GEORGE SEGAL

George Segal was a reliable singles hitter who muscled up in 1966 and hit one out of the park. He played Nick in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? And he had plenty of company at the Oscar ceremony that year. Elizabeth Taylor won for Best Actress and Sandy Dennis for Best Supporting Actress. Segal and Richard Burton were nominated but didn’t win. Haskel Wexler won one of his many statues for his cinematography of this black and white classic. 

A young couple are met at a university party and invited to the home of Martha and George (Burton and Taylor) for a drink. The hosts become more and more acrimonious toward each other, to the dismay of the guests. Things spin out of control several times and terrible secrets are revealed. This gritty film takes no prisoners. It is hard to watch and hard not to. 

The year before Virginia Woolf Segal had a nice turn as Corporal King in King Rat. In a German prisoner of war camp during WWII, King is indeed the monarch of all he surveys. He is a cunning, resourceful survivor who manages to keep himself in good health and the guards off his back by his maneuvers. The other prisoners put up with him because they have to though he is not exactly an endearing figure. Segal’s smarmy portrayal is right on. 

In The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) Segal plays dull clerk and aspiring novelist Felix against Barbra Streisand’s actress/prostitute. The film makes good use of the contrast between the two as they somehow navigate various hardships together. This is a comedy that isn’t all that funny, but it grows on you. 

Segal is the title character in Blume In Love (1973). The film begins with Blume alone in Venice, wondering how he managed to lose his true love (Nina, played by Susan Anspach) by his unfaithfulness. Their married lives are revealed in a series of flashbacks, and Blume steps up his efforts to win her back. Blume is right much of a worm but he keeps trying to repair the damage. 

George Segal is Steve and Glenda Jackson is Vickie as an extremely unlikely couple in A Touch Of Class (1973). Their differences make for some very funny scenes and though he was the producer’s third choice for the role ( Cary Grant and Roger Moore turned him down) he does a good job in a fairly difficult part. 

George Segal’s last movie role of note came in 1974 as Bill Denny in California Split . Bill is a sporadic lukewarm gambler who meets and befriends Charlie Waters (Eliot Gould) who gambles for a living. They have various gambling adventures until Bill goes on an incredible hot streak and wins nearly $100,000. The ending is at best equivocal, but Hollywood could not at that time glorify gambling too much.

Though Segal continued to work a lot in TV and movies until his death at the age of 87, there’s not much after this to talk about. 

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults.