George C. Scott

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 550-551. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

George C. Scott passed away on September 22, 1999, a month away from what would have been his 72nd birthday on October 18.

Was nominated for a 1996 Tony Award as Best Actor for "Inherit the Wind", but he lost to George Grizzard in "A Delicate Balance". Scott's first Tony nomination was in 1959 as Best Featured Actor in a Play in "Comes a Day". His competition that year was Grizzard, who was nominated in the same category for "The Disenchanted". They were both beaten by Charles Ruggles in "The Pleasure of His Company".

He played three roles originated by actor Lee J. Cobb. He played Lt. Kinderman in The Exorcist III (1990), which was played by Cobb in the original The Exorcist--The Version You've Never Seen Before (1973). Scott later played Juror #3 in the remake of 12 Angry Men (1997), a role played by Cobb in the original film (12 Angry Men (1957)). He also received a Tony nomination for playing Cobb's signature role of Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman" on Broadway.

Actor Jim MacGeorge, who played the evil Dr. Scarab on the animated series Bionic Six (1987), based his Scarab voice on Scott's voice.

Reprised his role as General George S. Patton in the television movie The Last Days of Patton (1986), 16 years after his original portrayal which he won the Oscar.

Then he starred -- along with a young cast of then largely unknowns, including Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn and Tom Cruise -- in the intense drama Taps (1981). He played the head of a military academy that's suddenly slated for destruction when the property is sold to local developers who plan to build condos. The students take over the academy when they feel that the regular channels are closed to them. Scott kept up in films, television and on stage in the later years of his life (Broadway dimmed its lights for one minute on the night of his death).

A pair of films that he made in the early 1980s were outstanding.

The first of these was The Changeling (1980), a film often packaged as a horror movie but one that's really more of a supernatural thriller. He plays John Russell, a composer and music professor who loses his wife and daughter in a tragic accident. Seeking solace, he moves into an archaic mansion that had been unoccupied for 12 years. However, a child-like presence seems to be sharing the house with him and trying to share its secrets with him. From learning of the house's past, he discovers its horrific secret of long ago, a secret that the presence will no longer allow to be kept.

He joined the United States Marines Corps as a 17-year old in 1945, but the atomic bomb brought an end to World War II before he could see combat. After the war, he served time at Arlington National Cemetery. According to the March 22, 1971 Time magazine cover-story on Scott, this was the time that he began to drink heavily, as the grave detail was extremely depressing.

Three years followed, with some smaller television movies, before he got the role for which he will always be identified: the aforementioned General Patton in Patton (1970). This was a war movie that came at the end of a decade where anti-war protests had rocked a nation and become a symbol of youth dissatisfied with what was expected of them. Still, the actor's portrayal of this aggressive military icon actually drew sympathy for the controversial hero. He won the Oscar this time, but stayed at home watching hockey instead.

Was infamous for his intense, intimidating personality. Julie Christie, who had earlier co-starred with him in Petulia (1968), was rattled by his presence when they appeared together on Broadway in Mike Nichols' all-star production of Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" in the summer of 1973 (other cast members included Conrad Bain, Lillian Gish, Barnard Hughes, Cathleen Nesbitt and Nicol Williamson in the title role. The play garnered 1974 Tony Award nominations for Nichols for Best Director and Best Actor [Play] nods for Scott and Williamson; Williamson won the 1974 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance). Christie also told the press, at the time, that Scott frightened her, something that surprised the actor when he was told of her comment six years later by Lawrence Grobel, who was interviewing Scott for Playboy magazine (December 1980).

Another comedy followed, The Flim-Flam Man (1967), with Scott playing a smooth-talking con artist who takes on an apprentice whom he soon discovers has too many morals.

There were only two feature films shot in the Dimension 150 process. Scott starred in both of them: The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966) and Patton (1970). "Patton", which was released in Cinerama theaters, was the last movie shot in a widescreen format specifically for exhibition on the Cinerama circuit, which featured curved screens. Spectators at the Cinerama showings of "Patton" were awed by the three-dimensional effect of Patton's opening speech, in which Scott as Patton stands by himself on-screen. The scene likely was shot for the purpose of showcasing the Cinerama screen.

He was considered for the role of Superintendent Newhouse in Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965), before Laurence Olivier was cast.

Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964). This became one of his favorites and he often said that he felt guilty getting paid for it, as he had so much fun making it.

"Anatomy" and "The Hustler" were followed by the clever mystery The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), in which he starred alongside Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum and cameos by major stars of the time, including Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra. It's a must-see, directed by John Huston with tongue deeply in cheek. The following year, Scott starred as General "Buck" Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's comical anti-war film Dr.

" In 1962, he was nominated again for Best Supporting Actor, this time opposite Paul Newman in The Hustler (1961), but sent a message saying "No, thanks" and refused the nomination. However, whether he was being temperamental or simply stubborn in his opinion of awards, it did not seem to stop him from being nominated in the future.

Became a father for the sixth time at age 33 when his third ex-wife Colleen Dewhurst gave birth to their son Campbell Scott on July 19, 1961.

Became a father for the fifth time at age 32 when his third ex-wife Colleen Dewhurst gave birth to their son Alexander Robert Scott in August 1960.

He soon began to get work on television, mostly in live broadcasts of plays, and he landed the role of the crafty prosecutor in Anatomy of a Murder (1959). It was this role that got him his first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. However, George and Oscar wouldn't actually become the best of friends. In fact, he felt the whole process forced actors to become stars and that the ceremony was little more than a "meat market.

Became a father for the fourth time at age 31 when his second ex-wife Patricia Reed gave birth to their daughter Devon Scott on November 29, 1958.

"It was in 1957 that he landed a role in "Richard III" in New York City. The play was a success and brought the young actor to the attention of critics.

Became a father for the second time at age 26 when his former lover Karen Truesdell gave birth to their daughter Michelle Scott on August 21, 1954.

Became a father for the first time at age 25 when his first ex-wife Carolyn Hughes gave birth to their daughter Victoria Scott on December 19, 1952.

1950: Attended the University of Missouri Journalism School for one year, where he began taking drama classes.

In 1945, he joined the United States Marines and spent four years with them, no doubt an inspiration for portraying General George S. Patton years later. When Scott left the Marines, he enrolled in journalism classes at the University of Missouri, but it was while performing in a play there that the acting bug bit him. He has said it "clicked, just like tumblers in a safe.

George C. Scott was an immensely talented actor, a star of the big screen, stage and television. He was born on October 18, 1927 in Wise, Virginia, to Helena Agnes (Slemp) and George Dewey Scott. At the age of eight, his mother died, and his father, an executive at Buick, raised him.