Oscar Profile #207: George C. Scott

Born October 18, 1927, George C. (Campbell) Scott was the son of a Buick executive who raised him single-handedly after his mother’s death when he was just 8 years old. Enlisting in the U.S. Marines at 18, his primary duty from 1945 to 1949 was to serve as an honor guard at the burial of U.S. military at Arlington National Cemetery, which led to a lifetime of heavy drinking. Following his enlistment, he resumed his education at the University of Missouri where the acting bug bit him.

On stage while still in college, Scott made his TV debut in 1951 in an episode of the Bigelow Theatre anthology series. He made his Broadway debut in 1958, earning his first of five Tony Award nominations for Comes a Day. He made his film debut in 1959’s The Hanging Tree, fourth billed behind Gary Cooper, Maria Schell and Karl Malden. His rise to film stardom would be swift. He received his first Oscar nomination for playing the prosecutor in 1959’s Anatomy of a Murder opposite James Stewart.

Alternating between Broadway, television and film, Scott received a second Oscar nomination for his third film, 1961’s The Hustler, an honor he refused to accept.

Scott received top billing for his fourth film, 1963’s The List of Adrian Messenger in which he was supported by “guest stars” Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum and Frank Sinatra. His most popular early screen role was in his fifth film, 1964’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Other successful 1960s films included The Flim-Flan Man and Petulia. 1970’s Patton would bring him another Oscar nomination, which he again refused, but for which he would win anyway. Nominated again for the following year’s The Hospital, he simply ignored the accolade.

Scott would be nominated for Emmys eight times and win twice for 1969’s The Price (refused) and 1997’s 12 Angry Men (ignored) in the role Lee J. Cobb played in the 1957 film. He had also been nominated for such diverse work as his Rochester in 1970’s Jane Eyre and his Ebenezer Scrooge in 1984’s A Christmas Carol His Tony nominations came for such diverse work as 1974’s Uncle Vanya, 1976’s Death of a Salesman in another role originated by Lee J. Cobb, and 1996’s Inherit the Wind in the role played on screen by Fredric March who also played the Lee J. Cobb role in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman.

Scott’s film career never again achieved the heights of Patton, but he continued to play leading roles in such diverse fare as 1971’s They Might Be Giants, 1973’s The Day of the Dolphin, 1974’s The Savage Is Loose, 1977’s Islands in the Stream, 1979’s Hardcore; 1980’s The Changeling and 1990’s The Exorcist III.

Scott’s last role was opposite Jack Lemmon in the 1999 TV adaptation of Inherit the Wind. Married five times, two of Scott’s marriages were to award-winning actress Colleen Dewhurst. His fifth and final marriage was to actress Trish Van Devere to whom he was married from 1972 to his death in 1999 at 71. He had six children, two of whom, actress Devon Scott by his first wife, and actor Campbell Scott by Dewhurst, carry on the family tradition.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959), directed by Otto Preminger

In only his second theatrical film, Scott seizes the screen as the prosecuting attorney up against screen legend James Stewart as accused murderer Ben Gazzara’s defense attorney in this still ground-breaking adult themed mystery. While Scott’s hammy performance is at odds with the folksiness of both Stewart and Joseph N. Welch as the judge, it nevertheless impressed enough Academy members to garner him an Oscar nomination. Although he was thankful for the honor, he was not happy with the process and consequently refused his second nomination for The Hustler two years later.

DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964), directed by Stanley Kubrick

Scott’s best remembered early role was in Kubrick’s dark cold war comedy in which he plays Gen. “Buck” Turgidson aside Sterling Hayden’s Gen. Jack D. Ripper and Peter Sellers’ three characters including the title lunatic.

Scott did not want to play his most famous scene “over the top” but Kubrick tricked him by asking him to camp it up during rehearsal which he secretly filmed and included in the release print. Scott was not pleased.

PATTON (1970), directed by Franklin J. Schaffner

The opening scene in which Scott as General George S. Patton in an immaculately pressed uniform, his silver pistol at his side, delivers a rousing speech in front of the American flag sets the stage for one of the most legendary screen performances of all time, one that stays true to its depiction of one of the multi-faceted, contradictory and fascinating figures of the Twentieth Century.

Scott was not the first choice for the role. Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Telly Savlas and Rod Stegier all turned down the role of the World War II warrior general. John Wayne wanted the part but the producers didn’t want him. Scott, however, plays the role so unforgettably that you can’t imagine any other actor playing the role.

The Academy wisely honored Scott with an Oscar despite his refusal of the nomination.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984), directed by Clive Donner

With his big screen career in decline since Patton, Scott’s greatest triumphs were on the stage and in occasional TV roles. One of his biggest small screen hits was as Scrooge in this TV adaptation of the Dickens classic.

While this version is never going to supplant the 1951 version with Alastair SIm, as most people’s favorite, there are those who prefer this handsomely produced version. Despite his Tony nomination, though, most critics felt that while Scott did well as the miserly Scrooge, he was not able to convey the absolute joy of living required for the character’s awakening on Christmas morning.

THE EXORCIST III (1990), directed by William Peter Blatty

Scott had played Lee J. Cobb’s signature role in a Tony nominated performance in a Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman and would later reprise Cobb’s role in an Emmy winning performance in 12 Angry Men. Who better, then, to take over Cobb’s last role in this sequel to The Exorcist?

The film, written and directed by the original’s author, William Peter Blatty, gives Scott ample opportunity to chew the scenery as the aging detective out to solve the brutal murders of a twelve- year-old boy and two priests, the latter played by Ed Flanders and Harry Carey, Jr.

Turns out the villain is Brad Dourif channeling his character from 1988’s Child’s Play as a convicted murderer who just before the moment of death finds a new vessel in which to reside. In Child’s Play it was a doll, here it’s the comatose body of Father Karras, again played by Jason Miller who it turns out didn’t really die from his fall in the original. Here’s where the film loses coherence as the character sometimes has Miller’s face and sometimes Dourif’s, speaking not just in their voices but that of Scott’s former wife, Colleen Dewhurst as the voice of the devil.