George Segal
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
Not to be confused with the modern sculptor of the same name
About the illness that claimed his second wife Linda Rogoff: "It started with a hospital screwup about four years ago. Linda had a sore throat, which they misread. She was allergic to penicillin, the doctors weren't aware of it, and they kept pumping her full of the stuff. It killed her."They didn't know what was wrong with her--they thought it was a tropical disease and a whole lot of other things. There was a series of unbelievable surgeries. It went from bad to worse, and in the end her body couldn't take it anymore."In fact, she had a condition called aplastic anemia. But all the hospital did was exacerbate the problem. It has been a terrible four years, and what happened fills me with a kind of rage." --George Segal to Kevin O'Sullivan in the DAILY NEWS, August 18, 1996
Biography
Though he was Oscar-nominated for his role as the dinner guest of dysfunctional couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the film classic "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966), George Segal went on to enjoy his most significant success as a comic actor with wry wit and debonair charm. During the 1970s, Segal was an A-list film actor with a string of comedies that paired him with Robert Redford in "The Hot Rock" (1972), Barbra Streisand in "The Owl and the Pussycat" (1970), and Jane Fonda in "Fun with Dick and Jane" (1976), though Segal was not able to retain the high film profile of his co-stars into the next decade. Instead, he found his niche in television movies for a number of years before resurfacing with "dad" roles in a new generation of comedies like "Look Who's Talking" (1989) and "The Cable Guy" (1996). Younger generations, however, were most familiar with Segal through the popular office sitcom "Just Shoot Me" (NBC, 1997-2003), which earned Segal a number of Golden Globe nominations and kept him in the public eye with ongoing appearances as self-aggrandizing but quick-witted, charming executive types.
Segal was born Feb. 13, 1932, and raised in the New York suburbs of Long Island, where, as a child, he entertained neighbors with magic shows and musical performances. While attending Haverford College near Philadelphia, PA, the accomplished banjo player formed the ragtime band "Bruno Lynch and His Imperial Jazz Band" - using Lynch as a pseudonym - with whom he played professionally. After serving in the U.S. Army and graduating from Columbia University with a degree in drama, Segal ultimately found himself cleaning toilets at New York's Circle in the Square Theatre during its heyday. He would do anything to pursue his acting dream. Also at the theater, he understudied a part in "La Ronde" that he was never able to perform, but in 1955, made his New York stage debut in Moliere's "Don Juan" before returning to that theater a year later to act in the historic Jose Quintero-helmed production of Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh," which launched the career of Jason Robards. Segal landed work in the New York Shakespeare Festival's "Antony and Cleopatra" and the off-Broadway revival of Jerome Kern's "Leave It to Jane" before finding success with "The Premise," a long-running improvisational revue which introduced him to comic writer, Buck Henry.
In 1961, Segal appeared in a New York stage production of Paddy Chayefsky's "Gideon" and made his film debut in "The Young Doctors" (1961), soon after, he signed a deal with Columbia Pictures that significantly raised his profile. Following small roles as a soldier in the World War II film classic "The Longest Day" (1962) and the "Young Doctors" sequel, "The New Interns" (1964), Segal had a larger supporting role in the confusing Western, "Invitation to a Gunfighter" (1964) and attracted more attention as a distraught newlywed in Stanley Kramer's "Ship of Fools" (1965). But it was the World War II POW tale, "King Rat" (1965), that provided Segal's real breakthrough as an anti-hero con man who effectively manipulates the meager goods and characters of his fellow prisoners, most of whom have higher military rank. "The Knack" (1964) marked Segal's first association with director Mike Nichols, who two years later directed Segal in his Oscar-nominated supporting turn in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966). Segal shot to the top of Hollywood's A-list for the challenging role of a young professor and half of a married couple invited to dinner at the dysfunctional home of a senior professor (Richard Burton) and his wife (Elizabeth Taylor) in the Edward Albee adaptation. Given further opportunity to display his skill with great American playwrights, Segal followed up with a performance as Biff in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" (CBS, 1966).
