Granite George Dies

The Oscar-winning (and scorning) actor George C Scott was found dead at his home in California yesterday. Best known for his role as General George S Patton in the film Patton the actor leaves behind him a body of work that spans five decades. Born in 1927 Scott enrolled in the US marines on graduation – a decision that was to have a dramatic effect on the person and actor he became. Finding himself with four years to serve in an army that was no longer at war, Scott landed a job at Arlington National Ceremony burying the dead from World War II - a position that led him to develop a drinking problem that would dog him through life; ‘You can’t look at that many widows in veils…without taking to drink,’ he said. But it could be argued that the drinking and the military background helped develop Scott’s strengths as an actor. It was no coincidence that his other most noted performance also saw Scott in army mode as the maniacal General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove. Nominated three times for the Oscars for his performances in Anatomy of a Murder, The Hustler and The Hospital, Scott made movie history when in 1971 he refused the Oscar for his performance in Patton, calling the ceremony a ‘meat market’. Despite being in his seventies, Scott was still a prolific performer, appearing in Sidney Lumet’s Gloria this summer. The veteran actor left behind five children including a son Campbell Scott who has followed his father into movies acting in films such as Dead Calm and Singles and directing the critically-acclaimed Big Night.