George Grizzard

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George Grizzard
Grizzard and Patricia Barry in the episode "The Chaser" of the television series The Twilight Zone
Born
George Cooper Grizzard Jr.

(1928-04-01)April 1, 1928
Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedOctober 2, 2007(2007-10-02) (aged 79)
Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
EducationUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
OccupationActor
Years active1955–2006
PartnerWilliam Tynan

George Cooper Grizzard Jr. (April 1, 1928 – October 2, 2007) was an American stage, television, and film actor.[1] He was the recipient of a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Tony Award, among other accolades.

Biography[edit]

Grizzard and Jane Fonda in a 1961 presentation of W. Somerset Maugham's A String of Beads

Early life and education[edit]

Grizzard was born in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina and raised in Washington, DC. He once told an interviewer that he was "an only child and probably very lonely, so I made up children to play with — Gene and Bounds and Mrs. Pig and Mrs. Hog and their children and a town called Scottina. It was all a child’s fantasy, but I guess that just kind of developed into wanting to create people.”[1] He appeared in student productions in junior high school and decided to become an actor while attending Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, where he was president of the drama club. He went on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he studied advertising and drama.[2]

Career[edit]

He returned to Washington after graduation to work in advertising while appearing in amateur productions. He began his professional acting career in 1950 at Washington's Arena Stage, appearing in some of its earliest productions, with his first leading role in Dark of the Moon. He went to New York frequently for stage roles, and studied with Sanford Meisner, Philip Burton, and Alan Schneider.[2]

Grizzard's stage debut was as in the role of Miner in The Corn Is Green in 1944.[2] He made his Broadway debut in The Desperate Hours in 1955, about jailbreakers terrorizing a family, in which he played Hank Griffith, the younger brother of a character played by Paul Newman.[1] He frequently appeared in the plays of Edward Albee, and was in the original 1962 production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He played Nick alongside Melinda Dillon as his wife Honey, a young couple visiting Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill as the warring spouses, Martha and George.[1] The role won him a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album along with his castmates.

Grizzard played an unscrupulous United States Senator in the film Advise and Consent in 1962. Beginning in 1963, Grizzard was a member of the original company of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, which also included Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn. He played the title role in the Guthrie's inaugural production of Hamlet alongside Tandy, and featured in many productions from the Guthrie's first two seasons, including roles in Henry V, Three Sisters, and Saint Joan.

Grizzard also appeared on Broadway in The Disenchanted in 1958, Face of a Hero in I960 and Big Fish, Little Fish in 1961.[2]

His film roles included the drama From the Terrace with Paul Newman (1960), the Western Comes a Horseman with Jane Fonda (1978), and a Neil Simon comedy, Seems Like Old Times (1980).[1]

He also appeared in the 1996 revival of A Delicate Balance and the 2005 revival of Seascape. He also starred in You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running. He won the 1996 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for A Delicate Balance. Additional Broadway credits include The Creation of the World and Other Business, The Glass Menagerie, The Country Girl, The Royal Family, and California Suite.[1]

Grizzard guest-starred several times during the 1990s on the NBC television drama Law & Order as defense attorney Arthur Gold. He also portrayed President John Adams in the Emmy Award winning PBS miniseries The Adams Chronicles, produced by WNET. In 1980, he won an Emmy for his work in The Oldest Living Graduate. He starred as reporter Richard Larsen in The Deliberate Stranger, a television movie about serial killer Ted Bundy.[1][3]

Grizzard declined to discuss his acting technique, saying it was intensely personal, and that he "didn't think it was anybody's business." But he once said that actors needed to "have this mystery to lure an audience in order for them to do part of your work, to involve them. Don't do it all for them."[2]

He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2002.[4]

Death[edit]

Grizzard died in Manhattan of complications from lung cancer. According to his New York Times obituary, his only survivor was his long-time companion William Tynan. Grizzard had kept his homosexuality private during his life.[1]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1960 From the Terrace Alexander "Lex" Porter
1962 Advise and Consent Senator Fred Van Ackerman
1967 Warning Shot Walt Cody
1971 Happy Birthday, Wanda June Dr. Norbert Woodley
1978 Comes a Horseman Neil Atkinson
1979 Firepower Leo Gelhorn
1980 Seems Like Old Times Governor
1982 Wrong is Right President Bedford Forrest "Frosty" Lockwood
1984 Bachelor Party Ed Thompson
2000 Wonder Boys Fred Leer
2000 Small Time Crooks George Blint
2006 Flags of Our Fathers Older John Bradley Final film role

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1956-1962 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Ted Lambert
Hubert Winter
Alan Chatterton 		Season 2 Episode 2: "Fog Closing In" as Ted Lambert (1956)