In "The Quiller Memorandum" (1966), an atypical spy pic, Segal went through the entire action without even using a gun; his air of detachment underlining a secret agent's loneliness and lack of relaxation. Segal broadened his scope to television, where he was cast as escaped convict Glen Griffin in "The Desperate Hours" (ABC, 1967), a gangster in "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" (1967), and George in "Of Mice and Men" (ABC, 1968). The actor's shift towards comedy began when he co-starred in Sidney Lumet's proto-"Big Chill" comedy, "Bye, Bye, Braverman" (1968), after which he hunted down a misogynistic Rod Steiger in "No Way to Treat a Lady" (1968) and played a beleaguered Jewish son in Carl Reiner's cult comedy classic, "Where's Poppa?" (1970). Further stretching his range to include romantic leads, Segal starred opposite Eva Marie Saint in "Loving" (1970) and as the bookish roommate of an aspiring entertainer/prostitute (Barbra Streisand) in the romantic comedy, "The Owl and the Pussycat" (1970), scripted by old friend, Buck Henry.
Segal and Robert Redford teamed up as dashing thieves in the comic caper "The Hot Rock" (1972) before Segal took home a Golden Globe Award for "A Touch of Class" (1973), in which he starred as a philandering executive who falls in love in the midst of what was supposed to be a quick affair. Glenda Jackson, in an Oscar-winning performance, co-starred opposite the charming Segal. With the success of that romantic comedy, the actor was at the top of his game and a proven box office draw. He followed up with another well-received buddy comedy, pairing with Elliott Gould to play gambling addicts in Robert Altman's comedic "California Split" (1974). His parody of Sam Spade in "The Black Bird" (1975) was a relative flop, as was the Western comedy "The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox" (1976) co-starring Goldie Hawn. But the actor scored again when he and Jane Fonda co-starred in the upper-middle class caper, "Fun with Dick and Jane" (1976). After the slick comedy whodunit "Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?" (1978), however, things went downhill for Segal. A failed attempt to repackage the chemistry between Segal and Glenda Jackson in "Lost and Found" (1979) happened the same year Segal declined a starring role in Blake Edwards' "10" (1979), which was a huge hit and positioned Dudley Moore to take over as the romantic comedy king of the early 1980s.
Segal's unsuccessful pairing with Natalie Wood as "The Last Married Couple in America" (1980) led to the even worse "Carbon Copy" (1981), in which Segal starred as a man who discovers he has a teenaged African-American son (Denzel Washington) by a former affair. Television came to the rescue of Segal's floundering movie career, with a critically acclaimed role as an attorney in HBO's sinister "The Deadly Game" (1982) and leading roles in the CBS TV movies, "Trackdown: Finding the Goodbar Killer" (1983), "The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood" (1984), "Not My Kid" (1985) and "Many Happy Returns" (1986). In a long overdue return to his dramatic stage roots, Segal portrayed John Lithgow's greedy fight manager in "Requiem for a Heavyweight," based on the classic 1950s teleplay by Rod Serling. Segal's starring role as a jazz banjo player in the sitcom "Take Five" (CBS, 1987) was short-lived, as was "Murphy's Law" (ABC, 1988-89), an hour-long drama that cast him as a cantankerous insurance fraud investigator. Segal's feature luck began to improve when he appeared as Kirstie Alley's father in the family comedy blockbuster "Look Who's Talking" (1989). He went on to deliver impressive supportive turns in the Bette Midler vehicle "For the Boys" (1991), and as a Vietnam veteran in "Me, Myself and I" (1992).
Segal reprised his role in the inevitable sequel "Look Who's Talking Now" (1993), going on to play Ann-Margret's love interest in "Following Her Heart" (NBC, 1994) and offer up a great performance as a sleazy TV executive seduced by aspiring news anchor Nicole Kidman in Gus Van Sant's "To Die For" (1995). In 1996, Segal essentially kicked off the "dad" period of his career with his portrayal of the naïve father of famed Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss in "The Good Doctor: The Paul Fleiss Story" (CBS, 1996) and supporting roles as Eric Roberts' father in "It's My Party" (1996), Ben Stiller's adoptive father in "Flirting With Disaster" (1996), and Matthew Broderick's father in "The Cable Guy" (1996). He reunited with old screen flame Streisand in the indulgent "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (1996) before finally finding steady small screen success as the magazine owner father of Laura San Giacomo on the long-running NBC sitcom, "Just Shoot Me" (1997-2003). Segal also briefly held down a recurring part as Tea Leoni's father (and Mary Tyler Moore's husband) on NBC's "The Naked Truth" (ABC/NBC, 1995-98), as well as made recurring appearances on the Emmy-nominated sketch show, "Tracey Takes On " (HBO, 1996-99), but "Just Shoot Me" became the calling card of Segal's later career. He earned Golden Globe nominations for his work on the show - most of which was spent humorously befuddling onscreen assistant David Spade - in 1999 and 2000. At the same time, he returned to the Broadway stage in 1999 to star with Wayne Knight and Buck Henry in the Tony-winning play, "Art" (1999).
When "Just Shoot Me" came to and end in 2003, Segal remained on the radar with guest spots on high-end primetime offerings like "Boston Legal" (ABC, 2004-08) and a recurring stint on "Entourage" (HBO, 2004-). In a surprising return to movie theaters, Segal had a supporting role in Roland Emmerich's big budget, end-of-the-world disaster film, "2012" and also appeared in the romantic comedy "Made for Each Other," both in 2009.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1882
Played a snowbound salesman in HBO's "The Deadly Game"
1947
Moved to Manhattan with mother after death of father
1955
Stage acting debut (with Peter Falk) in Moliere's "Don Juan" at NYC's Downtown Theatre; closed after one night
1956
Appeared in legendary Circle in the Square stage production of Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh", which launched the career of Jason Robards Jr.
1960
First association with Buck Henry, "The Premise", an Off-Broadway improvisational revue in the style of Chicago's Second City troupe; left to perform in Paddy Chayevsky's "Gideon" on Broadway in 1961
1961
Screen debut in "The Young Doctors"
1963
Returned to Broadway in "Rattle of a Simple Man"
1963
Acted in "Man Without a Skin" episode of "Naked City" (ABC)
1963
Reteamed with Robards in "Act One", film adaptation of Moss Hart's autobiography; had small role as Lester Sweyd
1964
Appeared in NYC stage production of "The Knack", directed by Mike Nichols
1964
First significant film role in "Invitation to a Gunfighter", produced by Stanley Kramer
1965
First starring film role, "King Rat"
1965
Drew attention as a distraught newlywed in Kramer's superb "Ship of Fools"
1966
Earned Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor as the ambitious young professor in the Nichols-directed "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", adapted by Ernest Lehman from Edward Albee's play
1966
Played Biff to Lee J. Cobb's Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman" (CBS)
1966
Portrayed American secret agent investigating neo-Nazi group in "The Quiller Memorandum", a unique spy pic scripted by playwright Harold Pinter from a novel by Elleston Trevor
1967
First collaborations with director Ted Kotcheff, the ABC TV productions of "The Desperate Hours" (1967) and "Of Mice and Men" (1968)
1967
Reunited with Robards in "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre"
1968
Was the cop on the trail of a flamboyent ladykiller (Rod Steiger) in "No Way to Treat a Lady"; received BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor
1968
Portrayed one of four Jewish intellectuals on their way to a friend's funeral in Sidney Lumet's "Bye Bye Braverman"
1970
Starred in the cult classic "Where's Poppa?", directed by Carl Reiner
1970
Starred opposite Barbra Streisand in "The Owl and the Pussycat", adapted by Buck Henry from Bill Manoff's play
1973
Played married man who embarks on an affair but falls in love with Glenda Jackson in "A Touch of Class"; Jackson took home her second Best Actress Oscar for her efforts
1973
Portrayed the titular Stephen Blume in Paul Mazursky's "Blume in Love"
1975
Essayed Sam Spade Jr in "The Black Bird", an atrocious takeoff on "The Maltese Falcon"; also executive produced
1977
First feature with director Ted Kotcheff, "Fun with Dick and Jane"
1978
Headlined Kotcheff's "Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?"
