George C Scott

George Campbell Scott (Wise, Virginia, October 18, 1927 – Westlake Village, California, September 22, 1999) was an American actor, director, and producer. He was the first actor to refuse the Oscar for Best Actor (for his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton in 1970), when he had already warned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences months in advance that he would do it for philosophical reasons if he won. Scott maintained that each dramatic performance was unique and could not be compared to that of other performers.

Biography

He was born George Campbell Scott in Wise, Virginia. His mother died when he was eight years old and his father, who was an executive with the Buick company, took care of him. In 1945 Scott enlisted in the marines and was active for four years but did not go to the front; he was stationed the remainder of the service as a soldier-gravedigger at Arlington Cemetery, where he buried dozens of soldiers each day from the European and Pacific fronts. This activity plunged him into alcohol and when he discovered his passion for acting he seemed to give up alcoholism.

I became an actor to escape my own personality. It's never cost me to empathize with a character because I don't appreciate myself too much.

When she graduated, she decided to study journalism at the University of Missouri. There he acted on occasion in the university theater and discovered his passion for acting. She prepared herself for this activity and then went to New York to try her luck in the theater.

Towards the end of the fifties, he landed a role in Richard III, which was a great success, as a result of which critics took notice of this unknown young actor. He soon received offers for television, which were generally roles in plays that were recorded live, and which constituted a good school for all actors.

In 1959 Scott landed his first major film role, in the film Anatomy of Murder, in which he played the uncompromising prosecutor. This role earned him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. Scott was completely against the Oscars, since he considered it a way to promote actors and to do business. When in 1962 he was nominated again, this time for The Hustler, with Paul Newman, he sent a note saying "No, thanks," declining the nomination. However, the Academy did not seem to take his attitude badly, since in 1963 he was nominated for the third time for the thriller The List of Adrian Messenger .

Trailer of the film They Might Be Giants (1971)

The following year, Scott starred as a general in Stanley Kubrick's anti-war comedy Dr. Strangelove. During filming, according to the DVD, Scott believed he was making a serious war movie and Kubrick tricked him into shooting scenes with highly exaggerated acting, which he shot and used in the montage, which Scott became angry about and vowed never to return to. to work with Kubrick. In 1970 he made Patton, in which he plays the famous commanding general of World War II. This time, he won the Oscar for best leading actor, but Scott, true to his ideas, stayed at home watching a hockey game on TV, and refused the award. It was the first time such an event occurred. In 1972, Marlon Brando would also decline the award.

Definitively becoming one of the great character actors, Scott from then on alternated his appearances in the cinema with interventions in films and television miniseries, which were increasingly frequent compared to the cinema, to the point of who took part in one or two television productions each year. He also took up the theater, in which he appeared regularly.

Caricature of Scott as Scrooge (1984)

Personal life

Scott never fully quit alcoholism and relapsed many times; He had many tavern fights and an accusation for sexual harassment.He was married five times, two of them with the same wife, Colleen Dewhurst (1960 and 1965), with whom he had two children. He additionally had fleeting extramarital affairs with some renowned actresses, such as Ava Gardner. His fifth union was with the actress Trish Van Devere, a marriage that lasted twenty-seven years, but from which, on the date of her death, he had already separated.

He died in Westlake Villane, California, at the age of seventy-one, as a result of an abdominal vascular problem. His remains are in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

• Rocky Marciano (TV, 1999)
• Inherit the Wind (1999)
• Glory (1999)
• 12 Angry Men (1997)
• Titanic (1996)
• Angus (1995)
• Malice (1993)
• Exorcist III (1990)
• The Rescuers Down Under (1990), voice of the character Percival C. McLeach
• The last days of Patton (film) (1986)
• Firestarter (1984)
• A Christmas Carol (1984)
• Taps (1981)
• The Formula (1980)
• At the end of the stairs (1980)
• Hardcore (1979)
• Movie (1978)
• Crossed Swords (1978)
• Good-bye island (Islands in the Stream)Franklin J. Schaffner (1977)
• Beauty and the Beast (1976)
• Hindenburg (1975)
• The Savage Is Loose (1974)
• Bank Shot (1974)
• The Day of the Dolphin (1973)
• Oklahoma Crude (1973)
• Rage (1972)
• The New Centurions (1972)
• The Hospital (1971)
• The Last Run (1971)
• They Might Be Giants (1971)
• Jane Eyre (1970)
• The Price (1970)
• Patton (1970)
• Petulia (1968)
• The Flim-Flam Man (1967)
• Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966)
• The Bible (1966)
• The yellow Rolls-Royce (1964)
• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
• The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)
• The Brazen Bell (1962)
• The searcher (1961)
• Anatomy of a murder (1959)
• The Hanging Tree (1959)

Theater

• Inherit the Wind (1996)
• On Borrowed Time (1991)
• The Boys in Autumn (1986)
• Design for Living (1984)
• Present Laughter (1982)
• Tricks of the Trade (1980)
• Sly Fox (1976)
• Death of a Salesman (1975)
• Uncle Vanya (1973)
• Plaza Suite (1968)
• The Little Foxes (1967)
• Great Day in the Morning (1962)
• General Seeger (1962)
• The Wall (1960)
• The Andersonville Trial (1959)
• You eat Day (1958)

Awards and nominations

Oscar Awards