American actor (1914?1965)
Zachary Scott
|
---|
Scott in a 1948 issue of
New York Sunday News
|
Born
| (
1914-02-21
)
February 21, 1914
|
---|
Died
| October 3, 1965
(1965-10-03)
(aged 51)
Austin, Texas, U.S.
|
---|
Alma mater
| University of Texas
|
---|
Years active
| 1941?1965
|
---|
Spouses
|
(
m.
1934;
div.
1950)
|
---|
Zachary Scott
(February 21, 1914 – October 3, 1965)
[1]
was an American actor who was known for his roles as villains and "mystery men".
Early life
[
edit
]
Scott was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Sallie Lee (Masterson) and Zachary Thomson Scott, a doctor.
[2]
Scott intended to follow his father into medicine,
[3]
but after attending the
University of Texas
at Austin, he dropped out at age 19 and worked as a seaman on an England-bound freighter. There he appeared in almost two dozen
repertory theatre
productions in 18 months.
[4]
When he returned to Texas, he began to act in local theater productions.
[5]
Career
[
edit
]
Broadway
[
edit
]
Alfred Lunt
and
Lynn Fontanne
met Scott and his wife Elaine Anderson in Austin, Texas, where Scott was completing his degree, and then wrote to Lawrence Langer about summer jobs for both at the Westport Playhouse in Connecticut, which led to Scott's engagements in New York.
[6]
He made his debut in a 1941 revival of
Ah, Wilderness!
with a small role as a bartender.
[7]
He was also in
The Damask Cheek
(1942),
The Rock
(1943), and
Those Endearing Young Charms
(1943).
[7]
Warner Bros.
[
edit
]
Jack L. Warner
saw Scott perform in
Those Endearing Young Charms
and signed him to his first film contract,
[4]
which led to his screen debut in
The Mask of Dimitrios
(1944).
[8]
Scott was one of the many Warners stars who had small roles in
Hollywood Canteen
(1944). He was loaned to
United Artists
to play the lead in
The Southerner
(1945) directed by
Jean Renoir
.
Back at Warners, Scott was cast in
Mildred Pierce
(1945) and received much acclaim for his performance as the duplicitous lover of both
Joan Crawford
and her daughter, and his mysterious murder forms the basis of the plot and frames the film's opening and closing.
Variety
noted that Scott "makes the most of his character" in "a talented performance."
[9]
Scott co-starred with
Faye Emerson
in
Danger Signal
(1945) and was with
Janis Paige
and
Dane Clark
in
Her Kind of Man
(1946). In 1946, exhibitors voted Scott the third most promising "star of tomorrow".
[10]
Scott supported
Ann Sheridan
in
The Unfaithful
(1947) and
Ronald Reagan
and
Alexis Smith
in
Stallion Road
(1947). MGM borrowed him to support
Lana Turner
and
Spencer Tracy
in
Cass Timberlane
(1947).
He had the lead in a noir for
Eagle-Lion Films
,
Ruthless
(1948), then returned to Warners for
Whiplash
(1948) with Clark. He supported
Virginia Mayo
in
Flaxy Martin
(1949) and
Joel McCrea
in the independent
South of St. Louis
(1949). He was reunited with Crawford in
Flamingo Road
(1949).
Warners tried Scott in
One Last Fling
(1949), a comedy with
Alexis Smith
. He starred in some films outside the studio:
Guilty Bystander
(1950) and
Shadow on the Wall
(1950). At Warners, he supported
Randolph Scott
in
Colt .45
(1950). He did
Born to Be Bad
(1950) for
Nicholas Ray
and
Pretty Baby
(1950) for Warners.
After being dropped by Warners, Scott appeared on a variety of television series such as
Armstrong Circle Theatre
(1950) and
Pulitzer Prize Playhouse
(1951). He did
Lightning Strikes Twice
(1951) for
King Vidor
and
The Secret of Convict Lake
(1951).
Leaving Warners
[
edit
]
Scott's first film after he left Warners was
Stronghold
(1951) with
Veronica Lake
.
[11]
He followed it with
Let's Make It Legal
(1951). He was on TV in
Tales of Tomorrow
(1951) and
Betty Crocker Star Matinee
(1952) and went to England to make
Wings of Danger
(1952).
In Hollywood, he was in
Studio One in Hollywood
(1953), and
Medallion Theatre
(1953) on TV, and
Appointment in Honduras
(1953), directed by
Jacques Tourneur
. He was in
The Revlon Mirror Theater
(1953),
Chevron Theatre
(1953),
Suspense
(1954),
Schlitz Playhouse
(1954),
The Motorola Television Hour
(1954),
Campbell Summer Soundstage
(1954),
The United States Steel Hour
(1954),
Omnibus
(1954),
Climax!
(1955),
General Electric Theater
(1955),
Robert Montgomery Presents
(1956, playing
Philip Marlowe
in a version of
The Big Sleep
),
Science Fiction Theatre
(1955),
The Star and the Story
(1956),
Celebrity Playhouse
(1956),
Theatre Night
(1957) and
Pursuit
(1958).
