George C. Scott

Actors

George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor, director, and producer who had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, he became known for his portrayal of stern, but complex, authority figures, his performances won him widespread recognition and numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Genie Award, and two Primetime Emmys.

Scott made his film debut in Delmar Daves’ The Hanging Tree (1959), with Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, and Karl Malden. He was then nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder (1959), with James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Eve Arden, Arthur O’Connell, Kathryn Grant, Brooks West, Orson Bean, and Murray Hamilton; and Robert Rossen’s The Hustler (1961), with Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, and Piper Laurie.

Other notable films in the 1960s include John Huston’s The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), with Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, Dana Wynter, Clive Brook, Gladys Cooper, and Herbert Marshall; Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), with Peter Sellers, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, and Slim Pickens; Anthony Asquith’s The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1965), with Ingrid Bergman, Rex Harrison, Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Omar Sharif, Shirley MacLaine, Art Carney, Wally Cox, Joyce Grenfell, Moira Lister, and Edmund Perdom; The Bible: In the Beginning… (1966), with Michael Parks, Ulla Bergryd, Richard Harris, Huston (who also directed), Stephen Boyd, Ava Gardner, and Peter O’Toole; Norman Panama’s Not with MY Wife, You Don’t! (1966), with Curtis and Virna Lisi; Irvin Kershner’s The Flim-Flam Man (1967), with Michael Sarrazin, Sue Lyon, Jack Albertson, Pickens, Strother Martin, Harry Morgan, and Albert Salmi; and Richard Lester’s Petulia (1968), with Julie Christie, Richard Chamberlain, Arthur Hill, Shirley Knight, and Joseph Cotton.

Scott won the Academy Award for Best Actor in Franklin J. Schaffner’s Patton (1970), which he famously refused to accept. He was nominated for a second Best Actor Academy Award for Arthur Hiller’s The Hospital (1972), with Diana Rigg, Barnard Hughes, Richard A. Dysart, Stephen Elliott, Andrew Duncan, Donald Harron, and Nancy, Marchand.

Other films in the early 1970s include Anthony Harvey’s They Might Be Giants (1971), with Joanne Woodward and Jack Gilford; Richard Fleischer’s The Last Run (1971), with Tony Musante, Trish Van Devere (his fourth wife), and Colleen Dewhurst (his third wife); The New Centurions (1972), with Stacy Keach, Scott Wilson, Jane Alexander, Rosalind Cash, Erik Estrada, and James Sikking; Rage (1972), with Richard Basehart, Martin Sheen, and Barnard Hughes; Stanley Kramer’s Oklahoma Crude (1973), with Faye Dunaway, John Mills, and Jack Palance; Mike Nichols’ The Day of the Dolphin (1973), with Van Devere and Paul Sorvino; Bank Shot (1974), with Joanna Cassidy, Sorrell Booke, and G. Wood; and The Savage Is Loose (1974), with Van Devere, John David Carson and Lee H. Montgomery.

Films in the mid to late 1970s include Robert Wise’s The Hindenburg (1975), with Anne Bancroft, William Atherton, Roy Thinnes, Gig Young, Burgess Meredith, Charles Durning, And Richard A. Dysart; Islands in the Stream (1977), with David Hemings, Gilbert Roland, Claire Bloom, Susan Tyrell, Richard Evans, and Hart Bochner; Crossed Swords (1977), with Oliver Reed, Ernest Borgnine, Raquel Welch, Charlton Heston, Harrison, and Mark Lester; Stanley Donen’s Movie Movie (1978), with Van Devere, Barry Bostwick, Red Buttons, Carney, Eli Wallach, Harry Hamlin, Barbara Harris, and Ann Reinking; and Paul Schrader’s Hardcore (1979), with Peter Boyle, Season Hubley, and Dick Sargent.

