able to create different people; that's what an actor is supposed to do," he explained.
In movies and television, he convincingly portrayed such figures as Mussolini, Rasputin, Pope John XXIII, Rudolph Hess, Pontius Pilate, Napoleon, W.C. Fields and Al Capone.