He made the occasional film such as
Treasure of Ruby Hills
(1955),
Shotgun
(1955),
Flame of the Islands
(1956),
The Counterfeit Plan
(1957), and
Man in the Shadow
(1957).
Scott returned to Broadway with
Requiem for a Nun
(1959).
Later roles
[
edit
]
Scott was in
The Young One
(1960) directed by
Luis Bunuel
. He guest starred on
The Chevy Mystery Show
(1960),
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(1960) and
Diagnosis: Unknown
(1960). In 1961, he portrayed White Eyes, a Native American Chief, in the
Rawhide
episode "Incident Before Black Pass".
He was in the film
Natchez Trace
(1960) and had roles in
The DuPont Show of the Month
(1961),
Play of the Week
(1961),
The New Breed
(1961),
The Defenders
(1961) and
The DuPont Show of the Week
(1962).
Scott's last roles included
It's Only Money
(1962) with
Jerry Lewis
, the TV movie
The Expendables
(1962), and episodes of
The Doctors and the Nurses
(1962) and
The Rogues
(1965). He returned to Broadway for
A Rainy Day in Newark
(1963) by
Howard Teichmann
. He then moved back to Austin.
Personal life
[
edit
]
During his time at Warner's, Scott and his first wife
Elaine
socialized regularly with
Angela Lansbury
and her husband
Richard Cromwell
. Elaine Scott had met Zachary Scott in Austin and she made a name for herself behind the scenes on Broadway as stage manager for the original production of
Oklahoma!
.
[
citation needed
]
The Scotts had one child together, Waverly Scott.
[
citation needed
]
In 1950, Scott was involved in a rafting accident. Also during that year, he and Elaine divorced; she later married writer
John Steinbeck
. Possibly as a result of these developments or due to a box-office slump, Scott succumbed to depression, which affected his acting for Warners.
[
citation needed
]
Scott married his second wife, actress
Ruth Ford
, in 1952. Scott adopted her daughter, Shelly, from Ford's previous marriage to
Peter van Eyck
.
[4]
[
citation needed
]
Death
[
edit
]
Scott died on October 3, 1965, from a malignant brain tumor at the home of his mother in Austin, Texas at the age of 51.
[4]
Legacy
[
edit
]
Scott has a star at 6349 Hollywood Boulevard in the Motion Pictures section of the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.
[12]
In 1968, Austin renamed its civic center
Zachary Scott Theatre
Center in memory of the city's native son. Two streets in the Austin area are named in his memory: at the old airport Mueller Redevelopment and in unincorporated southeast Travis County.
[
citation needed
]
Scott's family endowed two chairs at the University of Texas's theatre department in his name.
[
citation needed
]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Radio appearances
[
edit
]
Year
|
Program
|
Episode/source
|
1945
|
Suspense
|
"Murder Off Key"
[13]
|
Television
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Role
|
Notes
|
1960
|
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
|
Mr. Blake
|
Season 6 Episode 5: "The Five-Forty-Eight"
|
1961
|
Rawhide
|
White Eyes
|
Season 3 Episode 27: "Incident Before Black Pass"
|
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Obituary
Variety
, October 6, 1965.
- ^
Davis, Ronald L. (2009).
Zachary Scott: Hollywood's Sophisticated Cad
. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 11.
ISBN
978-1-60473-713-4
. Retrieved
April 20,
2022
.
- ^
Variety
obituary of Zachary Scott Sr., February 19, 1964.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Actor Zachary Scott, Leading Man For 3 Decades, Dies of Brain Tumor"
.
The Akron Beacon Journal
. Ohio, Akron. Associated Press. October 4, 1965. p. A-9
. Retrieved
September 2,
2018
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"Scott, Zachary Thomson, Jr. (1914?1965)"
.
Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)
. Retrieved
January 4,
2024
.
- ^
"Candid Close-Ups: Zachary Scott Finds Everything Just Dandy Still on Broadway." Brooklyn Eagle, July 4, 1943.
- ^
a
b
"Zachary Scot"
.
Internet Broadway Database
. The Broadway League. Archived from
the original
on September 3, 2018
. Retrieved
September 3,
2018
.
- ^
Schallert, Edwin (December 2, 1943). "DRAMA AND FILM: Charles Coburn' Wins Col. Effingham Role Carol Stone of Broddway Stage Sought by Producer Bernerd for Screen Duty".
Los Angeles Times
. p. A8.
- ^
Brogdon, William (October 3, 1945).
"Film Reviews: Mildred Pierce"
.
Variety
. p. 20.
ISSN
0042-2738
– via
Internet Archive
.
- ^
"The Stars of To-morrow"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. September 10, 1946. p. 11 Supplement: The Sydney Morning Herald Magazine
. Retrieved
April 24,
2012
– via National Library of Australia.
- ^
Schallert, Edwin (August 25, 1950). "Melodious 'Huck Finn' En Route; Tay Garnett Guides 'Soldiers Three'
".
Los Angeles Times
. p. 13.
- ^
"Zachary Scott"
.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
. Archived from
the original
on September 3, 2018
. Retrieved
September 3,
2018
.
- ^
"Escape and Suspense!: Suspense ? Murder Off Key"
.
www.escape-suspense.com
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|