Actors at the Box Office: George C. Scott

[u/SanderSo47]

Here's a new edition of "Actors at the Box Office", which seeks to explore the actors' trajectory at the box office and analyze their hits and bombs. I already talked about a few, and as I promised, it's George C. Scott's turn.

Early Life

After high school, Scott enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, serving from 1945 to 1949. He was assigned to 8th and I Barracks in Washington, D.C., and his primary duty was serving as honor guard at military funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. He later said that during his duty at Arlington, "I picked up a solid drinking habit that stayed with me from then on." Following military service, Scott enrolled at the University of Missouri on the G.I. Bill where he majored in journalism and then became interested in drama.

1950s: Someone Truly Likes Him

Scott first rose to prominence for his work with Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. In 1958, he won an Obie Award for his performances in Children of Darkness, As You Like It, and Richard III. He was subsequently nominated for more awards, quickly establishing himself as a fine theater star.

He made his film debut with an uncredited appearance in Somebody Up There Likes Me. Nothing major, and he wouldn't get his first credited starring role until 1959, with The Hanging Tree.

That same year, he also had a key role in the legal drama Anatomy of a Murder. The film was a big success and earned critical acclaim, introducing the world to Scott. He earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, alongside his co-star Arthur O'Connell.

1960s: The Established Star

Even with his rising career in cinema, Scott didn't intend to quit Broadway. He continued working all over 1960.

As such, he didn't make a film until 1961. That was The Hustler, opposite Paul Newman. It was a critical and commercial success, further building his image among moviegoers. He earned another nomination for Best Supporting Actor... but he personally asked for the nomination to be revoked. The Academy refused, and regardless, he still lost. We'll get to this later on.

He followed it up with John Huston's The List of Adrian Messenger, but it wasn't quite as successful as his prior films. That same year, he starred in the CBS drama East Side West Side, playing a New York City social worker who faces different cases in each episode. While it earned critical acclaim, it was deemed too grim for the time, and was canned after just one season.

After a very rough 1963, Scott bounced back the following year. He had The Yellow Rolls-Royce, which was a big hit despite tepid reviews.

But his most memorable film was Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, playing General Buck Turgidson. Kubrick tricked Scott into playing the role in a much more outlandish manner than Scott was comfortable doing. Kubrick talked Scott into doing absurd "practice" takes, which Kubrick told Scott would never be used, as a way to warm up for the "real" takes. Kubrick used many of these "practice" takes in the final film, rather than the more restrained ones, allegedly causing Scott to swear never to work with Kubrick again. During the filming, Kubrick and Scott had different opinions regarding certain scenes, but Kubrick obtained Scott's compliance largely by beating him at chess, which they played frequently on the set.

Scott may be very mad, but Dr. Strangelove speaks for itself. It earned universal acclaim, widely proclaimed as one of the greatest comedies of all time, and was a big success at the box office.

He followed it with a big role in John Huston's biblical epic The Bible: In the Beginning..., where he plays Abraham. The film didn't get favorable reviews, but it was a huge hit, earning $50 million worldwide.

He ended the decade with films like The Flim-Flam Man and Petulia. Not hits, but it doesn't erase the good will he made over the past years.

1970s: Fuck the Oscars

He began the decade with what's arguably his most iconic role and film.

For so many years, a biopic focused on General George S. Patton was in development. Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and Rod Steiger all declined the role, with the latter deeming it his biggest regret. Eventually, Scott won the role. He than had an extensive research to get in the role, including wearing Patton's real-life ivory-handled revolvers. When he learned that Patton's speech to the Third Army would open the film, he refused to do it, as he believed that it would overshadow the rest of his performance. Director Franklin J. Schaffner assured him that it would be shown at the end. Obviously, that wasn't true.

Scott also caused a shooting delay by immersing himself in a ping-pong tournament against a world-champion table-tennis player. Scott (in full costume and makeup) kept losing to the champ, yet he was determined to win at least one set, even if they had to stand there playing all night.

Patton was a huge success with audiences, becoming Scott's highest grossing film. It earned critical hailed, hailed as one of the greatest war films ever made. Patton was a big award contender, earning so much recognition. It won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Scott. The greatest achievement an actor can get.

But Scott was not most actors.

When he learned he was nominated for Best Actor, Scott issued a letter to the Academy. It read, "I respectfully request that you withdraw my name from the list of nominees. My request is in no way intended to denigrate my colleagues. Furthermore, peculiar as it may seem, I mean no offense to the Academy. I simply do not wish to be involved." In a separate conversation, he referred to the Oscars as "a two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons" and that "I don't want any part of it." He also maintained that it was "degrading for actors to compete against one another."

So even though he warned them that he would not accept it, Scott still won the Oscar. And true to his word, he didn't even show up to the ceremony. That night, while the Oscars were on, he was watching a hockey game on TV and then went to bed. Nevertheless, Scott accepted the New York Film Critics Award for Best Actor. His then-wife Colleen Dewhurst said, "George thinks this is the only film award worth having."

Subsequently, Scott starred in the comedy The Hospital. The film was a critical and commercial success, and Scott earned another Oscar nomination for Best Actor. And he couldn't give a fuck about it. He also found another hit with The New Centurions.

He then decided to try filmmaking. He made his directorial debut with Rage, which stars him as a rancher who is fatally exposed to a military lab's poison gas. But the film didn't pan out as well as Scott was hoping. He also starred in Oklahoma Crude, but it fared poorly.

He then took part in Mike Nichols' The Day of the Dolphin, a film with perhaps the coolest tagline in cinema history ("Unwittingly, he trained a dolphin to kill the President of the United States"). But despite that, the film earned mixed reviews and wasn't a box office success. Unwittingly.

He returned to the director's chair with The Savage Is Loose. When the MPAA gave the film an "R" rating, Scott blasted the decision and urged exhibitors to defy it by running the movie unrated. Scott strongly disagreed with the MPAA's position that incest was a "major" theme of the film and said he was "appalled" that his movie was given the same rating as films like Candy Stripe Nurses and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Scott took out full-page newspaper ads in key cities offering a "money-back guarantee" from his own personal funds to any parent who took a child under 17 to the film and agreed with the R rating. Less than $10,000 was reportedly paid to patrons who accepted the offer. Even with this, it was another financial failure.

Scott tried bouncing back with The Hindenburg, based on the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. While it made $27 million domestically, the high costs prevented it from breaking even. It also earned unfavorable reviews, as many felt it was trying to sell conspiracy theories surrounding the real-life disaster.

He closed the decade with a lot of financial failures, including Islands in the Stream, Movie Movie, and The Principal and the Pauper. At the very least, he had a memorable part in Paul Schrader's Hardcore.

He started the 70s on a very strong note and he seemed like he would be a bankable leading man. Unfortunately, this was short-lived.

1980s: The Law of Diminishing Returns

After a string of failures, he slightly recovered with the Canadian film, The Changeling. But then he went back to flopping with The Formula, despite the presence of a big name like Marlon Brando.

In 1981, Scott starred in Taps, playing a Brigadier General at a military school, and co-starring Sean Penn and Tom Cruise in their first lead roles. This was his best performer at the box office since Patton, despite mixed reviews.

On Broadway, he starred in and directed a successful revival of Noël Coward's Present Laughter which ran during 1982–83. He also directed the 1984 Broadway revival of Noël Coward's Design for Living, which ran for 245 performances. During this, he made some TV appearances, including a 1984 adaptation of a Christmas Carol, where he played Ebenezer Scrooge.

After the disappointing performance of Firestarter, he moved primarily to TV and Broadway for the rest of the decade. He appeared in The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Pals, and also played the lead role in the TV series Mr. President. His last credit for the decade was the television film The Ryan White Story as Charles Vaughan, the lawyer defending Ryan White.

