The Dramatic Menace of Jack Palance

Woodcut of actor Jack Palance. (Artwork by author)

I worked with Jack Palance in 1992 as a writer on the television series Legends of the West. He was intimidating. His height, sharp cheekbones and intense silence added to an aura of quiet menace. When I gained the courage to speak with him I learned his silence was merely a front for shyness. He told me about his fondness for watercolor painting, his love of poetry and his huge cattle ranch in Bakersfield. (The ranch was named “Hollybrooke” after his two daughters.) He revealed he’d given up alcohol and had become a vegetarian. He shared concerns over his son Cody who was battling drug addiction (Cody worked as a stuntman on the show.) He also told me about his ongoing battle with hemorrhoids and how he was apprehensive about riding a horse in the upcoming scenes.

I wrote an episode of the show about the US Army’s search for Pancho Villa. Palance asked me to show him an early version of the script. He objected to my narrow description of Villa as a fugitive and a bandit. “This is American propaganda,” he said. “How do you think Mexicans viewed him?”

“As a hero who stood up to America,” I said.

“Exactly,” he said. “Put that in the damn script or you’re nothing but a hack.”

His critique was harsh but made for a better tv show and made me a better writer.