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George C. Scott was an immensely talented actor, a star of screen, stage and television who was born in Virginia in 1927. At the age of eight his mother died and his father, an executive at Buick, raised him. In 1945 he joined the Marines and spent four years with them, no doubt an inspiration for portraying Gen. '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."It was in the late 1950s that he landed a role in "Richard III" in New York City. The play was a hit and brought the young actor to the attention of critics. Soon he began to get work on television, mostly in live broadcasts of plays, and in 1959 he landed the part 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." 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 basically refused the nomination.However, whether he was being temperamental or simply stubborn in his opinion of awards, it didn't seem to stop him from being nominated in the future. "Anatomy" and "The Hustler" were followed by 1963's 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, and one that my mother caught on TV a few years ago, much to her delight. I have since been a good son and bought her a copy.The following year Scott starred as Gen. "Buck" Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's comical anti-war film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). It 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. Another comedy, The Flim-Flam Man (1967), followed in 1967, with Scott playing a smooth-talking con artist who takes on an apprentice whom he soon discovers has too many morals. This is one I remember watching with my older brothers and my father years ago and having a hoot. Surprisingly, after checking it out again the other night, it's not that dated.Three years would follow, with some smaller TV movies, before he would get the role for which he will always be identified: the aforementioned Gen. Patton in Patton (1970). It was a war movie that came at the end of a decade where anti-war protests had rocked a nation and become a symbol 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. For those who enjoyed this classic film, I also recommend the TV movie The Last Days of Patton (1986) (TV) as a companion piece. Made in 1986, it offers further insight into, and some closure for, an interesting and complicated man.I first became aware of Scott with his work in "Patton", but it was a pair of films that he made in the early 1980s that really caught my eye. The first 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 old mansion that had been unoccupied for 12 years. A child-like presence seems to be sharing the house with him, however, and trying to share its secrets with him. By researching the house's past he discovers its horrific secret of long ago, a secret that the presence will no longer allow to be kept. It's a truly fascinating and entertaining film that I love to recommend to customers looking for a bit of substance with their scare. Also starring Scott's wife Trish Van Devere and Melvyn Douglas, it's one of my all-time favorites.Then in 1981 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 plays 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. It was quite powerful nearly 20 years ago, and while it may not seem as shocking today, I still get positive feedback when I recommend this today to teens who have never seen it.Scott kept up in films, TV and on stage in the later years of his life (Broadway dimmed its lights for one minute on the night of his death). Among his projects were playing Ebenezer Scrooge in a worthy TV update of A Christmas Carol (1984) (TV), an acclaimed performance on Broadway of "Death of a SalesmanA, the voice of McLeach in Disney's The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and co-starring roles in TV remakes of two classic films, 12 Angry Men (1997) (TV) and Inherit the Wind (1999) (TV), to name just a few. After his death the accolades poured in, with Jack Lemmon saying, "George was truly one of the greatest and most generous actors I have ever known," while Tony Randall called him "the greatest actor in American history." |
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