page_title: Broderick Crawford
section_title: All the King's Men and stardom
hierarchical_section_title: Broderick Crawford / Acting career / All the King's Men and stardom
caption_attribution_description: English: Broderick Crawford as Willie Stark in the trailer for the 1949 film All the King's Men
context_page_description: William Broderick Crawford was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Willie Stark in All the King's Men and for his starring role as Dan Mathews in the television series Highway Patrol.
  Until filming All the King's Men, Crawford's career had been largely limited to "B films" in supporting or character roles. He realized he did not fit the role of a handsome leading man, once describing himself as looking like a "retired pugilist". Nevertheless, he excelled in roles playing villains and authoritarian figures.
context_section_description: In 1949, Crawford reached the pinnacle of his acting career when he was cast as Willie Stark, a character inspired by and closely patterned after the life of Louisiana politician Huey Long, in All the King's Men, a film based on the popular novel by Robert Penn Warren. The film was a huge hit, and Crawford's performance as the bullying, blustering, yet insecure Governor Stark won him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
  The film was made by Columbia who put Crawford under contract. He co-starred with Glenn Ford in Convicted (1950), then starred in another hit 'A'-list production with William Holden and Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday (1950), directed by George Cukor.
  Crawford starred in The Mob (1951), a crime drama. Under the direction of Phil Karlson he starred in Scandal Sheet (1952), based on a novel by Sam Fuller.
  MGM borrowed him to play the villain in Lone Star (1952), opposite Clark Gable and Ava Gardner. He went to Warner Bros. to star in a comedy, Stop, You're Killing Me (1952).
  Crawford returned to Columbia to star in some Westerns, Last of the Comanches (1953), and The Last Posse (1954). 20th Century Fox borrowed him to co-star with Gregory Peck in Nunnally Johnson's Night People (1954).
  Crawford was reunited with Glenn Ford in Human Desire (1954), directed by Fritz Lang. Edward Small used him in Down Three Dark Streets (1954) and New York Confidential (1955).
  In 1955, Crawford assumed the starring role as Rollo Lamar, the most violent of convicts in Big House, U.S.A.. In the film, Crawford's character is a hardened convict so violent he commands the obedience of even the most violent and psychotic prisoners in the prison yard, including those portrayed by such famous tough-guy actors as Charles Bronson, Ralph Meeker, William Talman, and Lon Chaney Jr..
  Stanley Kramer cast him in a good supporting role in Not as a Stranger (1955), which was a big hit. He received an offer in Italy to star in Il bidone (1955), directed by Federico Fellini.
caption: Crawford as Willie Stark in All the King's Men
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