George Segal (1934-2021)
Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 1:07PM by Nathaniel R
George Segal's brilliant "stuff" in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
Enduring actor George Segal passed away yesterday at the age of 87 from complications during surgery. We'll always remember him as Nick, the young affable professor that tries in vain to resist becoming a pawn in the George & Martha wars of that bitter masterpiece Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966). Or maybe we should call Nick "stuff" since that how Martha both fetishizes and reduces him. Taylor & Burton are best remembered but the entire quartet is completely brilliant with Segal adding subtle layers to give you a peak at what "stuff" this guy is made of. Or was at least before this hellish night.
Segal's very long career both before and after Woolf make that sole Oscar nomination, feel less like the anomaly it was, and more like a career honor with great foresight. After the jump 12 other key roles to understand his career...
BEFORE WOOLF
Michael Callan, Dean Jones, Telly Savalas, Stefanie Powers, Barbara Eden, George Segal and Inger Stevens
The New Interns (1964) - Golden Globe nomination "Most Promising Newcomer"
While his first film was The Young Doctors (1961) that was a vehicle for several far more established actors, including two time Oscar winner Fredric March and rising Ben Gazzara. His second film The Longest Day (1962) was Best Picture nominated but he didn't even have a character name in the credits. Curiously Segal didn't get the "introducing" sell (7th billed but highlighted) until his fourth released film, a sequel to another unrelated medical drama, in which he played a doctor yet again. (Hospital dramas were still popular in cinemas and not yet a "television only" genre.) This was his first true taste of fame.
Ship of Fools (1965)
Had the SAG Awards existed in the 1960s this would surely have been a major threat to win the "Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture" prize. The Best Picture nominated sea voyage drama dropped a combo of Oscar winners and rising stars (including Segal, 7th billed) into the same bought bound for Germany in the early '30s.
Segal and Courtenay, rising stars and very soon to be Oscar nominees
King Rat (1965)
In his first starring titular role, Segal played an amoral POW in Japan, thriving while other captives struggle, via his black market skills. The ensemble features three soon-to-be Oscar players (Segal, Tom Courtenay, and John Mills... plus Denholm Elliott who would have to wait until the 80s for recognition) but was only nominated in craft categories: Cinematography and Art Direction.
Then came Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) nominated for 13 Oscars and winning 5 (Actress, Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Art Direction, and Costumes). Segal was the last surviving member of the much-lauded cast and crew and now the film is alive only in our cultural memory.
AFTER WOOLF
With Lee Remick
No Way To Treat a Lady (1968) - BAFTA nomination "Best Supporting Actor"
Awards are often about momentum and post Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? people were suddenly paying attention. Category Fraud has of course been with us forever (just not half as bad as it is now as it was formerly reserved mostly for child actors or "new" stars like Segal in this case). In this darkly comedic thriller he plays a detective hunting a serial killer (Rod Steiger) while dealing with drama between his mother (Eileen Heckart) and girlfriend (Lee Remick) who was a witness to one of the killer's murders.
Babs & George
The Owl and the Pussy Cat (1970)
In this hit romantic comedy, Segal played an author who falls for a prostitute (Barbra Streisand). The film is rarely discussed today (strange since the stars are big) but sets in motion two separate movie threads: Streisand as charismatic agent-of-chaos in the lives of a repressed man (next seen to much greater effect in What's Up Doc? but all over the place in her filmography) and Segal as the male lead in romantic comedies, a specialty of his... though it arguably prevented a stronger reputation as an actor since skills in that genre generally only pay strong dividends in the careers of women. (Double standards!)
with Susan Anspach and Kris Kristofferson
with Glenda Jackson for her second Oscar win
Blume in Love (1973) and A Touch of Class (1973) - Globe win "Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical"
1973 proved the star-power peak for then 39 year-old George Segal's career. He had two well-regarded romantic comedy hits in a single year and was nearing the A list as a leading man (though that didn't quite materialize). Blume in Love nabbed a WGA screenplay nomination and A Touch of Class (his fourth and final Best Picture nominated film) won his co-star Glenda Jackson her second Oscar.
with Elliott Gould whose career was in some ways quite similar
California Split (1974)
This Robert Altman directed buddy picture with Elliott Gould began its life as an intended debut project for Steven Spielberg (!). Segal and Gould play gamblers who egg on each others addictions and get in way too deep. The film received a WGA nomination for its Screenplay but its critical reputation has been something of a slow-burn.
with Natalie Wood in her last completed film
The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
This romantic comedy saw Segal and Natalie Wood as a happy couple suddenly contemplating affairs due to the sexual revolution. This was Natalie Wood's last completed feature (She never finished her scenes in Brainstorm, which was released posthumously after some reworking) and it unintentionally marked the end of Segal's leading man career. Perhaps he had spent too long in the romcom genre? The film was not a success in release and the 1980s proved to be Segal's least successful decade as an actor.
with Richard Jenkins, Patricia Arquette, Ben Stiller, Mary Tyler Moore, and Josh Brolin in "Flirting with Disaster"
with the cast of "The Goldbergs"
Flirting With Disaster (1996), Just Shoot Me (1997-2003), and The Goldbergs (2013-2021)
In the last three decades of his career -- he worked up until his death -- Segal reinvented himself as a funny elder MVP in supporting roles in movies and television. He was a wonderful scene partner to fiery Mary Tyler Moore in the hilarious Flirting with Disaster and found long running employment on the two popular sitcoms Just Shoot Me and The Goldbergs.
