George Macready

George Macready
Macready in Johnny Allegro (1949)
Born	(1899-08-29)August 29, 1899 Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
Died	July 2, 1973(1973-07-02) (aged 73) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Brown University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1926–1973
Spouse	Elizabeth Patterson ​ ​ (m. 1931; div. 1943)​
Children	3
Relatives	John Macready (grandson)

George Peabody Macready Jr.^[1] (August 29, 1899 – July 2, 1973)^[2] was an American stage, film, and television actor often cast in roles as polished villains.^[3]

Early life

Macready was born in Providence, Rhode Island^[4] on August 29, 1899. He claimed to be a descendent of the 19th-century English actor William Charles Macready, whose example he cited as the chief inspiration for his own pursuit of acting.^[5] He graduated from the local Classical High School^[1] and, in 1917, from Brown University.^[6]

Shortly thereafter, Macready suffered a disfiguring injury in a car accident, which, as the actor would later note, proved a mixed blessing: affording him a reliably steady supply of jobs, but only within a rigidly circumscribed range.^[6][7] As of October 1958, by Macready's own count, he had been cast as the "mastermind criminal" type in at least 65 of his 75 television and motion picture assignments. He explained:

Producers have found it effective to emphasize my rather nasty looking cheek scar, which I received in an auto accident many years ago.^[8]

Acting career

Theatre

Macready made his Broadway debut in 1926, performing in the role of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale in an adaptation of The Scarlet Letter.^[9] Through 1958, he appeared in fifteen plays, both drama and comedy, including The Barretts of Wimpole Street, based on the family of the English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Macready's penchant for acting was spurred in part by the director Richard Boleslawski. His Shakespearean stage credits included Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (1927), Malcolm in Macbeth (1928), and Paris in Romeo and Juliet (1934). On film, he played Marallus in the 1953 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. He also portrayed Prince Ernst in the original stage version of Victoria Regina (1936), starring Helen Hayes.

Film

Macready's first film was Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942), which starred Paul Muni. In Gilda (1946), Macready's character Ballin Mundson enters a deadly love triangle with characters played by co-stars Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. He again played opposite Ford several years later in the postwar adventure The Green Glove (1952).

Macready played the villain Younger Miles in the 1948 Randolph Scott film “Coroner Creek”.

Macready played Marshal Sam Hughes in the 1949 Randolph Scott film “The Doolins of Oklahoma” (he narrated the film as well).

Stanley Kubrick's antiwar film Paths of Glory (1957) provided Macready with his other great role, the sadistic and self-serving French World War I General Paul Mireau, who is brought down by Kirk Douglas's character, Colonel Dax. He had worked with Douglas previously in Detective Story (1951), and later he appeared with Douglas in two more films: Vincente Minnelli's Two Weeks in Another Town (1962) and John Frankenheimer's Seven Days in May (1964). In 1965, he was cast in a rare comedy role as General Kuhster in Blake Edwards's film The Great Race.

One of Macready's last film roles was as United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull in Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), a depiction of the events leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Television

Macready made four guest appearances on Raymond Burr's Perry Mason, including the role of murder victim Milo Girard in the 1958 episode "The Case of the Purple Woman". He was also cast regularly in such series as Four Star Playhouse, General Electric Theater, The Ford Television Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Adventures in Paradise and The Islanders.

Macready performed in a variety of television series produced in the 1950s and 1960s, including many Westerns such as Bat Masterson, Bonanza, The Dakotas, Gunsmoke, Have Gun - Will Travel, The Rebel (once in the role of Confederate General Robert E. Lee), The Rifleman, Lancer, Laramie, Riverboat, The Rough Riders, Chill Wills's Frontier Circus, The Texan and Steve McQueen's Wanted: Dead or Alive. Also on TV, he was seen in episodes of The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, Boris Karloff's Thriller, Kentucky Jones, Get Smart with Don Adams, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. with Robert Vaughn.

Macready was cast as Cyrus Canfield, a vengeful father searching for his runaway teenage daughter, played by Floy Dean, in the May 26, 1962, series finale of NBC's The Tall Man.

He played publishing magnate Glenn Howard in the TV movie Fame Is the Name of the Game (1966) starring Anthony Franciosa, but was replaced by Gene Barry in the role when the film was subsequently used as the pilot for the television series The Name of the Game with Franciosa, Barry, and Robert Stack revolving in the lead.