Now what if I told you... that there's a Patton sequel? With George C. Scott reprising his role? Yep, that's The Last Days of Patton, a made-for-TV movie broadcast on CBS. Based on the final weeks of Patton's life after being mortally injured in a car accident, it contains flashbacks of Patton's life.

1990s: The "I Don't Give a Fuck" Era

Of all the things to begin the decade, he chose a voice appearance in Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. What's this? A TV special where cartoon characters try to help a kid face the consequences of using drugs. It's as bad as you think it might be.

In 1990, he had a voice supporting role in The Rescuers Down Under. Even with positive reviews, the film disappointed at the box office with just $47 million, a far cry from the original's $169 million total. He then played the lead role of Lieutenant Kinderman in The Exorcist III. Scott signed up for the role, impressed by Blatty's screenplay: "It's a horror film and much more… It's a real drama, intricately crafted, with offbeat interesting characters… and that's what makes it genuinely frightening." The film was a solid success, and while it wasn't exactly acclaimed, its reputation has grown over the years.

He then had a supporting role in Malice, which became one of his biggest films. He then starred in many made-for-TV movies, including Tyson (where he plays Constantine "Cus" D'Amato, Mike Tyson's promoter) and 12 Angry Men. In the latter, he played Juror No. 3, a role that Lee J. Cobb played in the 1957 film (coincidentally, Scott would also replace Cobb as Lieutenant Kinderman in The Exorcist III due to his death). For the latter, he won another Emmy Award.

His last theatrical roles were Angus and Gloria. While the former was a success, the latter was a huge failure, even with a great director like Sidney Lumet attached.

His last credit was the TV film Inherit the Wind, starring opposite Jack Lemmon. Scott had a reputation for being moody and mercurial while on the set. He was quoted as saying, "There is no question you get pumped up by the recognition... Then a self-loathing sets in when you realize you're enjoying it." One anecdote relates that one of his stage co-stars, Maureen Stapleton, said, "I don't know what to do – I'm scared of him." The director, Mike Nichols, replied, "My dear, everyone is scared of George C. Scott."

The End

Scott suffered a series of heart attacks in the 1980s. He died on September 22, 1999, of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, aged 71. He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California.

HIGHEST GROSSING FILMS

No.	Movie	Year	Studio	Domestic Total	Overseas Total	Worldwide Total	Budget
1	Patton	1970	20th Century Fox	$61,749,765	$28,300,000	$90,049,765	$12.6M
2	Malice	1993	Columbia	$46,405,336	$15,200,000	$61,605,336	$20M
3	The Bible: In the Beginning...	1966	20th Century Fox	$34,900,000	$15,750,000	$50,650,000	$15M
4	The Rescuers Down Under	1990	Disney	$27,931,461	$19,500,000	$47,431,461	N/A
5	The Exorcist III	1990	20th Century Fox	$26,098,824	$18,000,000	$44,098,824	$11M
6	Taps	1981	20th Century Fox	$35,856,053	$0	$35,856,053	$14M
7	The Hindenburg	1975	Universal	$27,945,225	$0	$27,945,225	$15M
8	Firestarter	1984	Universal	$17,080,167	$0	$17,080,167	$12M
9	Anatomy of a Murder	1959	Columbia	$11,000,000	$5,000,000	$16,000,000	$2M
10	The New Centurions	1972	Columbia	$14,900,000	$0	$14,900,000	N/A
11	The Hospital	1971	United Artists	$14,142,409	$0	$14,142,409	N/A
12	The Changeling	1980	Cineplex	$5,600,000	$6,400,000	$12,000,000	$6M
13	The Yellow Rolls-Royce	1964	Metro Goldwyn Mayer	$10,800,000	$0	$10,800,000	N/A
14	Dr. Strangelove	1964	Columbia	$9,440,272	$0	$9,440,272	$1.8M
15	The Formula	1980	United Artists	$8,894,289	$0	$8,894,289	$13M
16	Islands in the Stream	1977	Paramount	$8,000,000	$0	$8,000,000	N/A
17	The Hustler	1961	20th Century Fox	$7,600,000	$0	$7,600,000	$2.1M
18	Oklahoma Crude	1973	Columbia	$5,000,000	$0	$5,000,000	N/A
19	Gloria	1999	Sony	$4,167,493	$800,000	$4,967,493	$30M
20	Angus	1995	New Line Cinema	$4,821,759	$0	$4,821,759	$1.5M
21	The Hanging Tree	1959	Warner Bros.	$4,400,000	$0	$4,400,000	N/A
22	The List of Adrian Messenger	1963	Universal	$3,400,000	$0	$3,400,000	N/A
23	Petulia	1968	Warner Bros.	$3,200,000	$0	$3,200,000	N/A
24	The Flim-Flam Man	1967	20th Century Fox	$2,400,000	$0	$2,400,000	$3.8M

He has starred in 42 released films, but only 24 have reported box office numbers. Across those 42 films, he has made $504,683,053 worldwide. That's $12,016,263 per film.

ADJUSTED DOMESTIC GROSSES

No.	Movie	Year	Studio	Domestic Total	Adjusted Domestic Total
1	Patton	1970	20th Century Fox	$61,749,765	$525,530,287
2	The Bible: In the Beginning...	1966	20th Century Fox	$34,900,000	$355,692,398
3	The Hindenburg	1975	Universal	$27,945,225	$171,521,869
4	Taps	1981	20th Century Fox	$35,856,053	$130,254,508
5	Anatomy of a Murder	1959	Columbia	$11,000,000	$124,822,783
6	The New Centurions	1972	Columbia	$14,900,000	$117,707,504
7	The Hospital	1971	United Artists	$14,142,409	$115,308,822
8	The Yellow Rolls-Royce	1964	Metro Goldwyn Mayer	$10,800,000	$115,041,948
9	Malice	1993	Columbia	$46,405,336	$106,045,987
10	Dr. Strangelove	1964	Columbia	$9,440,272	$100,558,081
11	The Hustler	1961	20th Century Fox	$7,600,000	$83,933,739
12	The Rescuers Down Under	1990	Disney	$27,931,461	$70,568,718
13	The Exorcist III	1990	20th Century Fox	$26,098,824	$65,938,569
14	Firestarter	1984	Universal	$17,080,167	$54,283,861
15	The Hanging Tree	1959	Warner Bros.	$4,400,000	$49,929,113
16	Islands in the Stream	1977	Paramount	$8,000,000	$43,592,475
17	Oklahoma Crude	1973	Columbia	$5,000,000	$37,186,148
18	The List of Adrian Messenger	1963	Universal	$3,400,000	$36,690,333
19	The Formula	1980	United Artists	$8,894,289	$35,643,323
20	Petulia	1968	Warner Bros.	$3,200,000	$30,364,413
21	The Flim-Flam Man	1967	20th Century Fox	$2,400,000	$23,727,880
22	The Changeling	1980	Cineplex	$5,600,000	$22,441,660
23	Angus	1995	New Line Cinema	$4,821,759	$10,447,555
24	Gloria	1999	Sony	$4,167,493	$8,260,266

The Verdict

George C. Scott quickly made an impression on Broadway, but Anatomy of a Murder is what introduced so many audiences to a new movie star. From that point on, he found consistent job, with his follow-up films faring well. Especially Dr. Strangelove, no matter how much he is pissed at Kubrick for lying to him. And hey, his performance is what further elevates that film, so Kubrick knew what he was cooking.

That brings us to Patton. One of the most perfect performances of the 1970s, for he did everything in his power to emulate General Patton. The opening speech has become very iconic, even if Scott didn't want it to start that way cause it'd overshadow the rest of the film. It is what it is.

