Zachary Scott

Actor

About

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Also Known As

Zachary Thomson Scott Jr.

Birth Place

Austin, Texas, USA

Born

February 24, 1914

Died

October 03, 1965

Cause of Death

Brain Tumor

Biography

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Handsome, slender, often mustachioed actor, who, after making his mark on the stage, made an auspicious film debut in the title role of "The Mask of Dimitrios" in 1944. Scott contributed a memorable turn as a sharecropper in Jean Renoir's finest American work, "The Southerner" (1945), and went on to play a variety of unctuous cads and scoundrels (with an occasional sympathetic variation)...

Filmography

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It's Only Money (1962)

The Young One (1961)

Natchez Trace (1960)

The Counterfeit Plan (1957)

Flame of the Islands (1956)

Photos & Videos

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Shadow On The Wall(1950) -- (Movie Clip) It's My Time To Live!

Shadow On The Wall (1950) -- (Movie Clip) Open, Twice A Minute

Family & Companions

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Elaine Anderson

Wife

Actor. Married on February 24, 1935; divorced in 1949; later married novelist John Steinbeck in 1950.

Ruth Ford

Wife

Actor. Married in June 1952.

Biography

Handsome, slender, often mustachioed actor, who, after making his mark on the stage, made an auspicious film debut in the title role of "The Mask of Dimitrios" in 1944. Scott contributed a memorable turn as a sharecropper in Jean Renoir's finest American work, "The Southerner" (1945), and went on to play a variety of unctuous cads and scoundrels (with an occasional sympathetic variation) through the 1950s and early 60s. One of his best remembered performances was as the seductive, snaky socialite who marries the ultimate upwardly mobile mom, "Mildred Pierce" (1945). He was married to actress Ruth Ford.

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

It's Only Money (1962)

The Young One (1961)

Natchez Trace (1960)

The Counterfeit Plan (1957)

Flame of the Islands (1956)

Treasure of Ruby Hills (1955)

Appointment in Honduras (1953)

Wings of Danger (1952)

[Richard "Van"] Vaness

Stronghold (1952)

Don Miguel Navarro

The Secret of Convict Lake (1951)

Lightning Strikes Twice (1951)

Let's Make It Legal (1951)

Victor Macfarland

Shadow on the Wall (1950)

David I. Starrling

Guilty Bystander (1950)

Colt .45 (1950)

Born to Be Bad (1950)

Pretty Baby (1950)

Flamingo Road (1949)

Fielding Carlisle

One Last Fling (1949)

Flaxy Martin (1949)

South of St. Louis (1949)

Ruthless (1948)

Horace Woodruff Vendig

Whiplash (1948)

Cass Timberlane (1948)

The Unfaithful (1947)

Stallion Road (1947)

Stephen Purcell

Her Kind of Man (1946)

Danger Signal (1945)

The Southerner (1945)

Mildred Pierce (1945)

Hollywood Canteen (1944)

The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)

Dimitrios Makropoulos

Life Events

1934

First prominent stage role in "The Outsider" performed in Bath, England

1935

Returned to the USA

1940

Moved to NYC to work with the Theater Guild

1944

Signed to severn-year contract by Warner Bros.

1944

Screen debut in "The Mask of Dimitrios"

1945

Co-starred with Joan Crawford in "Mildred Pierce"

1945

Starred in what is generally considered his best role, "The Southerner"

1948

Played a remorseless villain in "Ruthless"

1950

Injured in a boating accident

1951

When Warner Bros. contract ended, worked free-lance

1951

Arrested twice; once in New Orleans for drinking with blacks; and again in Hawaii for public drunkeness

1956

Co-starred with Gilbert Roland and Robert Mitchum in "Bandito"

1956

Played the King in the Broadway musical "The King and I"

1959

Starred opposite wife Ruth Ford on Broadway in the short-lived "Requiem for a Nun"

1960

Directed by Luis Bunuel in "The Young One/La Joven"

1961

Portrayed Rochester in a TV adaptation of "Jane Eyre" (CBS)

1962

Final film, "It's Only Money"

1963

Last stage appearance in "Rainy Night in Newark"

1964

Diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor

1965

In July, underwent brain surgery

Photo Collections

Shadow on the Wall - Movie Poster

Here is an original-release One-Sheet movie poster from MGM's Shadow on the Wall (1950), starring Ann Sothern and Zachary Scott.

Videos

Shadow On The Wall(1950) -- (Movie Clip) It's My Time To Live! Wild turns, as cheating spouse Celia (Kristine Miller), who just knocked out her husband (now-unconscious Zachary Scott) as he held a gun on her, gets lucky because her sister (Ann Sothern as Dell, whose fiancè she was cheating-with) turned up, intending one kind of confrontation, but improvising another, in Shadow On The Wall, 1950.

Shadow On The Wall (1950) -- (Movie Clip) Open, Twice A Minute Clever-ish opening, credits, then the introduction of Gigi Perreau and Zachary Scott, both billed above the title with Ann Sothern, as father and daughter David and Susan, appearing nothing but innocent, in the little-noticed MGM Noir Shadow On The Wall, 1950, co-starring Nancy Reagan.

Shadow On The Wall (1950) -- (Movie Clip) Nobody Can Resist You New Yorker David (Zachary Scott), home from a business trip, escorts Bobby (Anthony Sydes), friend of his daughter, through the lobby when he spies his wife Celia (Kristine Miller) arriving with Crane (Tom Helmore), with whom we know she’s having an affair, though it’s his first clue, but he doesn’t let on, in MGM’s Shadow On The Wall, 1950.