Films in the 1980s include Peter Medak’s The Changeling (1980), with Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas, John Colicos, Jean Marsh, Helen Burns, and Madeleine Sherwood; John G. Avildsen’s The Formula (1980), with Marlon Brando, Marthe Keller, John Gielgud, G.D. Spradlin, and Beatrice Straight; Taps (1981), with Timothy Hutton, Ronny Cox, Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, and Evan Handler; and Firestarter (1984), with David Keith, Drew Barrymore, Freddie Jones, Heather Locklear, Sheen, Carney, and Louise Fletcher.

Films in the 1990s include The Exorcist III (1990), with Ed Flanders, Jason Miller, Scott Wilson, Nicol Williamson, and Brad Dourif; the Disney animated film The Rescuers Down Under (1990), with Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, and John Candy; Malice (1993), with Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman, Bebe Neuwirth, Peter Gallagher, Josef Sommer, Bancroft, and Gwyneth Paltrow; Patrick Read Johnson’s Angus (1995), with Charlie Talbert, Chris Owen, Kathy Bates, James Van Der Beek, Ariana Richards, and Rita Moreno; Sidney Lumet’s Gloria (1999), with Sharon Stone, Jeremy Northam, Cathy Moriarty, Bonnie Bedelia, Barry McEvoy, and Mike Starr.

TV movies and miniseries include The Power and the Glory (1961), with Laurence Olivier, Julie Harris, Roddy McDowall, and Patty Duke; The Crucible (1967), with Dewhurst, Tuesday Weld, and Fritz Weaver; This Savage Land (1969), with Barry Sullivan, Glenn Corbett, Kathryn Hays, Andrew Prine, and John Drew Barrymore; Jane Eyre (1970), with Susannah York; Fear on Trial (1975), with William Devane and William Redfield; Beauty and the Beast (1976), with Van Devere, Virginia McKenna, and Bernard Lee; Oliver Twist (1982), with Tim Curry, Michael Hordern, Timothy West, Eileen Atkins, Cherie Lunghi, Oliver Cotton, Richard Charles, and Martin Tempest; China Rose (1983), with Ali MacGraw; A Christmas Carol (1984), with Frank Finlay, David Warner, York, Edward Woodward, and Roger Rees; Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985), with Lee Grant, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Gabriel Byrne, Raul Julia, Virginia Madsen, and Robert Downey Jr.; The Last Days of Patton (1986), with Eva Marie Saint, Murray Hamilton, Ed Lauter, and Richard Dysart; and The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1986), with Rebecca De Mornay, Val Kilmer, and Ian McShane.

