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59-765: The series originated on radio in the 1940s as Theatre Guild on the Air . Organized in 1919 to improve the quality of American theater, the Theatre Guild first experimented with radio productions in Theatre Guild Dramas , a CBS series which ran from December 6, 1943 to February 29, 1944. Actress-playwright Armina Marshall (1895–1991), a co-administrator of the Theatre Guild, headed the Guild's newly created Radio Department, and in 1945, Theatre Guild on

118-484: A Bachelor of Arts in performing arts and drama. He played banjo at Haverford and also at Columbia, where he played with a dixieland jazz band that had several different names. When he booked a gig, he billed the group as Bruno Lynch and his Imperial Jazz Band. The group, which later settled on the name Red Onion Jazz Band, played at Segal's first wedding. Segal served in the United States Army during

177-619: A Bleecker Street coffeehouse and whose ranks included Buck Henry and Theodore J. Flicker . Segal continued to perform on Broadway with roles in Gideon (1961–62) by Paddy Chayefsky , which ran for 236 performances, as well as Rattle of a Simple Man (1963), an adaptation of a British hit, with Tammy Grimes and Edward Woodward . He was signed to a Columbia Pictures contract in 1961, making his film debut in The Young Doctors . Segal made several television appearances in

236-475: A bar mitzvah , he said: I'm afraid not. I went to a Passover Seder at Groucho Marx 's once and he kept saying, "When do we get to the wine?" So that's my [Jewish] experience. I went to [a friend's] bar mitzvah, and that was the only time I was in Temple Beth Shalom. [Jewish life] wasn't happening that much at the time. People's car tires were slashed in front of the temple. I was once kicked down

295-468: A flight of stairs by some kids from [the local parochial school]. Segal became interested in acting at the age of nine, when he saw Alan Ladd in This Gun for Hire . "I knew the revolver and the trench coat were an illusion and I didn't care," said Segal. "I liked the sense of adventure and control." He also started playing the banjo at a young age, later stating: "I started off with the ukulele when I

354-632: A heroic ride inspector in Rollercoaster (1977), and as a wealthy serial restaurant entrepreneur in Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978). Other films starring Segal from this time include The Girl Who Couldn't Say No (1968), Russian Roulette (1975), and The Black Bird (1975). Segal co-hosted the 48th Academy Awards in 1976, alongside Gene Kelly , Goldie Hawn , Walter Matthau , and Robert Shaw . During

413-702: A leader of the FLN in Lost Command (1966), and a Cagney -esque gangster in Roger Corman 's The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967). Segal also appeared in several prominent television films, playing Biff in an acclaimed production of Death of a Salesman (1966) next to Lee J. Cobb , a gangster in an adaptation of The Desperate Hours (1967), and George in an adaptation of Of Mice and Men (1968). The latter two films were both directed by Ted Kotcheff , with whom he worked again several times. Segal

472-641: A romantic comedy starring Segal and Barbra Streisand and written by his former improv teammate Buck Henry, was particularly popular; and though Segal played against type as a dangerous computer scientist in The Terminal Man (1974), he used his popular appeal as a card shark in The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox (1976), as a suburbanite-turned-bank robber in Fun with Dick and Jane (1977), as

531-489: A socialist. His oldest brother, John, worked in the hops brokerage business and was an innovator in the cultivation of new hop varieties; he had a farm in Grandview, Washington where George often helped in the summers. The middle brother, Fred, was a screenwriter; and his sister Greta died of pneumonia before Segal was born. Segal's family was Jewish , but he was raised in a secular household. When asked if he had had

590-531: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the category of Television. Segal was married three times. He married film editor Marion Segal Freed in 1956, who would go on to work as an associate producer or editor on three of his films. They had two daughters and were together until their divorce in 1983. From 1983 until her death in 1996, he was married to Linda Rogoff, a one-time manager of The Pointer Sisters whom he met at Carnegie Hall when he played

649-518: The Rotterdam with Hayes and Cyril Ritchard . Since then they have hosted more than thirty cruises, each with seven or eight performers. Among them have been Alan Arkin , Zoe Caldwell , Anne Jackson , Cherry Jones , Richard Kiley , Eartha Kitt , Patricia Neal , Lynn Redgrave , Gena Rowlands , Jean Stapleton , Eli Wallach , and Lee Roy Reams , who served as the program's resident director. The last Broadway play produced by The Theatre Guild

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708-652: The Korean War . While there, he played in a band called Corporal Bruno's Sad Sack Six. After college and the army, Segal eventually studied at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and at HB Studio with Uta Hagen and got a job as an understudy in the 1956 off-Broadway production of The Iceman Cometh starring Jason Robards . He appeared in Antony and Cleopatra for Joseph Papp and joined an improvisational group called The Premise, which performed at