Shadow On The Wall (1950) -- (Movie Clip) Black Harvest Joining the first scene for Ann Sothern as Dell, sister of the hostess, Kristine Miller as Celia, whom we know is having an affair with Ann’s fiancè Crane (Tom Helmore) which is revealed after dinner and many drinks, by husband and brother-in-law David (Zachary Scott), who’s realized their stories about that afternoon don’t match, in MGM’s Shadow On The Wall, 1950.

Let's Make It Legal (1951) -- (Movie Clip) No Staying Power With daughter Barbara (Bates) and son-in-law Jerry (Robert Wagner) observing, almost-divorced Hugh (MacDonald Carey) has wife Miriam (Claudette Colbert) almost convinced he’s quit gambling when the phone rings, leaving a path for back-in-town ex-beau Victor (Zachary Scott), in Let’s Make It Legal, 1951.

Mask Of Dimitrios, The (1944) -- (Movie Clip) Who Paid For The Bullet? Still at the opening party in Istanbul, Turkish cop Haki (Kurt Katch) button-holing vacationing novelist Leyden (Peter Lorre),) then offering him a glimpse at the intriguing title character (Zachary Scott, not seen), in The Mask Of Dimitrios, 1944, from an Eric Ambler novel.

Mask Of Dimitrios, The (1944) -- (Movie Clip) It Costs Money To Love With help from local Marukakis (Eduardo Cianelli), Dutch writer Leyden (Peter Lorre) has come to Sofia, meeting the cagey Irana (Faye Emerson), who reveals some of her experience with the title character (Zachary Scott), in The Mask Of Dimitrios, 1944, from an Eric Ambler novel.

Mildred Pierce (1945) -- (Movie Clip) He'll Bleed You Dry Partner Wally (Jack Carson) complains to title character (Joan Crawford) about her husband Monte (Zachary Scott) who, after Ida (Eve Arden) interrupts, arrives with daughter Veda (Ann Blyth), in Mildred Pierce, 1945, directed by Michael Curtiz.

Southerner, The (1945) -- (Movie Clip) Grow Your Own Crops Uncle Pete (Paul Burns) goes down in a Texas cotton field, Sam (Zachary Scott) and Nona (Betty Field) ministering as best they can, the first dramatic scene from Jean Renoir's independent American film, The Southerner, 1945.

Southerner, The (1945) -- (Movie Clip) What It Cost Me New share-cropping neighbor Sam (Zachary Scott) visits Devers (J. Carrol Naish) seeking a favor, their complex first meeting in director Jean Renoir's The Southerner, 1945, from a novel by George Sessions Perry.

Southerner, The (1945) -- (Movie Clip) As Good As Any Man Granny (Beulah Bondi) griping as Sam (Zachary Scott) and Nona (Betty Field) arrive at their new share-cropping farm, artfully presented in director Jean Renoir's American pastoral, The Southerner, 1945.

Born To Be Bad (1950) -- (Movie Ciip) You Make Her Sound So Mercenary Christabel (Joan Fontaine), growing ever more sneaky and selfish, arrives in a rush to help wealthy Curtis (Zachary Scott) select an engagement gift for her hostess and supposed friend, in Nicholas Ray's Born To Be Bad, 1950.

Flaxy Martin - (Original Trailer) Messing with a mobster's girlfriend gets a lawyer framed for murder in Flaxy Martin (1949) starring Virginia Mayo, Zachary Scott, Dorothy Malone and Elisha Cook, Jr.

Cass Timberlane - (Original Trailer) An aging judge creates a scandal when he marries a younger woman from the wrong side of the tracks in Cass Timberlane (1947) starring Spencer Tracy and Lana Turner.

Bandido - (Original Trailer) Robert Mitchum is an American adventurer in Mexico who joins a rebel band against a corrupt gun runner in Bandido (1956).

Danger Signal - (Original Trailer) Zachary Scott is the cad who turns sisters into enemies in the thriller Danger Signal (1945).

Mildred Pierce -- (Original Trailer) A woman turns herself into a business tycoon to win her selfish daughter a place in society in Mildred Pierce (1945) starring Joan Crawford in an Oscar-winning role.

Flamingo Road -- (Original Trailer) A stranded carnival dancer (Joan Crawford) takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society in Flamingo Road (1949).

Stallion Road - (Original Trailer) Ronald Reagan gets anthrax and it's up to Alexis Smith to save him in Stallion Road (1947).

Her Kind Of Man - (Original Trailer) A reporter comes between a gangster and his mistress during the Roaring Twenties in Her Kind Of Man (1946) starring Dane Clark and Zachary Scott.

Shadow On The Wall - (Original Trailer) Ann Sothern, typically a light-hearted comic actress, does a 180 here as a murderess whose crime is witnessed by her victim's daughter.

Whiplash - (Original Trailer) Dane Clark makes love to Alexis Smith behind the back of the husband who is teaching him to box in Whiplash (1948).

Unfaithful, The - (Original Trailer) While her husband is away, a woman (Ann Sheridan) gets mixed up in murder in the thriller The Unfaithful (1947).

Mask Of Dimitrios, The - (Original Trailer) Peter Lorre is a meek novelist who investigates the mysterious death of notorious scoundrel Zachary Scott in The Mask Of Dimitrios (1944).

Family

Zachary T Scott

Father

Physician. Descendant of George Washington.

Waverly Scott

Daughter

Born in 1935; mother, Elaine Anderson.

Wendy Scott

Daughter

Ford's daughter with Peter Van Eyck; legally adopted by Scott.

Companions

Elaine Anderson

Wife

Actor. Married on February 24, 1935; divorced in 1949; later married novelist John Steinbeck in 1950.

Ruth Ford

Wife

Actor. Married in June 1952.

Bibliography

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