george grizzard

NEW YORK ― Broadway and screen actor George Grizzard, who won acclaim, and a Tony Award, for performing in Edward Albee's dramas, has died. He was 79.

Mr. Grizzard died Tuesday of complications from lung cancer, according to his agent.

Mr. Grizzard's film roles included a bullying U.S. senator in "Advise and Consent" in 1962 and an oilman in "Comes a Horseman" in 1978. On television, Mr. Grizzard made several appearances on "Law & Order" and won a best supporting actor Emmy for the 1980 TV movie "The Oldest Living Graduate."

His TV credits stretch back to the '50s, when he appeared in various anthology series such as "Playhouse 90."

But he considered himself primarily a stage actor.

He made his Broadway debut in 1955 as Paul Newman's brother in "The Desperate Hours." He was nominated for Tonys for "The Disenchanted" in 1959 and "Big Fish, Little Fish" in 1961.

Among his other credits were Neil Simon's 1976 "California Suite," and the 2001 drama "Judgment at Nuremberg." He portrayed former Seattle Times political writer and columnist Dick Larsen in the 1986 TV movie on the Ted Bundy case, "The Deliberate Stranger," based on Larsen's book.

Mr. Grizzard appeared in the original 1962 production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and won a Tony in 1996 for a revival of a 1967 play, "A Delicate Balance."

He is survived by his partner, William Tynan.

George Grizzard, a veteran actor who originated the role of Nick in the 1962 play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and earned acclaim for his ability to add depth -- and often mystery -- to the wide range of characters he inhabited, has died. He was 79.

Grizzard, who also appeared in films and on television, died Monday at a New York City hospital of complications from lung cancer, his agent, Clifford Stevens, confirmed.

"What was remarkable about his acting was he didn't seem to be acting at all," said Andre Bishop, artistic director of New York's Lincoln Center Theater, where Grizzard sometimes performed. "There was no sense of effort or strain. . . . The curtain went up and there was George, just being this character."

In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Grizzard played Hamlet, Henry V and President John Adams. He was Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," a highly principled college professor in A.R. Gurney's "Another Antigone," and he conversed with human-size lizards in Edward Albee's "Seascape."

Grizzard won a Tony Award in 1996 for his performance as Tobias in a revival of Albee's "A Delicate Balance." The play centers on Tobias, an upper-middle-class man whose dysfunctional family considers the prospect of allowing two frightened friends to live in their home.

His approach to such characters distinguished his performances.

"He had some kind of connection to an inner pain that made the seemingly good-old-boy characters that he often played become men who had some kind of mystery inside them," Bishop said. "That was just part of George. He brought that to these parts."

Born in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., on April 1, 1928, Grizzard was an only child and often made up playmates -- a practice that was almost "like being in plays," he once said. When he was 7 his family moved to Washington, D.C., where he spent most of his childhood.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1949, Grizzard worked in advertising but found he had more fun performing in local theater. Eventually he segued to acting full time.

From the beginning, Grizzard mixed stage work with film and television performances. In the movies, he played a U.S. senator in "Advise & Consent" (1962) and an oilman in "Comes a Horseman" (1978). In 1980, he won a supporting actor Emmy Award for "The Oldest Living Graduate," with Henry Fonda and Cloris Leachman. Grizzard plays a man who clashes over property with his father, the oldest graduate of a Texas military academy.

Regular work in television and film gave him a reprieve from the long, hard stretches of nightly live performances. Even when a play was a success, as were many, the stage could be confining.

"It's like being in a velvet jail," Grizzard told the Greensboro, N.C., News & Record in 1996. "It's nice to have the play and the success, but you can't do anything or go anywhere. I don't like to be in plays for long runs."

Still, the stage remained his main love. In 1955, Grizzard made his major debut playing Paul Newman's younger brother in Joseph Hayes' "The Desperate Hours."

"When we were on the stage together, he was the best thing around," Newman said in a statement to The Times.