767-634: The Till case in Mississippi, where a young Negro boy was kidnapped and killed by two white men who went to trial and were exonerated on both counts. The righteous and continuing wrath of the Northern press opened no eyes and touched no consciences in the little town in Mississippi where the two men were tried. It was like a cold wind that made them huddle together for protection against an outside force which they could equate with an adversary. It struck me at

826-1095: The West End . From 1997 to 2003, Segal had his most prominent role in years when he starred in the NBC workplace sitcom Just Shoot Me! as Jack Gallo , the successful yet often oblivious owner and publisher of a New York City fashion magazine. For this role, he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1999 and 2000 as well as a Satellite Award in 2002. The show, which also starred David Spade and Laura San Giacomo , among others, and which once aired between iconic sitcoms Friends and Seinfeld , lasted for seven seasons and 148 episodes. After finishing his run on Just Shoot Me , Segal appeared in supporting roles in films such as Heights (2005) and 2012 (2009). He and Jill Clayburgh cameoed as Jake Gyllenhaal 's parents in Love & Other Drugs (2010), reuniting

885-508: The 1970s and 1980s, Segal appeared as a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson , and occasionally as a guest host. His appearances were marked by eccentric banter with Johnny Carson and were usually punctuated by bursts of banjo playing. In addition to playing banjo while appearing on The Tonight Show , Segal played the instrument in several of his acting roles and sang in others, such as Blume in Love . George Segal and

944-528: The Air embarked on its ambitious plan to bring Broadway theater to radio with leading actors in major productions. It premiered September 9, 1945 on ABC with Burgess Meredith , Henry Daniell and Cecil Humphreys in Wings Over Europe , a play by Robert Nichols and Maurice Browne which the Theatre Guild had staged on Broadway in 1928–29. Within a year the series drew 10 to 12 million listeners each week. Presenting both classic and contemporary plays,

1003-619: The Boys (1991), The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), Flirting with Disaster (1996), 2012 (2009), and Love & Other Drugs (2010). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and won two Golden Globe Awards , including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in A Touch of Class . On television, he

1062-658: The Boys (1991), To Die For (1995), The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), Flirting with Disaster (1996), It's My Party (1996), and The Cable Guy (1996). Additionally, he had guest appearances on various shows such as Murder She Wrote and The Larry Sanders Show and continued to appear in television films such as Seasons of the Heart (1994), Houdini (1998), and The Linda McCartney Story (2000). In 1999, he briefly performed in Yasmina Reza 's Art on Broadway, and in 2001 he reprised his performance in

1121-550: The Dirtwater Fox (1976), Fun with Dick and Jane (1977), Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), and The Last Married Couple in America (1980). He was one of the first American film actors to rise to leading man status with an unchanged Jewish surname, helping pave the way for other major actors of his generation. Later in his career, he appeared in supporting roles in films such as Carbon Copy (1981), Stick (1985), Look Who's Talking (1989), For

1180-415: The Guild was engaged to assemble a U.S. theatre company, headed by Helen Hayes , to tour the capitals of Europe and South America with works by Tennessee Williams , Thornton Wilder , and William Gibson . In 1968, the Guild became involved in the travel field by taking 25 of its subscribers to European capitals to see plays. In 1975, it instituted its Theatre At Sea program with a 17-day cruise aboard

1239-504: The Imperial Jazzband released the album A Touch of Ragtime in 1974, with Segal on banjo. He made frequent television appearances with the "Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band", whose members included actor Conrad Janis on trombone, and in 1981 they performed live at Carnegie Hall . Segal reunited with his Touch of Class co-star Jackson and director Frank in another European-set romantic comedy, Lost and Found (1979), but

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1298-506: The Orange Bowl". Many notable writers contributed episodes, including Ira Levin , Richard Maibaum and Rod Serling . The program also broadcast one-hour musical versions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . The latter was broadcast on November 20, 1957, with a cast including Jimmy Boyd , Earle Hyman , Basil Rathbone , Jack Carson and Florence Henderson . Boyd had previously played Finn in

1357-526: The Till case." I shrugged it off, answering, "If the shoe fits..." This is all it took. From that moment on Noon on Doomsday was the dramatization of the Till case. And no matter how the Theatre Guild or the agency representing U.S. Steel denied it, the impression persisted. The offices of the Theatre Guild, on West 53rd Street in New York City, took on all the aspects of a football field ten seconds after

1416-488: The air several months later, but in a welter of publicity that came from some 15,000 letters and wires from White Citizens' Councils and the like protesting the production of the play. In news stories, the play had been erroneously described as "The story of the Till case". At one point earlier, during an interview on the Coast, I told a reporter from one of the news services the story of Noon on Doomsday . He said, "Sounds like

1475-542: The cast of Columbia Pictures ' medical drama The New Interns (1964), and the studio then put him under long-term contract. The role ultimately earned him the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year , alongside Harve Presnell and Chaim Topol . In 1965, Segal played an egocentric painter in an ensemble cast led by Vivien Leigh and Lee Marvin in Stanley Kramer 's acclaimed drama Ship of Fools , which

