Actor Stuart Whitman, an Oscar nominee for his role as a convicted child molester in the 1961 movie “The Mark,” died on Monday surrounded by his family at his ranch house in Montecito, California at the age of 92. His son Justin Whitman said that he died of natural causes.
Stuart Whitman Passes Away at the age of 92
Stuart Whitman a prolific lead and character actor who appeared in hundreds of film and television productions were dark-haired and rugged, with enough of a resemblance to Clark Gable that he was sometimes compared to the “Gone With the Wind” star. Whitman made his film debut in 1951 in “When Worlds Collide.”
Whitman was a steady presence in Westerns, war movies and other action films. His credits included “The Longest Day,” “Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines,” “The Sound and the Fury” and “Ten North Frederick.” On television, he starred in the brief-lived series “Cimarron Strip” and also worked on “Murder, She Wrote,” “The Streets of San Francisco” and “The F.B.I.”
He replaced Richard Burton in the role of Jim Fuller on “The Mark,” which earned him an Academy Award nomination for best actor. He lost out to Maximilian Schell, who won for “Judgment at Nuremberg.” Whitman portrayed a child molester who gets out of prison and seeks the aid of a psychiatrist, played by Rod Steiger, to try to lead a normal life.
Whitman was born on Feb. 1, 1928, in San Francisco as the oldest of two sons to Cecilia and Joseph Whitman. His father sparked his son’s show business gene while running for Congress and giving speeches at the old Tammany Hall theater in New York. He appeared in summer stock productions at 12. They arrived in Los Angeles in the mid-1940s, and his father worked for the post-WWI government-run Manhattan Project before becoming a lawyer, and, soon after, a real estate developer.
After graduating from Hollywood High School in 1945, Whitman enlisted for three years in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. During his service, he won all but one of his 32 boxing matches. After his honorable discharge in 1948, he studied law, minoring in drama, at Los Angeles City College. Attending acting classes at night, he landed small roles in film and stage productions, and made his breakthrough in 1957’s “Johnny Trouble.”
He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Yulia Whitman; four children from his first marriage to the late Patricia LaLonde — Tony Whitman, Michael Whitman, Linda LaLonde Whitman, and Scott Whitman — and one son, Justin Whitman, from his second marriage to Caroline Boubis Whitman. He’s also survived by seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The family asks that donations be made to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
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