Reader Comments (29)
First I saw him in Look who's talking now. RIP
One of my favorites from that late 60s/early 70s period of dark comedies. I'd put him right there with Gould. I love the aforementioned Touch of Class and Blume in Love, would also add The Hot Rock which is one of Redford's most underrated performances. Always a delight. RIP
Correction: First I saw him in Look who's talking.
I adore him, and all the parents, and everyone really, in Flirting with Disaster!
I also want to shout out how great these obituary capsules always are at describing the career arcs of our favorite and most missed character actors.
How do you ignore Look Who's Talking? He also participated in its unneeded godawful third sequel centered on the family dogs.
George, Martha, Nick, and Monkey Nipples are all dancing together again !!
George Segal (born 1934, Long Island), Elliot Gould (born 1938, Brooklyn), James Caan (born 1940, Bronx): three fine (and overlapping) careers from that generation of New York actors. #barbraconnection
Wish these pieces of my childhood would stop breaking off! Sadly, I don’t think that will happen. ☹
He was a major star in the 70’s whose career for whatever reason took a serious dive afterward until he regained footing as a character actor.
Both Young Doctors and The New Interns are decent flicks though now there are echoes of ER, St. Elsewhere, etc. when watching them. New Interns has quite the collection of rising female stars of the time-Dawn Wells, Barbara Eden, Stefanie Powers alongside Inger Stevens (at the time the biggest name in the cast and the film’s MVP).
Ship of Fools is a wonderful film, but his role is overshadowed by the women in the cast including his scene partner Elizabeth Ashley but he’s very forceful in King Rat. It’s an odd film to be his first starring vehicle since his character is an odious bastard.
I LOVE No Way to Treat a Lady! A weird fascinating film. He’s definitely a lead but it’s Rod Steiger’s film. While both Segal and Lee Remick come off well Steiger dominates even when he is offscreen which surely played into George being nominated as supporting.
I know it has aged badly but I love A Touch of Class. Glenda Jackson and he have the kind of chemistry you cannot manufacture. Blume in Love however is dreadful.
The Last Married Couple in America is another one that shows its age in the attitudes it puts forth, but it has its moments. It’s an essential as Natalie’s last completed film (if you can find it!) she’s the best thing in the film as well as looking lovely.
I agree that he and Mary Tyler Moore made a wonderfully simpatico couple in Flirting with Disaster.
He had several other worthwhile films that weren’t mentioned:
The Hot Rock-a sprightly heist film with Robert Redford
Fun with Dick and Jane-An enormous hit that helped reenergize Jane Fonda’s career after a somewhat fallow period following Klute. Much better than the Jim Carrey remake.
The Terminal Man is flawed but a decent adaptation of the Michael Crichton sci-fi novel.
Of his later movie work he was particularly good in the small role of Eric Roberts’s father in It’s My Party.
Like any long career his had its ups and downs but overall it was estimable.
RIP George, always a pleasure to see him in anything, esp all the 70s movies I grew up on: Fun with Dick and Jane, Loving (if you don't know this 1970 item, it's really pretty great), A Touch of Class, etc. And will always love his work in Virginia Woolf. He was the best.
My favorite George Segal is undoubtedly A Touch of Class. I love him in comedies. And I love seeing actresses and actors winning Oscars in comedies. He and Glenda are great. George Segal was one of those charming actors who became stars from the 1970s(Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, etc) who were ordinary people, like everyone else, without that bigger-than-life aura, what led the press and critics to ask where were the new Clark Gables, the new Gary Coopers, Humphrey Bogards... No more, honeys.
I first saw Segal in his comeback role in the early 1990's the Bette Midler Vehicle For the Boys and he was fine in the film which is actually great apart from bad make up.
He is wonderful in NWTTAL but Lead it's a film not discussed now,that's where I first saw Lee Remick too.
Glenda didn't need another Oscar but she is great with Matthau and Segal in their pairings together.
As Rob says, LOVING is a sadly underrated film from 1970. Despite solid work by everyone involved: Segal, Eva Marie Saint, Keenen Wynn, Sterling Hayden and director Irvin Kersher, as well as a lengthy positive review by Pauline Kael, it's all but unknown now, as it was in its era. Check it out.
California Split is a masterpiece as I think Segal and Elliott Gould were on their A-game and it's just something a lot more people should see as it's also essential Robert Altman.