That success was followed by performances in Kyle Crichton's "The Happiest Millionaire" and "The Disenchanted" by Budd Schulberg and Harvey Breit, for which Grizzard received a Tony nomination. In 1962, Grizzard played Nick in "Virginia Woolf," the emotionally wrenching tale of an older couple who channel their anger and bitterness toward a younger Nick and his wife. The play ran for 664 performances.

But after three months, Grizzard left the play and headed to Minneapolis, where the Tyrone Guthrie Theater was preparing for its inaugural performance, a production of "Hamlet." Grizzard won the title role.

"It took all the courage I could summon," he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 1995. "After 'Hamlet,' nothing scares you."

Over the years, Grizzard turned down parts if he didn't agree with the playwright's view and worked with diligence to illuminate that view if he did.

"He was an actor's actor," Stevens said.
Noted Broadway actor George Grizzard dies at 79: George Grizzard, a versatile actor who achieved his greatest renown on the stage, playing everything from Shakespeare to Shaw, from Neil Simon to Edward Albee, died yesterday in Manhattan. He was 79 and lived in Manhattan. His death, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, was caused by complications of lung cancer, said his partner, William Tynan, who is Mr. Grizzard's only survivor."

New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp dies after cancer battle.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Harlow Raymond Cuadra and Joseph Manuel Kerekes in the January slaying of gay porn producer Bryan Kocis: "Prosecutors said they have two legal reasons to put the two Virginia Beach, Va., men to death in the slaying. One, they said, is the men killed Kocis while perpetrating another felony. In this case, the other felonies are robbery, arson, theft and criminal conspiracy, the prosecutors said. Two, they said, is that the men created a grave risk to other people while committing the killing."

Harvey Fierstein reinvents A Catered Affair.

Republican state Senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis and Democratic challenger J. Chapman Petersen battle for the gay vote in Virginia: "Davis is fighting for her political life against what all agree is an overwhelming Democratic advantage. As a result, her race with Petersen at times looks more like a nomination fight between progressive Democrats than a Virginia general election. Davis talks often of her support for greater gun restrictions and increased transportation funding. And in front of some audiences, she talks about her belief in gay rights."

More Milo all tied up.

Pianist Marc Peloquin premieres work based on gay sadomasochism: "Its rigor, its rugged insistence and its almost painful pianistic difficulties bring to my mind the intensity of the S-M experience."

University of Utah Pride Week images censored by school in agreement with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center for being overtly sexual.

A group of San Diego clergy protest at City Hall over the city's support for overturning same-sex marriage ban: "The group was led by Bishop Roy Dixon from Faith Chapel Church of God in Christ, Pastor Timothy Winters of the Bayview Baptist Church and Bishop George McKinney of St. Stephen's Church of God in Christ. They touted the 2000 passage of California's Proposition 22, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman only."

Director Q. Allan Brocka (Eating Out) documents the recent art gallery opening of "Just Britney".

Michael C. Hall's Dexter returns for second season with record-breaking ratings: "Showtime's 'Dexter' returned with a vengeance Sunday, becoming the cabler's first series to score more than 1 million viewers with a premiere seg. Skein's second-season opener snagged 1.09 million eyeballs at 9 p.m., a whopping 67% above the serial killer drama's 2006 series premiere. More impressively, seg was up nearly 40% over the show's 2006 season average of 624,000 viewers, according to Nielsen data." Dexter is great. If you have a chance to watch it, do.

Second death twist in mysterious case of NYC club icon Dean Johnson.

Britney Spears is not a Chris Crocker fan: "She thinks he's creepy and that all his videos are an obvious attempt at fame. She finds it insulting and difficult to watch."

Ubisoft, makers of a Scrabble game for the Nintendo DS, has apologized after some users became offended that the game contained the word "lesbo" as an allowable word choice: "In the game there is a 'junior' version that omits offensive words, but lesbo is not considered an offensive word in the Scrabble dictionary. Ubisoft merely apologized if offense was caused, they are not pulling the game."

