GEORGE SEGAL hits the B-I-G 80 today

The sun spit morning

Well, Mae ought to know. I never could see it.

re: THE SUN SPIT MORNING

Did you know that originally MONTGOMERY CLIFT & ELIZABETH TAYLOR had considered doing THE OWL & THE PUSSYCAT 5 years earlier ? Might've been pretty good. TAYLOR was very funny though she never really got a great comedic role in which to dazzle !!

Fun with Dick.....

R3, Ray Stark bought the film rights to The Owl & The Pussycat for Taylor and Burton.

Segal was strictly a dramatic actor until Bye Bye Braverman (1968). Then Pussycat, Where's Poppa, The Hot Rock (terrible movie with Robert Redford), A Touch of Class. He was an actor for the seventies.

Great in "Where's Poppa?" and "The Owl and the Pussycat."

A pretty good 4 string banjo player in his day.

He's one of those guys who made a ton of enjoyable movies. Great guy who constantly got offers to work.

Love him.

George is a comic genius.

If you want to see him at his best, my personal recommendations are The Owl & The Pussycat, and Where's Poppa.

Where's Poppa is so funny, that if I watch it now, I laugh as much as I did when it was first released.

Segal was very, very good in the overlooked 1981 film Carbon Copy, with a very young Denzel Washington. George was equally effective in both comedic and dramatic scenes. He even got to play a bit of banjo in a great scene with Jack Warden (IIRC--it's been YEARS since I last saw CC). He and Denzel had great chemistry.

On a side note, Denzel showed quite a flair for comedy in CC. I wish he would show that funny side on screen more often. Does he think being (deliberately) funny is somehow beneath him?

Man, I had such a crush on George Segal when I was a kid. He an Elizabeth Ashley were gorgeous in Ship of Fools.

He's the male Betty White. Still working as a regular on a weekly network sitcom (and one that has a FULL season, Betty). And was recently on a TVLand series that was cancelled.

Jesus, r10, why did you have to mention Carbon Copy? Absolutely the worst. Stupid, insulting, obvious and completely unfunny.

I'll mention one that's good:

No Way to Treat a Lady 1968

George had an incredible run as THE romantic comedy leading actor in the 1970s. He may not have had the glamor of Robert Redford but he had an ease with women which Redford lacked. It is said that his withdrawal from doing 10 put the industry against him and ended his run.

Always thought he was sexy, in a low-key way, back in the day.

Redford is so stiff and wooden and so preeningly aware of the camera. He ruined [italic]Out of Africa[/italic] by portraying Denis Finch-Hatton like he was Gary Cooper instead of an Englishman like he was. He has always been more concerned with his image than the performance.

He was so much fun in Just Shoot Me.

r13: His disappearance came from a HUGE coke problem.

He's like Jack Carson - he's great in everything he's in.

When I was a preteen the movie 'The Last Married Couple In America" got played a lot on cable and it seemed a bit naughty to my 12 year old self so I developed a little crush on him. I always thought he did a good job in most everything.

He was scheduled to do Lucky Lady (1975) with Liza and Burt but then a leg injury forced him to withdraw and he was replaced by Gene Hackman.

Love him. Was really sexy back in the day.

[R19] - Lucky Fellow. We like to call that.....

I would have faked lobotomy to get out of Lucky Lady, R19. Real stinker.

Great in "Where's Poppa." Funniest movie ever made.

Not someone with range in the usual sense (not an obvious technical or immersive actor), yet he seems to do well across drama and comedy. He is able to do light comedy as well as something like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. He's clearly stayed in demand but also seems to have a good sense of where he can do well.

He was an amazing Nick in that abortoin of a movie, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

He might have made 10 more believable that Bo Derek would be interested in him, rather than Dudley Moore.

Loved him and MTM as the neurotic Jewish parents in Flirting with Disaster. Which is a very overlooked movie in general, but that's another deal...

Back in the 90s, he and his wife were staying at the hotel where I worked. He was the nicest, and funniest guest. I served him breakfast. I liked that his wife was no glamour puss, more of a sweet grandmother. But they were both kind and warm. He had a self deprecating sense of humor when I mentioned how I blown away I was by everyone's performance in . .VIRGINIA WOOLF. He was open and easy to talk to and indulged me in being somewhat of a 'fan gurl'.

I met Goldie Hawn in the early 80s and she had made a film with George in the 70s called the Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox. I asked her about George because he was always one of my favorites and she said she just loved him & he was just wonderful to work with.

One of his early roles for TV was in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "A Nice Touch" opposite uber-ham Anne Baxter. He played an ambitious actor and had a tricky scene where he read badly for a director.

Musical-theatre buffs will rejoice to know that Segal's first job (more or less) was in the 1959 off-Broadway revival of Leave it To Jane.

Yes, George Segal sings Jerome Kern.

I would have preferred an amputation rather than being cast in "The Last Married Couple in America", R18.

Fun with Dick and Jane is one of my most favorite movies ever. Right next to Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox. He always struck me as the kind of man who would crack you up,then fuck the shit out of you. I always found him sexy.

George commented on his loss of leading man roles to the Los Angeles Times in 2011.

""Most of us get about 10 years at best [at the top]. As you get into playing father roles, the parts dry up because — I don't mean to say it's a sex thing — but you have that testosterone vitality. Then slowly you move into another category and there ain't as many jobs there. But there are certain actors, like Jack Nicholson, who crested and just kept going. I am in another group, whatever that group is, but I have been tremendously lucky. You just have to keep bellying up to the table."

Underrated hottie. 😍

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who always found him sexy. He's the kinda person who passed for sexy in the 70s which was full of more offbeat and "real" actors who looked like people who'd live next door. These days, everyone's so airbrushed with perfect abs.

He has a sexy voice too.

I always found him attractive and talented.

I mix him up with Alan Arkin, honestly.

I truly love both those actors, R39, but...WUT? Eye doctor much?

He lives in my town! I've seen him at the grocery store a couple of times, he's easy going and very likeable. He's now 85 but keeping it together. Loved him in 'Virginia Woolf' and 'Fun With Dick and Jane'.

R32, I would have preferred an amputation rather than brain cancer.

He reminded me a lot of my father, both in appearance and mannerisms, and it turns out he's only four years younger than my father would be.

Such an underrated movie.

Enviable career.

Putting a (nice) face to the compliments.

Yum!

I haven't thought of George Segal in forever, but I think he's wonderful in everything. That used to mean something.

How the heck did this thread get resurrected?

Not complaining, but... is George okay??

Why now?

I thought that she said that about Elvis.

80 is the new 40!