Personal life

In 1931, Macready married actress Elizabeth Dana Patterson; they divorced in 1943.^[1]

An art collector, Macready was a partner with colleague Vincent Price in a Beverly Hills art gallery called The Little Gallery, which they opened in 1943. (Macready had played Price's brother on Broadway in Victoria Regina.) According to Lucy Chase Williams' book The Complete Films of Vincent Price, "In the spring of 1943 ... Price and Macready opened The Little Gallery in Beverly Hills. 'We rented a hole in the wall next door to Martindale's book shop and a very popular bar, figuring correctly that we'd catch a mixed clientele of erudites and inebriates.' Price and Macready saw the gallery not only as an indulgence of their own interests, but as a showcase for young artists, and a way to expose the general public to art and art appreciation. The establishment merited photos and two full columns in Newsweek magazine, but rent increases forced The Little Gallery to close after two years."^[10]

Death

Macready died of emphysema on July 2, 1973. His body was donated to the UCLA School of Medicine.^[2]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Director	Notes
1942	Commandos Strike at Dawn	Schoolteacher	John Farrow
1944	Follow the Boys	Walter Bruce	A. Edward Sutherland
	The Story of Dr. Wassell	Dutch Army Captain	Cecil B. DeMille	uncredited
	Wilson	William McCombs	Henry King	uncredited
	The Seventh Cross	Bruno Sauer	Fred Zinnemann
	The Soul of a Monster	Dr. George Winson	Will Jason
	The Conspirators	Schimitt's Special Agent	Jean Negulesco	uncredited
	The Missing Juror	Harry Wharton / Jerome K. Bentley	Budd Boetticher (as Oscar Boetticher Jr.)
1945	The Bandit of Sherwood Forest	Fitz-Herbert	George Sherman
	A Song to Remember	Alfred de Musset	Charles Vidor	uncredited
	I Love a Mystery	Jefferson Monk	Henry Levin
	The Monster and the Ape	Professor Ernst	Howard Bretherton
	Counter-Attack	Colonel Semenov	Zoltan Korda
	Don Juan Quilligan	District Attorney	Frank Tuttle	uncredited
	My Name is Julia Ross	Ralph Hughes	Joseph H. Lewis
1946	The Fighting Guardsman	Gaston de Montrevel	Henry Levin
	Gilda	Ballin Mundson	Charles Vidor
	The Man Who Dared	Donald Wayne	John Sturges
	The Walls Came Tumbling Down	Matthew Stoker	Lothar Mendes
	The Return of Monte Cristo	Henri de la Roche	Henry Levin
1947	Down to Earth	Joe Manion	Alexander Hall
1948	The Swordsman	Robert Glowan	Joseph H. Lewis
	The Black Arrow	Sir Daniel Brackley	Gordon Douglas
	The Big Clock	Steve Hagen	John Farrow
	Coroner Creek	Younger Miles	Ray Enright
	Beyond Glory	Major General Bond	John Farrow
1949	The Gallant Blade	General Cadeau	Henry Levin
	Knock on Any Door	District Attorney Kerman	Nicholas Ray
	Alias Nick Beal	Reverend Thomas Garfield	John Farrow
	Johnny Allegro	Morgan Vallin	Ted Tetzlaff
	The Doolins of Oklahoma	Marshal Sam Hughes	Gordon Douglas
1950	The Nevadan	Edward Galt	Gordon Douglas
	Fortunes of Captain Blood	Marquis de Riconete	Gordon Douglas
	Rogues of Sherwood Forest	King John	Gordon Douglas
	A Lady Without Passport	Palinov	Joseph H. Lewis
	The Desert Hawk	Prince Murad	Frederick De Cordova
1951	Tarzan's Peril	Radijeck	Byron Haskin
	The Golden Horde	Raven the Shaman	George Sherman
	The Desert Fox	General Fritz Bayerlein	Henry Hathaway
	Detective Story	Dr. Karl Schneider	William Wyler
1952	The Green Glove	Count Paul Rona	Rudolph Maté
1953	Treasure of the Golden Condor	Marquis de St. Malo	Delmer Daves
	I Beheld His Glory	Cornelius		TV movie
	Julius Caesar	Marullus	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
	The Stranger Wore a Gun	Jules Mourret	Andre de Toth
	The Golden Blade	Jafar	Nathan Juran
1954	Duffy of San Quentin	John C. Winant	Walter Doniger
	Vera Cruz	Emperor Maximilian	Robert Aldrich
1956	A Kiss Before Dying	Leo Kingship	Gerd Oswald
	Thunder Over Arizona	Mayor Ervin Plummer	Joseph Kane
1957	The Abductors	Jack Langley	Andrew V. McLaglen (as Andrew McLaglen)
	Paths of Glory	Brigadier General Paul Mireau	Stanley Kubrick
	Gunfire at Indian Gap	Mr. Jefferson	Joseph Kane
1959	Plunderers of Painted Flats	Ed Sammpson	Albert C. Gannaway
	The Alligator People	Dr. Mark Sinclair	Roy Del Ruth
	Jet Over the Atlantic	Lord Robert Leverett	Byron Haskin
1960	Family Classics: The Three Musketeers			TV movie
1962	Two Weeks in Another Town	Lew Jordan	Vincente Minnelli
	Taras Bulba	Governor	J. Lee Thompson
1964	Seven Days in May	Christopher Todd	John Frankenheimer
	Dead Ringer	Paul Harrison	Paul Henreid
	Where Love Has Gone	Gordon Harris	Edward Dmytryk
1965	The Human Duplicators	Professor Vaughn Dornheimer	Arthur C. Pierce
	Memorandum for a Spy	Graham Jutland		TV movie
	The Great Race	General Kuhster	Blake Edwards
1966	Fame Is the Name of the Game	Gleen Howard	Stuart Rosenberg	TV movie
1969	Night Gallery	William Hendricks		TV movie, segment "The Cemetery"
	Daughter of the Mind	Dr. Frank Ferguson	Walter Grauman	TV movie
1970	Count Yorga, Vampire	Narrator	Bob Kelljan
	Tora! Tora! Tora!	Cordell Hull	Richard Fleischer
1971	The Return of Count Yorga	Professor Rightstat	Bob Kelljan

