Scott, George C. (George Campbell Scott), 1927–99, American actor, b. Wise, Va. Fiery and intense, Scott played his first major roles in Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, and As You Like It for the New York Shakespeare Festival. Other plays included The Andersonville Trial (1959), Uncle Vanya (1973), an elderly Huckleberry Finn in The Boys in Autumn (1986), and a lawyer based on Clarence Darrow in Inherit the Wind (1996). He gradually began to devote more attention to film, proving to be a strong, sometimes overpowering presence. His films include Anatomy of a Murder (1959), The Hustler (1962), Dr. Strangelove (1964), Hospital (1972), Islands in the Stream (1977), Taps (1982), and Gloria (1999). He won an Academy Award for Patton (1970), usually considered his finest film performance, but refused it. He reprised his role as the four-star general in a 1986 television movie. Late in his career he also directed plays and films.
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