Quotes
 Film is not an actor`s medium. You shoot scenes in order of convenience, not the way they come in the script, and that`s detrimental to a fully developed performance. There`s the terrible tedium and boredom involved in waiting around for the camera to be set up, and then you have to turn on and off when they do the scene over again. When you see the rushes is the first time you begin to judge your performance. If you get 50% of what you hoped for, you`re lucky. I think you have to be schizoid three different ways to be an actor. You`ve got to be three different people. You have to be a human being. Then you have to be the character you`re playing. And on top of that you`ve got to be the guy sitting out there in Row 10, watching yourself and judging yourself. That`s why most of us are crazy to start with, or go nuts once we get into it. I mean, don`t you think it`s a pretty spooky way to earn a living?
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Since childhood, the whole self-loathing thing was a big part of my makeup. Now I`ve learned to say, "OK, I`ve screwed up". Then I try to make amends.
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on acting] It was the only avenue of escape I had from myself. It`s never been difficult to subjugate myself to a part because I don`t like myself too well. Acting was, in every sense, my means of survival.
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[on Jack Nicholson] He`s eccentric but very interesting. A unique kind of approach. He shines because he`s himself a rather interesting eccentric. A very fascinating actor.
[on Paul Newman] I`ve never thought that Paul was a particularly good actor. He`s one of the sweet people of the world, an excellent producer. But I`ve never been a Paul Newman fan as far as acting goes. The only thing Paul`s ever done I really thought was first class was "Hud."
For me the sexiest woman on the screen ever was Joan Blondell.
Acting changes the inner spirit. It`s fulfilling, but psychologically very costly. You can`t steal enough money in a lifetime to make up for the damage. I`m ashamed for the bitterness it created in me, but it exists. Even when you`re successful it`s hard to rise above it. It`s like a growth.
My violent behavior is some sort of aberration, a character defect I`m not particularly proud of.
Actors are the world`s oldest, underprivileged minority - looked upon as nothing but buffoons, one step above thieves and charlatans. These award ceremonies simply compound the image for me.
I have nothing against Oscar. I know what he stands for and it`s terrific. And I think when people used to hang around and pat each other on the back over a drink and dinner it was wonderful. But when it became an international hoopla, where careers lived and died on whether or not you did or didn`t get an Oscar, then it got out of hand.
I became an actor to escape my own personality. Acting is the most therapeutic thing in the world. I think all the courage that I may lack personally, I have as an actor.
Bette Davis is my bloody idol. I admire her more than any other film star.
Directors are supposed to help the audience. Good directors don`t direct actors.
[on psychoanalysis] Four visits. I kept laughing. I couldn`t get serious. If it helps you, it helps you. If standing on your head on the roof helps you, it helps you - if you think so.
There is no question you get pumped up by the recognition. Then a self-loathing sets in when you realize you`re enjoying it.
The [Academy Awards] ceremonies are a two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons.
[when asked for suggestions on how to judge acting] I have three tests. First, which dominates, the character or the actor? With very few exceptions it should be the character. Second, on film - as opposed to stage - we`re pretty much playing basic emotions: love, anger, fear, pity. So the trick is whether you can come up with any fresh choices to present these common emotions. Third - and this is the quality that separates the great ones from the good ones - I look for a "joy of performing" quality. Who had that quality? As much as anyone, Jimmy Cagney.
Trivia
Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 550-551. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
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Was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award five times: as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic),in 1959 for "Comes a Day;" as Best Actor (Dramatic), in 1960 for "The Andersonville Trial" and in 1974 for "Uncle Vanya;" and, as Best Actor (Play), in 1976 for a revival of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" and in 1996 for a revival of "Inherit the Wind." Despite these five nominations, he never won a Tony Award.
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Best known for playing the legendary Gen. George S. Patton.
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He played Lt. William "Bill" Kinderman in The Exorcist III (1990). His ex-wife Colleen Dewhurst was the voice of Satan in the film. Son Campbell Scott played Ethan Thomas in The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005).
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1950: Attended the University of Missouri Journalism School for one year, where he began taking drama classes.
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Was nominated for a 1996 Tony Award as Best Actor for "Inherit the Wind," but he lost to George Grizzard in "A Delicate Balance." Scott's first Tony nomination was in 1959 as Best Featured Actor in a Play in "Comes a Day." His competition that year was Grizzard, who was nominated in the same category for "The Disenchanted." They were both beaten by Charles Ruggles in "The Pleasure Of His Company."
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His performance as Gen. George S. Patton in Patton (1970) is ranked #82 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
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He had six children: Daughter Victoria (b. December 19th 1952) with Carolyn Hughes. Daughter Michelle (b. August 21st 1954) with Karen Truesdell. Son Matthew (b. May 27th 1957) and daughter Devon Scott (b. November 29th 1958) with Patricia Reed. Sons Alexander Scott (b. August 1960) and Campbell Scott (b. July 19th 1961) with Colleen Dewhurst.