I first discovered Segal through the first Look Who's Talking film and he was great in that. I then discovered other movies he had done as he was great to watch in Flirting with Disaster while I have a soft spot for Carbon Copy as that was Denzel Washington's first film. The basketball scene was fun as it was just funny to see Denzel be so bad at the game. I was like "man, this your white dad's fault".
@Dan: thanks for backing me up on LOVING! It's just a terrific film. In addition to the accolades it did receive, believe Eva Marie Saint also got a NY critics prize for her work in it. And anyone who checks it out can get a good look of the World Trade Towers as they were under construction at the time. Movies capture history, often in melancholy ways. Again, RIP George Segal.
I put a tribute to Pauline Kael film series at George Eastman Museum when I was an intern programmer there and we showed some of the films she advocated throughout her career, from Cukor's LITTLE WOMEN up through John Houston's THE DEAD. We showed LOVING based on a soft promise that the studio would strike a new print. They didn't for some reason and we showed one of those terrible pink prints that was basically monochrome. Still the great drama shone through. It came out a while back on a bare bones DVD. It's worth checking out. Kael compared it, I think, to really delicate central European films of the previous decade. That's a good way to look at it. It kind of presages KRAMER V KRAMER, SHOOT THE MOON, and THE ICE STORM.
Can we get an editor? Please stop using "that" when referring to a person. Use "who".
@Dan Humphrey: I would have loved to attend that series! Great bunch of films. I saw Loving several years ago on that DVD you mentioned and liked it so much I rented it again. The movie reminded me of another film of the era that I really liked, Diary of a Mad Housewife, with Carrie Snodgrass and Frank Langella. Then I realized the young actress playing Segal and Saint's daughter also played Snodgrass's daughter. Small world! I love that late 60's/early 70's era of American film, it still generates fascination.
MO - it would help if you point to a sentence. I dont see that error but sometimes it's hard to proofread your own stuff as you know what it's supposed to say.
MO I don't see that in this great piece. If you want meticulous heartrending memorials thsn get Claudio. This is pretty good by mere mortal writers standards.
He's a terrific scene partner with my beloved Marsha Mason in Blume in Love. He was everywhere in the 70s. He really did something fun and real in the otherwise forgettable Rollercoaster--he was truly resourceful. He always had incredible chemistry with his leading ladies.
As a child of the 70s, I feel his passing is momentous. Rest in peace.
For my generation who knew him as a funny/ironic/stupid uncle/father, it' a pleasure to discover him young and what an interesting, attractive man... And he starred with the Big Ones on his A-list moment- Fonda, Redford, Streisand, Hawn. And he was guided by the Masters - Altman, Nichols, Mazursky, Ross. Sometimes we forget that actors we know at a certain age had their Chris Hemsworth days.
I think like Blanche Dubois, I prefer the fantasy, the dream, the glamour. So the cinema of the 1970s is not very my place - yes, I know the notable masterpieces and some of my favorites are from this time. But it's an environment that I only visit - I would never live permanently there. My world is that of the dream of the matte paintings of old Hollywood with all that falsehood where everyone dresses well, women always with their hairstyle and makeup done and everyone makes love with their eyes. Now, I need to mention something in favor of the 1970s: the men! This decade has produced some of the most attractive men in cinema. Maybe because, in my view, the more natural the man, the better. My actresses I want as glamorised as possible, Monroe, Hayworth, Novak, Taylor. But men, as natural as possible and in the 1970s they come up with all the testosterone and virility and how to resist? On TV and in movies. And George Segal is a good example. And a talented actor too.
@MO, It's basically a series of BLOG entries, jackass. I don't see many more typos or mistakes here than I do in THE NEW YORKER or LA TIMES. The quality control is pretty good for.... A BLOG.
@EDITOR, "thsn?" Too bad Claudio can't proof your stuff before you post it, but then, as he's said repeatedly, he really gets uncomfortable at all the weird "Claudio is a god! He's the only decent writer here!" BS in these comments, so he probably wouldn't want to proof your stuff even if you asked him to.
@joel6. Hi Joe. You can find The Last Married Couple in the website below. Pretty decent copy. This is the direct link:
https://ok.ru/video/1822652041775
M.T. -- "editor" is just a reader. i dont know why they chose that handle. or why you think claudio would proofread anyone's comments. lol.
@Nathaniel. I know, I know. I just think people are going to weigh in on proofreading issues, they should proof read their own columns before clicking ""Create Post.". And as wonderful as Claudio is--I love him!--the Cult of Claudio, which is basically people praising him as a way to insult all the other writers, is really annoying. How many pair of moist panties have been thrown his way over the last six months, anyhow?
Perhaps they meant this "that"...?
(Although I say leave the "that" and make Marie-Christine Barrault the Best Actress nominee she actually was...)
;-)
In the first photo he looks like Bradley Cooper.
working stiff -- ah yes. that makes sense. but now i dont understand the marie christine barrault comment. hmmm.