More TV movies and miniseries include Pals (1987), with Don Ameche and Sylvia Sidney; The Ryan White Story (1989), with Lukas Haas; Descending Angel (1990), with Diane Lane and Eric Roberts; Tyson (1995), with Michael Jai White and Paul Winfield; Titanic (1996), with Gallagher, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Saint, Curry, Harley Jane Kozak, and Marilu Henner; Country Justice (1997), with Rachael Leigh Cook, Ally Sheedy, and Don Diamont; 12 Angry Men (1997), with Courtney B. Vance, Ossie Davis, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Dorian Harewood, James Gandolfini, Tony Danza, Jack Lemmon, Hume Cronyn, Mykelti Williamson, Edward James Olmos, and William Petersen; Rocky Marciano (1999), with Jon Favreau, Penelope Ann Miller, and Judd Hirsch; and Inherit the Wind (1999), with Lemmon and Beau Bridges.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1958) – directed by Paul Stanley – TV movie
  • The Hanging Tree (1959) – directed by Delmar Daves – uncredited directing by Karl Malden & Vincent Sherman
  • Anatomy of a Murder (1959) – directed by Otto Preminger
  • People Kill People Sometimes (1959) – directed by John Frankenheimer – TV movie/episode of Sunday Showcase
  • Target for Three (1959) – directed by Robert Stevens – TV movie/episode of Playhouse 90
  • Winterset (1959) – directed by George Schaefer – TV movie
  • Don Juan in Hell (1960) – directed by Don Richardson – TV movie/episode of Play of the Week
  • The Hustler (1961) – directed by Robert Rossen
  • The Power and the Glory (1961) – directed by Marc Daniels – TV movie
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray (1961) – directed by Paul Bogart – TV movie/episode of Golden Showcase
  • The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) – directed by John Huston
  • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)** – directed by Stanley Kubrick
  • The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1965) – directed by Anthony Asquith
  • The Bible: In the Beginning… (1966) – directed by John Huston
  • Not with MY Wife, You Don’t! (1966) – directed by Norman Panama
  • The Crucible (1967) – directed by Alex Segal – TV movie
  • The Flim-Flam Man (1967) – directed by Irvin Kershner
  • Petulia (1968) – directed by Richard Lester
  • This Savage Land (1969) – directed by Vincent McEveety – TV movie
  • Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall (1969) – directed by Fielder Cook – TV movie
  • Patton (1970) – directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
  • Jane Eyre (1970) – directed by Delbert Mann – TV movie
  • The Andersonville Trial (1970) – director only – TV movie
  • The Price (1971) – directed by Fielder Cook – TV movie
  • They Might Be Giants (1971) – directed by Anthony Harvey
  • The Last Run (1971) – directed by Richard Fleischer
  • The Hospital (1971) – directed by Arthur Hiller
  • The New Centurions (1972) – directed by Richard Fleischer
  • Rage (1972) – also director
  • Oklahoma Crude (1973) – directed by Stanley Kramer
  • The Day of the Dolphin (1973) – directed by Mike Nichols
  • Bank Shot (1974) – directed by Gower Champion
  • The Savage Is Loose (1974) – also director
  • Fear on Trial (1975) – directed by Lamont Johnson – TV movie
  • The Hindenburg (1975) – directed by Robert Wise
  • Beauty and the Beast (1976) – directed by Fielder Cook – TV movie
  • Islands in the Stream (1977) – directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
  • Crossed Swords (1977) – directed by Richard Fleischer
  • Movie Movie (1978) – directed by Stanley Donen
  • Hardcore (1979) – directed by Paul Schrader
  • The Changeling (1980) – directed by Peter Medak
  • The Formula (1980) – directed by John G. Avildsen
  • Taps (1981) – directed by Harold Becker
  • Oliver Twist (1982) – directed by Clive Donner – TV movie
  • China Rose (1983) – directed by Robert Day – TV movie
  • Firestarter (1984) – directed by Mark L. Lester
  • A Christmas Carol (1984) – directed by Clive Donner – TV movie
  • Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985) – directed by William A. Graham – miniseries
  • Choices (1986) – directed by David Lowell Rich – TV movie
  • The Last Days of Patton (1986) – directed by Delbert Mann – TV movie
  • The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1986) – directed by Jeannot Szwarc – TV movie
  • Pals (1987) – directed by Lou Antonio – TV movie
  • The Ryan White Story (1989) – directed by John Herzfeld – TV movie
  • Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990) – directed by Milton Gray, Marsh Lamore, Bob Shellhorn, Mike Svayko, & Karen Peterson – TV short
  • The Exorcist III (1990) – directed by William Peter Blatty
  • The Rescuers Down Under (1990)* – directed by Hendel Butoy & Mike Gabriel
  • Descending (1990) – directed by Jeremy Kagan – TV movie
  • Finding the Way Home (1991) – directed by Rod Holcomb – TV movie
  • Curacao (1993) – directed by Carl Schultz – TV movie
  • Malice (1993) – directed by Harold Becker
  • The Whipping Boy (1994) – directed by Sydney Macartney – TV movie
  • Tyson (1995) – directed by Uli Edel – TV movie
  • Angus (1995) – directed by Patrick Read Johnson
  • Country Justice (1996) – directed by Graeme Campbell – TV movie
  • Titanic (1996) – directed by Robert Lieberman – miniseries
  • 12 Angry Men (1997) – directed by William Friedkin – TV movie
  • Gloria (1999) – directed by Sidney Lumet
  • Rocky Marciano (1999) – directed by Charles Winkler – TV movie
  • Inherit the Wind (1999) – directed by Daniel Petrie – TV movie