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An aficionado of acting, he told interviewer Lawrence Grobel in his December 1980 "Playboy" magazine interview that his The Hustler (1961) co-star Paul Newman`s performance in that film was nothing special (both actors were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances). However, he found Newman`s performance as the eponymous Hud (1963) to be a superb piece of acting.
According to a "Time" magazine cover-story (March 22, 1971), Scott once had to go back on-stage during a Broadway play with his hand in a rubber glove after punching the mirror in his dressing room. The broken glass cut his hand and the flow of blood could not be stanched. This was in the days of Scott`s heavy drinking, which was caused by an inner-torment and self-loathing. Scott had turned to acting to exorcise those demons, and by the time of his success with Patton (1970) had largely succeeded, according to the magazine profile.
He joined the Marines Corps as a 17-year old in 1945, but the atomic bomb brought an end to World War II before he could see combat. After the war, he served time at Arlington National Cemetery. According to the March 22, 1961 "Time" magazine cover-story on Scott, this was the time that he began to drink heavily, as the grave detail was extremely depressing.
Scott and Marlon Brando played chess together while shooting The Formula (1980). In his Playboy interview of December 1980 (Vol. 27, Iss. 12, pg. 81- 138), Scott told Lawrence Grobel -- who had conducted the famous interview with Brando for Playboy a year earlier -- that Marlon was not that good a player. Many years later, Christiane Kubrick leveled the same charge against Scott, who was beaten regularly by her late husband Stanley Kubrick on the set of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) between setups. Kubrick, however, was renowned as a master-level chess player who used to hustle other players in his youth in New York City.
In his autobiography, Marlon Brando, Scott`s co-star in the film The Formula (1980) -- in a caption for a picture from the film -- recounts that Scott asked him during the shooting of the film whether he, Brando, would ever give the same line-reading twice. Brando replied, "I know you know a cue when you hear one.".
According to his Patton (1970) co-star Karl Malden, Scott caused a shooting delay on the set of that movie by holding an impromptu "ping-pong" tournament against a world-champion table-tennis player. Scott, who was in full costume as Gen. Patton, kept losing to the world champ and was determined to keep playing him all night, if need be, until winning at least one set.
Earned the life-long respect of Stanley Kubrick by being his superior at chess while they filmed Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), as Scott was a notoriously skillful chess player.
There were only two feature films shot in the Dimension 150 process. Scott starred in both of them: The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966) (aka "La Bibbia") and Patton (1970). "Patton", which was released in Cinerama theaters, was the last movie shot in a widescreen format specifically for exhibition on the Cinerama circuit, which featured curved screens. Spectators at the Cinerama showings of "Patton" were awed by the three-dimensional effect of Patton`s opening speech, in which Scott as Patton stands by himself on-screen. The scene likely was shot for the purpose of showcasing the Cinerama screen.
Played three roles originated by actor Lee J. Cobb. He played Lt. Kinderman in The Exorcist III (1990), which was played by Cobb in the original The Exorcist (1973). Scott later played Juror #3 in the remake of 12 Angry Men (1997) (TV), a role played by Cobb in the original film (12 Angry Men (1957)). He also received a Tony nomination for playing Cobb`s signature role of Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman" on Broadway.
Although he refused the Oscar he won for Patton (1970), he accepted the Emmy he won for his performance in the _"Hallmark Hall of Fame" (1959) 1971 production of Arthur Miller`s "The Price", saying that he felt that the Emmy Awards were a more honest appreciation of an actor`s work.
1945-49: Served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Was infamous for his intense, intimidating personality. Julie Christie, who had earlier co-starred with him in Petulia (1968), was rattled by his presence when they appeared together on Broadway in Mike Nichols` all-star production of Anton Chekhov`s "Uncle Vanya" in the summer of 1973 (other cast members included Conrad Bain, Lillian Gish, Barnard Hughes, Cathleen Nesbitt and Nicol Williamson in the title role. The play garnered 1974 Tony Award nominations for Nichols for Best Director and Best Actor [Play] nods for Scott and Williamson; Williamson won the 1974 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance). Christie also told the press, at the time, that Scott frightened her, something that surprised the actor when he was told of her comment six years later by Lawrence Grobel, who was interviewing Scott for "Playboy" Magazine (December 1980).
Was the first actor ever to refuse an Academy Award (1970, for Patton (1970)). He was followed by Marlon Brando, who also turned down the award for The Godfather (1972). The reason he claimed for missing the ceremony where he won the Oscar was that he was busy watching a hockey game.
The only products that Scott ever endorsed in a TV commercial shown in the USA were the Renault Alliance sedan and Encore coupe (later the Alliance coupe), built in the USA by American Motors.
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