Season 5 Episode 22: "Across the Threshold" as Hubert Winter (1960)

Season 7 Episode 27: "Act of Faith" as Alan Chatterton (1962)

1960 The Millionaire Jerry Mitchell Season 6 Episode 21: "The Story of Jerry Mitchell"
1960 Thriller Merle Jenkins Season 1 Episode 1: "The Twisted Image"
1960 The Twilight Zone Roger Shackleforth Season 1 Episode 31: "The Chaser"
1963 The Twilight Zone Alan Talbot /
Walter Ryder, Jr. 		Season 4 Episode 1: "In His Image"
1963 Espionage Lieutenant Bridger Season 1 Episode 10: "Festival of Pawns"
1963 Ben Casey Jonas King Season 3 Episode 16: "The Last Splintered Spoke of the Old Burlesque Wheel"
1964 Dr. Kildare Douglas Martin Season 3 Episode 24: "A Hundred Million Tomorrows"
1965 Rawhide Captain George Ballinger Season 7 Episode 16: "A Time for Waiting"
1971 Marcus Welby, MD George Adams Season 3 Episode 2: "A Portrait of Debbie"
1974 The Stranger Within David Collins Television movie
1975 Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan Attorney Clay Television movie
1975 The Lives of Jenny Dolan Ralph Stantlow Television movie
1976 The Adams Chronicles John Adams Television miniseries
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series (1977)
1978 Hawaii 5-0 Al Marsh Season 10 Episode 16: "Head to Head"
1980 The Oldest Living Graduate Floyd Kincaid Television movie
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (1981)
1982 American Playhouse Mr. Wooster Season 1 Episode 1: "The Shady Hill Kidnapping"
1984 Trapper John, MD Vernon Shaw Season 5 Episode 13: "Play Your Hunch"
1985 Spenser: For Hire Frank Silverman Season 1 Episode 3: "The Choice"
1985 The Cosby Show Mr. Barker Season 2 Episode 10: "Clair's Toe"
1985 Murder, She Wrote Dr. Aubrey Benton Season 2 Episode 11: "Murder Digs Deep"
1986 The Deliberate Stranger Richard Larsen Television movie
1987 Murder, She Wrote Professor Tyler Stoneham Season 3 Episode 14: "Murder in a Minor Key"
1988 Murder, She Wrote Edmund Hall Season 4 Episode 22: "The Body Politic"
1989 The Golden Girls Jamie Devereaux Season 5 Episode 8: "That Old Feeling"
1990 Caroline? Paul Carmichael Television movie
1990 The Golden Girls George Devereaux Season 6 Episode 9: "Mrs. George Devereaux"
1990 An Enemy of the People Mayor Peter Stockman Television movie
1991 Iran: Days of Crisis President Jimmy Carter Television movie
1992–2000 Law & Order Defense Attorney Arthur Gold Season 2 Episode 13: "Severance" (1992)

Season 3 Episode 22: "Benevolence" (1993)

Season 4 Episode 14: "Censure" (1994)

Season 7 Episode 13: "Matrimony" (1997)

Season 10 Episode 8: "Blood Money" (1999)

Season 11 Episode 3: "Dissonance" (2000)

1993 American Experience John W. Davis Season 5 Episode 8: "Simple Justice"
1993 Alex Haley's Queen Mr. Cherry Television movie
1993 Not in the Family Malcolm Worth Television movie
1994 Scarlett Henry Hamilton Television miniseries
Sequel to Gone With the Wind
1994 The 5 Mrs. Buchanans Frank Collins Season 1 Episode 10: "Emma in Love"
1997 Sisters and Other Strangers Ben Strickland Television movie
1997 3rd Rock from the Sun George Albright Season 3 Episode 4: "Dick-In-Law"
1998 3rd Rock from the Sun George Albright Season 3 Episode 20: "My Daddy's Little Girl"
1998 Touched by an Angel Charley Nott Season 5 Episode 11: "An Angel on the Roof"
2006 Haskett's Chance Peyton Haskett Television movie

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Berkvist, Robert (3 October 2007). "George Grizzard, Actor Noted for Albee Roles, Dies at 79". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b c d e Bryer, Jackson R.; Davison, Richard Allan (2001). The Actor's Art: Conversations with Contemporary American Stage Performers. Rutgers University Press. pp. 70-87. ISBN 978-0-8135-2873-1.
  3. ^ Stewart, Jocelyn Y. (October 4, 2007). "George Grizzard, 79; versatile stage, TV and film actor originated role of Nick in 'Virginia Woolf'". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ^ Ridge, Richard. The Theatre Hall of Fame Awards Broadway Beat. Archived November 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine

External links[edit]

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