Finding a letter from Joan Crawford in the trash. NEW YORK ― Broadway and screen actor George Grizzard, who won acclaim, and a Tony Award, for performing in Edward Albee's dramas, has died. He was 79.

Mr. Grizzard died Tuesday of complications from lung cancer, according to his agent.

Mr. Grizzard's film roles included a bullying U.S. senator in "Advise and Consent" in 1962 and an oilman in "Comes a Horseman" in 1978. On television, Mr. Grizzard made several appearances on "Law & Order" and won a best supporting actor Emmy for the 1980 TV movie "The Oldest Living Graduate."

His TV credits stretch back to the '50s, when he appeared in various anthology series such as "Playhouse 90."

But he considered himself primarily a stage actor.

He made his Broadway debut in 1955 as Paul Newman's brother in "The Desperate Hours." He was nominated for Tonys for "The Disenchanted" in 1959 and "Big Fish, Little Fish" in 1961.

Among his other credits were Neil Simon's 1976 "California Suite," and the 2001 drama "Judgment at Nuremberg." He portrayed former Seattle Times political writer and columnist Dick Larsen in the 1986 TV movie on the Ted Bundy case, "The Deliberate Stranger," based on Larsen's book.

Mr. Grizzard appeared in the original 1962 production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and won a Tony in 1996 for a revival of a 1967 play, "A Delicate Balance."

He is survived by his partner, William Tynan.

George Grizzard, a veteran actor who originated the role of Nick in the 1962 play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and earned acclaim for his ability to add depth -- and often mystery -- to the wide range of characters he inhabited, has died. He was 79.

Grizzard, who also appeared in films and on television, died Monday at a New York City hospital of complications from lung cancer, his agent, Clifford Stevens, confirmed.

"What was remarkable about his acting was he didn't seem to be acting at all," said Andre Bishop, artistic director of New York's Lincoln Center Theater, where Grizzard sometimes performed. "There was no sense of effort or strain. . . . The curtain went up and there was George, just being this character."

In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Grizzard played Hamlet, Henry V and President John Adams. He was Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," a highly principled college professor in A.R. Gurney's "Another Antigone," and he conversed with human-size lizards in Edward Albee's "Seascape."

Grizzard won a Tony Award in 1996 for his performance as Tobias in a revival of Albee's "A Delicate Balance." The play centers on Tobias, an upper-middle-class man whose dysfunctional family considers the prospect of allowing two frightened friends to live in their home.

His approach to such characters distinguished his performances.

"He had some kind of connection to an inner pain that made the seemingly good-old-boy characters that he often played become men who had some kind of mystery inside them," Bishop said. "That was just part of George. He brought that to these parts."

Born in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., on April 1, 1928, Grizzard was an only child and often made up playmates -- a practice that was almost "like being in plays," he once said. When he was 7 his family moved to Washington, D.C., where he spent most of his childhood.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1949, Grizzard worked in advertising but found he had more fun performing in local theater. Eventually he segued to acting full time.

From the beginning, Grizzard mixed stage work with film and television performances. In the movies, he played a U.S. senator in "Advise & Consent" (1962) and an oilman in "Comes a Horseman" (1978). In 1980, he won a supporting actor Emmy Award for "The Oldest Living Graduate," with Henry Fonda and Cloris Leachman. Grizzard plays a man who clashes over property with his father, the oldest graduate of a Texas military academy.

Regular work in television and film gave him a reprieve from the long, hard stretches of nightly live performances. Even when a play was a success, as were many, the stage could be confining.

"It's like being in a velvet jail," Grizzard told the Greensboro, N.C., News & Record in 1996. "It's nice to have the play and the success, but you can't do anything or go anywhere. I don't like to be in plays for long runs."

Still, the stage remained his main love. In 1955, Grizzard made his major debut playing Paul Newman's younger brother in Joseph Hayes' "The Desperate Hours."

"When we were on the stage together, he was the best thing around," Newman said in a statement to The Times.

