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| Veteran western star Palance dies | |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Veteran American actor, Jack Palance, who starred in the classic western Shane and the cowboy comedy City Slickers, has died aged 87. | |
| His family were at his home in Montecito, California, when he died of natural causes, a spokesman said. | His family were at his home in Montecito, California, when he died of natural causes, a spokesman said. |
| Born in Pennsylvania of Ukrainian descent, Palance won fame as a hard man in Shane, Sudden Fear and other films. | Born in Pennsylvania of Ukrainian descent, Palance won fame as a hard man in Shane, Sudden Fear and other films. |
| He turned to comedy in 1991 with City Slickers, parodying his tough image and landing an Academy Award. | |
| He delighted the audience by celebrating the best supporting actor award with a series of one-armed push-ups on the stage. | |
| Evil gunslinger | |
| Palance was born Vladimir Palahnuik in 1919, the son of a coal miner, and took up boxing in the 1930s. | |
| He turned to acting after decorated service in the Second World War and made his film debut in 1950. | |
| He quickly received an Oscar nomination for Sudden Fear and then achieved greater fame a year later, in 1953, playing evil gunslinger Jack Wilson in Shane, for which he received another Academy Award nomination. | |
| Palance also achieved critical acclaim for his role in Bagdad Cafe in 1987. | |
| Palance was often as tough off the screen as on, saying that most of his roles were "garbage" and most of his directors incompetent. | |
| "Most of them shouldn't even be directing traffic," he said. |