Partial television credits

• The Living Christ Series ("Crucifixion and Resurrection" and "Triumph and Defeat", 1951) as Cornelius
• General Electric Theater (3 episodes) as Clive/Henry/Colonel
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1957)
  • Season 1 Episode 2: "Premonition" (1955) as Douglas Irwin
  • Season 1 Episode 13: "The Cheney Vase" (1955) as Herbert Koether
  • Season 2 Episode 29: "Vicious Circle" (1957) as Vincent Williams
• Gunsmoke (1958) as Charlie Drain
• Perry Mason (1958–1963) (4 episodes) as Roscoe Pearce/Dr. Vincent Kenyon/Charles Slade/Milo Girard
• Bonanza ("A Rose for Lotta", 1959) as Alpheus Troy
• Tightrope! ("The Lady", 1959) as Latham Grant
• Have Gun – Will Travel ("Ambush", 1960) as Gunder – Blind Man
• The Rifleman (1958–1960) as Matt Wymerman/Judge Zephaniah Burton
• The Tall Man (1960–1962) (2 episodes) as Judge Roy A. Barlow/Cyrus Canfield
• Thriller ("The Weird Tailor", 1961) as Mr. Smith
• Bat Masterson (Tempest at Tioga Pass, 1961) as Clyde Richards
• Route 66 (Effigy in Snow, 1961) as Mr. Fontaine
• The Outer Limits ("The Invisibles", 1963, and "Production and Decay of Strange Particles", 1964) as Governor Lawrence K Hillerman / Dr. Marshall
• The Twilight Zone ("The Long Morrow", 1964) as Dr. Bixler
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964) (Season 2 Episode 25: "The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow") as Hillary Prine
• Peyton Place (1965–1968) as Martin Peyton
• Get Smart (1968) as Mr. Fitzmaurice

References

1. Jarrett, Diane (July 2019). "George Macready: A Loving Parent". Classic Images (529): 58–67.
2. Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 467. ISBN 9781476625997. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
3. Obituary Variety, July 11, 1973, page 63.
4. Monush, Barry (2003). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 456. ISBN 9781557835512. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
5. "Macready Got Scar in Wreck". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. August 20, 1961. p. TV24. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
6. Gordon, Dr. Roger L. (2018). Supporting Actors in Motion Pictures: Volume II. Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance Publishing. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-4809-5841-8.
7. "George Macready Type-Cast Again". The Roanoke Times. October 18, 1958. p. 16. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
8. "Valuable Scar". The Modesto Bee. October 19, 1958. p. G-3. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
9. "George Macready, the 'Villain' in Many Plays and Films, Dies", The New York Times (Manhattan), July 4, 1973, p. 18. ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Ann Arbor, Michigan; subscription access through The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.
10. Williams, Lucy Chase, The Complete Films of Vincent Price (Citadel Press, 1995), page. 24

External links

• George Macready at IMDb
• George Macready at the Internet Broadway Database