1979
Withdrew from the lead in Blake Edwards' "10"; sued by Edwards for breach of contract; paid the director a reported $270,000 to settle case
1979
Reunited with Glenda Jackson for "Lost and Found"
1983
Starred as dogged NYC detective John Grafton in "Trackdown: Finding the Goodbar Killer" (CBS)
1984
Spoofed the Sherwood Forest legend in "The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood" (CBS)
1985
Returned to Broadway as John Lithgow's greedy fight manager in the short-lived "Requiem for a Heavyweight"
1987
TV series debut as regular, "Take Five" (CBS)
1988
Returned to series TV as disheviled insurance investigator Daedelus Patrick Murphy in "Murphy's Law" (ABC)
1989
Portrayed Albert opposite Kirstie Alley in "Look Who's Talking"
1991
Delivered funny, fluid performance as the liberal Jewish headwriter for Eddie Sparks (James Caan) in "For the Boys"
1993
Reprised Albert for "Look Who's Talking Now"
1994
Played Ann-Marget's love interest in the NBC movie "Following Her Heart"
1996
Provided voice of Dr. Benton Quest for animated "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest", airing simultaneously on TNT, TBS and the Cartoon Network
1996
With Mary Tyler Moore made a great neurotic Jewish couple in the hit comedy "Flirting With Disaster"; first association with Tea Leoni
1996
Reteamed with Streisand (who directed as well as starred) for "The Mirror Has Two Faces"
1997
Portrayed recurring character of Nora's father on the NBC sitcom "The Naked Truth", starring Tea Leoni as Nora and Mary Tyler Moore as his wife
1997
Starred as magazine publisher-owner Jack Gallo in the NBC sitcom "Just Shoot Me"
1998
Played Harry Houdini's manager Martin Beck in the TNT original presentation "Houdini"
1999
Starred opposite Buck Henry and Wayne Knight in Broadway's long-running, Tony-winning "Art"; the three had previously been in the cast of 1994's "To Die For" (which Henry also scripted) but had no scenes together
2001
Made London stage debut in "Art", alongside Paul Freeman and Richard Griffiths
2005
Co-starred with Glenn Close, Elizabeth Banks and James Marsden in "Heights" a drama following five New Yorkers over a 24-hour period
Videos
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Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Not to be confused with the modern sculptor of the same name
About the illness that claimed his second wife Linda Rogoff: "It started with a hospital screwup about four years ago. Linda had a sore throat, which they misread. She was allergic to penicillin, the doctors weren't aware of it, and they kept pumping her full of the stuff. It killed her."They didn't know what was wrong with her--they thought it was a tropical disease and a whole lot of other things. There was a series of unbelievable surgeries. It went from bad to worse, and in the end her body couldn't take it anymore."In fact, she had a condition called aplastic anemia. But all the hospital did was exacerbate the problem. It has been a terrible four years, and what happened fills me with a kind of rage." --George Segal to Kevin O'Sullivan in the DAILY NEWS, August 18, 1996
"Listen, John Lithgow and I were in a play sometime ago in New York. It was 'Requiem for a Heavyweight'. We opened that on Thursday and closed on Saturday. So that's what I call a short run. And now here we are on almost adjoining stages. [Mr. Lithgow stars in another NBC sitcom, 'Third Rock From the Sun".] So when we see each other, we throw our arms around each other and then we look at each other in that peculiar way as people who have been in another kind of war and are now fighting this war."A more pleasant war? It is. It certainly is." --Segal to Andy Meisler in THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 4, 1998
On his experience in the historic Circle in the Square production of "The Iceman Cometh": "From [director] Jose Quintero, I learned not to move my feet back and forth under a table when I am talking to another actor. Focus. Concentration of energy. I was really young at the time, and didn't know much at all. As for Jason [Robards Jr.], he taught me a kind of professionalism that I've never known since. He galvanized that cast. Everyone came up to his energy level." --Segal quoted in INTHEATER, May 31, 1999