And so... that led to the first time an actor refused to win an Oscar. You'll often hear from time to time that actors can say they don't care about Oscars, but deep down, we can tell they're lying because they still campaign and still care about the recognition. Practically every actor wants that award. But Scott wasn't that actor. A firm believer that "actors shouldn't compete against each other", he made it clear he didn't want the nomination and if he won, he warned that he would refuse it. And he kept his promise. Actions speak louder than words. What's your stance on this?

Patton suggested Scott would have a very lengthy run as a bankable leading man. Unfortunately, this was short-lived, for he starred in a lot of duds. Even a film with a premise like "George C. Scott talking to dolphins" couldn't change that. There were notable successes, but they were few from time to time. And it seems like he didn't care how people consume his art, as he was very happy doing Broadway productions, made-for-TV films, and even a sitcom.

So while he might not have the most recognizable or iconic filmography, George C. Scott should be in consideration as one of the greatest actors to ever exist.

Hope you liked this edition. You can find this and more in the wiki for this section.

The next actor will be Chevy Chase. A very brutal post.

I asked you to choose who else should be in the run, and the comment with the most upvotes would be chosen. Well, we'll later talk about... Zoe Saldana. A very interesting case.

This is the schedule for the following four:

Week	Actor	Reasoning
May 16	Chevy Chase	He was streets behind.
May 23	Reese Witherspoon	An inconsistent career.
May 30	Steve McQueen	The King of Cool.
June 7	Zoe Saldana	Is she big or "just big"?

Who should be next after Saldana? That's up to you. And there's a theme.

That's... ultra problematic stars. Those stars that have... so many bad things surrounding them. Whether they're hated or because they did very bad stuff. That's however you interpret it. If you want OP to roast the person, this is your chance.

REMINDER: If you want to make a suggestion for the next actor, you must make a 150-character comment about the actor we're discussing right now. Failure to do so will result in ignoring the suggestion. If you use a quote from an external source/review to bypass this, your suggestion will be ignored as well. But if you leave a short comment about the post without naming a future write-up, that's fine.

[u/SlidePocket]

George C. Scott has been a dynamic presence on any medium he appeared in, not to mention had one of the most distinct voices that you can hear back over and over again.

Now for next week's theme, I think Mel Gibson is begging to be talked about considering the controversies throughout his life.

[u/Zhukov-74]

It is a shame that Patton still has not received a 4K release.

[u/spider-man2401]

George C. Scott was a phenomenal, mercurial talent who could do just about anything, from comedy to horror to drama. Even in smaller or lesser roles, he always gave it everything. I haven’t seen many of his films, but Dr. Strangelove and especially Patton alone are enough to put him among the greats.

For the next actor, I'd suggest Johnny Depp. He’s obviously talented, with iconic roles like Jack Sparrow and great collaborations with Tim Burton. But his personal life has been messy as hell.

[u/superkick79 → u/spider-man2401]

I second Depp. From teen idol to indie favorite to blockbuster movie star, his career is really interesting and his personal life (even without the Amber Heard stuff) was always a bit of a mess (celebrity girlfriends, Viper Room, etc).

[u/AnotherJasonOnReddit]

He died on September 22, 1999... aged 71

I did not realize just how young he was in all those movies I've watched him in.

That means he was in his 50's when he made "A Christmas Carol" (1984). A common criticism I've read of the various adaptations is that Scrooge isn't meant to be as old as he's often depicted ("Scrooge became a second father to Tiny Tim") - but George C Scott only being in his 50's makes him believable as old enough to lose Marley while young enough to be considered a second father. It's my dad's favourite adaptation of the story (mine would be Alistair Sim, but Georgie Boy and Michael Caine come in at a very close second and third places).

https://giphy.com/gifs/YkOGa9K7gc3g5u7FXF

[u/mxyztplk33]

Everyone knows the iconic opening speech in Patton, but it's actually hilarious that the real life Patton sounds nothing like George C Scott's character. I was shocked when I listened to a real Patton Speech. Scott still gave a tremendous performance though. He was also great in Dr. Strangelove, Scott may not have wanted his role to be over the top, but it was still great. I don't really agree with his oscar's stance. Just getting nominated is an award in itself, it's recognition of a film's achievments. Winning it can lead to controversy since people have different ideas of what 'good acting' is, but most of the time (I'd say like 90%) the Academy gets it right.