That success was followed by performances in Kyle Crichton's "The Happiest Millionaire" and "The Disenchanted" by Budd Schulberg and Harvey Breit, for which Grizzard received a Tony nomination. In 1962, Grizzard played Nick in "Virginia Woolf," the emotionally wrenching tale of an older couple who channel their anger and bitterness toward a younger Nick and his wife. The play ran for 664 performances.

But after three months, Grizzard left the play and headed to Minneapolis, where the Tyrone Guthrie Theater was preparing for its inaugural performance, a production of "Hamlet." Grizzard won the title role.

"It took all the courage I could summon," he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 1995. "After 'Hamlet,' nothing scares you."

Over the years, Grizzard turned down parts if he didn't agree with the playwright's view and worked with diligence to illuminate that view if he did.

"He was an actor's actor," Stevens said.
Noted Broadway actor George Grizzard dies at 79: George Grizzard, a versatile actor who achieved his greatest renown on the stage, playing everything from Shakespeare to Shaw, from Neil Simon to Edward Albee, died yesterday in Manhattan. He was 79 and lived in Manhattan. His death, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, was caused by complications of lung cancer, said his partner, William Tynan, who is Mr. Grizzard's only survivor."

New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp dies after cancer battle.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Harlow Raymond Cuadra and Joseph Manuel Kerekes in the January slaying of gay porn producer Bryan Kocis: "Prosecutors said they have two legal reasons to put the two Virginia Beach, Va., men to death in the slaying. One, they said, is the men killed Kocis while perpetrating another felony. In this case, the other felonies are robbery, arson, theft and criminal conspiracy, the prosecutors said. Two, they said, is that the men created a grave risk to other people while committing the killing."

Harvey Fierstein reinvents A Catered Affair.

Republican state Senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis and Democratic challenger J. Chapman Petersen battle for the gay vote in Virginia: "Davis is fighting for her political life against what all agree is an overwhelming Democratic advantage. As a result, her race with Petersen at times looks more like a nomination fight between progressive Democrats than a Virginia general election. Davis talks often of her support for greater gun restrictions and increased transportation funding. And in front of some audiences, she talks about her belief in gay rights."

More Milo all tied up.

Pianist Marc Peloquin premieres work based on gay sadomasochism: "Its rigor, its rugged insistence and its almost painful pianistic difficulties bring to my mind the intensity of the S-M experience."

University of Utah Pride Week images censored by school in agreement with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center for being overtly sexual.

A group of San Diego clergy protest at City Hall over the city's support for overturning same-sex marriage ban: "The group was led by Bishop Roy Dixon from Faith Chapel Church of God in Christ, Pastor Timothy Winters of the Bayview Baptist Church and Bishop George McKinney of St. Stephen's Church of God in Christ. They touted the 2000 passage of California's Proposition 22, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman only."

Director Q. Allan Brocka (Eating Out) documents the recent art gallery opening of "Just Britney".

Michael C. Hall's Dexter returns for second season with record-breaking ratings: "Showtime's 'Dexter' returned with a vengeance Sunday, becoming the cabler's first series to score more than 1 million viewers with a premiere seg. Skein's second-season opener snagged 1.09 million eyeballs at 9 p.m., a whopping 67% above the serial killer drama's 2006 series premiere. More impressively, seg was up nearly 40% over the show's 2006 season average of 624,000 viewers, according to Nielsen data." Dexter is great. If you have a chance to watch it, do.

Second death twist in mysterious case of NYC club icon Dean Johnson.

Britney Spears is not a Chris Crocker fan: "She thinks he's creepy and that all his videos are an obvious attempt at fame. She finds it insulting and difficult to watch."

Ubisoft, makers of a Scrabble game for the Nintendo DS, has apologized after some users became offended that the game contained the word "lesbo" as an allowable word choice: "In the game there is a 'junior' version that omits offensive words, but lesbo is not considered an offensive word in the Scrabble dictionary. Ubisoft merely apologized if offense was caused, they are not pulling the game."

Finding a letter from Joan Crawford in the trash.