Pat Hingle(1924-2009)

He lost the lead role in the film Elmer Gantry (1960), which could have been a turning point in his screen career, when he, trying to escape a stalled elevator in his apartment building on the West Side, fell more than 50 feet down the shaft. He fractured his skull, hip, wrist, and most of the ribs on his left side, also breaking his left leg in three places. A finger had to be amputated. Near death for two weeks, he spent a year relearning to walk. Burt Lancaster inherited the role and won an Oscar.

After one [college] semester I went into the Navy for four years in the Pacific on a destroyer. I went back to school and every time I saw a pretty girl I'd say, "Who the hell is that?" Well, they were all headed towards the theater department so I joined the campus Curtain Club. In three years I did 35 plays and in one of those plays I finally realized that I felt more comfortable than I did anywhere and I was where God intended me to be. I always feel that way.