For next actor I think I'm gonna go with Amber Heard. We've already talked about a few men who've been cancelled (Hammer), let's look at an actress who was cancelled.

[u/ItsGotThatBang]

A true legend of screen, stage & TV! His criticism of the Oscars is even more relevant today with how easily the Academy can be bribed. I’m surprised that Dr. Strangelove only made about $100 million adjusted; for some reason, I thought it was as massive as Doctor Zhivago. Also obligatory plug for Phelous’ Cartoon All-Stars review.

For the next actor, I think Bill Cosby’s the obvious choice, plus I really want to talk about the utter, utter, utter, utter, utter, utter shit that is Leonard Part 6.

[u/comicman117 → u/ItsGotThatBang]

To be fair the amount of money Strangelove made in 1964 was far from chump change.

[u/FreshmenMan]

George C. Scott really is a great actor. He has such a commanding presence when he is on screen, but he also manages to give such a vulnerable side to what character he plays. What impresses me with Scott is that he managed to juggle both his film career and television career, which was a little frowned upon when trying to make a successful film career during that time. I think the 2 roles that really encapsulates his talent are Dr. Strangelove and Patton with Dr. Strangelove showing his manic side and excelling at Comedy and Patton, for showing what a great dramatic actor he could be.

For the next post and you mentioned ultra-problematic actors, I am going to suggest Klaus Kinski, great actor but a bastard of a human.

[u/comicman117]

Liker many actors the box office numbers for Scott's older films can be confusing.

One such example being Day of the Dolphin. While Boxofficemojo lists its gross as only 2.3m, the actual box office book I got says it was the 27th highest grossing movie of 1973 with 6.2 million in rentals.

[u/ItsGotThatBang → u/comicman117]

Which book is that?

[u/comicman117 → u/ItsGotThatBang]

https://www.amazon.com/Annual-Top-Film-Rentals-1912-ebook/dp/B071KL8DLM

[u/SilverRoyce → u/comicman117]

on that front, lantern digital media has free access to historical variety documents (and thus their yearly/alltime rental lists from their 46 inception till the last 60s. I imagine this is mostly a cleaned up version of something like that (e.g. some numbers got adjusted downwards in later years of variety and it seems like some studios reporting got big one-time updates that should have impacted yearly charts. It doesn't go as far but it's free.

from the early classics like "The Birth Of A Nation"

I wonder what this says. I've seen wildly different numbers floated for it (hence its exclusion from variety's all time lists as essentially being from a wild west era of box office reporting).

[u/comicman117 → u/SilverRoyce]

It claims Birth of a Nation made 5m in rentals in 1915, which was obviously blockbuster numbers for the time. However, I don't know if those numbers are 100% accurate.

[u/SilverRoyce → u/comicman117]

yeah, it's messy enough that we'll just never know the precise numbers especially as (pulling from half remembered variety summaries) the actual revenue was mostly actually generated by regional groups instead of coming back to a core studio.

e.g. in lists I found Variety had it in 1st place all time in 1932 w/ 10M in rentals but a couple of years later the Motion Picture Herald has it in a 4 way tie for fourth at 3.5M (mirrored by 1937 INT Herald). I've seen other numbers elsewhere but this was a few years ago and the core point is just the wide range in estimates much closer to the film's release than today.

[u/hotcolddog]

This is a fantastic write up. I’ve always wanted something like this for Errol Flynn, someone often forgotten today, but essentially a morph between Chris Hemsworth’s charisma and role selection and Will Smith’s box office prowess.