1534-789: The co-stars 46 years after they first worked together in The Terminal Man . Additionally, Segal worked more frequently as a voice actor, including a role in the English-language version of Studio Ghibli 's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) and a comedic reprisal of his Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? role in a 2018 episode of The Simpsons . His most recent film performance was alongside Christopher Plummer in Elsa & Fred (2014). In other roles, Segal played talent manager Murray Berenson in three episodes of

1593-498: The earlier telecast of Tom Sawyer . Rod Serling was not regarded as a controversial scriptwriter until he contributed to The United States Steel Hour , as he recalled in his collection Patterns (1957): In the television seasons of 1952 and 1953, almost every television play I sold to the major networks was "non-controversial". This is to say that in terms of their themes they were socially inoffensive, and dealt with no current human problem in which battle lines might be drawn. After

1652-525: The early 1960s, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents , Armstrong Circle Theatre , and Naked City , and appeared in the well-known World War II film The Longest Day (1962). He also had a small role in Act One (1963) and a more prominent part in the western Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964) alongside Yul Brynner . Segal came to Hollywood from New York City to star in a TV series with Robert Taylor that never aired. Nonetheless, he joined

1711-501: The eccentric but lovable grandfather of a semi-autobiographical family based on that of series creator Adam F. Goldberg . The long-running series entered its eighth season in 2021, and Segal was part of the regular cast up until his death in March of that year. Throughout the show, Segal had appeared in most, though not all, episodes and, as in some of his earlier roles, he played the banjo several times on-screen. In 2017, Segal received

1770-587: The episode "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon" was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation . Theatre Guild The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner , Philip Moeller , Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn . Langner's wife, Armina Marshall , then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of the Washington Square Players . Its original purpose

1829-523: The field of musical theatre , the Guild has promoted works by Richard Rodgers , teamed with both Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II , George and Ira Gershwin , Jule Styne , and Meredith Willson , all of which have become classics. The Guild's 1930 production of Roar, China! was Broadway 's first play with a majority Asian cast. Warren Caro served as the organization's executive director from 1946 through 1967. Under President John F. Kennedy ,

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1888-480: The film was not a success. Neither was The Last Married Couple in America (1980) with Natalie Wood . Segal famously pulled out of the lead role in Blake Edwards ' hit comedy 10 (1979), resulting in his being replaced by Dudley Moore and sued by Edwards. With a few exceptions, in films such as Denzel Washington 's film debut Carbon Copy (1981), Burt Reynolds 's crime drama Stick (1985), and

1947-411: The final whistle blew. Theater Guild on the Air won a Peabody Award for drama in 1947. The United States Steel Hour won Emmys in 1954 for Best Dramatic Program and Best New Program. The following year it won an Emmy for Best Dramatic Series, and Alex Segal was nominated for Best Direction. It received eight Emmy nominations in 1956, then one nomination for the years 1957, 1959, and 1961. In 1962,

2006-481: The greatest gambling film of all time. In one of his most successful roles, Segal played a philandering husband in Melvin Frank 's continental romantic comedy A Touch of Class (1973) opposite Glenda Jackson . The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture , Jackson won an Oscar for her performance, and Segal won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy , which

2065-573: The instrument in several of his acting roles and on late-night television. George Segal Jr. was born in New York City, the youngest of four children, to Fannie Blanche Segal ( née Bodkin) and George Segal Sr., a malt and hop agent. He spent much of his childhood in Great Neck, New York . All four of Segal's grandparents were Russian-Jewish immigrants, and his maternal grandparents changed their surname from Slobodkin to Bodkin. A paternal great-grandfather ran for governor of Massachusetts as

2124-582: The lead role in Sidney Lumet 's Bye Bye Braverman (1968), starred with Robert Redford in Peter Yates 's diamond heist comedy The Hot Rock (1972), starred in the title role of Paul Mazursky 's acclaimed romantic comedy Blume in Love (1973), and starred alongside Elliott Gould as a gambling addict in Robert Altman 's classic California Split (1974), considered by some to be

2183-470: The next decade and a half, Segal consistently starred in notable films across a variety of genres including The Quiller Memorandum (1966), The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967), No Way to Treat a Lady (1968), Where's Poppa? (1970), The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), The Hot Rock (1972), Blume in Love (1973), A Touch of Class (1973), California Split (1974), The Duchess and

2242-497: The popular family comedy Look Who's Talking (1989), Segal received fewer prominent roles in the 1980s. Instead, he began to star more frequently in television films, such as The Deadly Game (1982) for which he received a CableAce Award nomination for best actor in a theatrical or non-musical production, The Cold Room (1984), and The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood (1984). He also starred in two short-lived television series,

2301-471: The production of Patterns , when my things were considerably easier to sell, in a mad and impetuous moment I had the temerity to tackle a theme that was definitely two-sided in its implications. I think this story is worth repeating. The script was called Noon on Doomsday . It was produced by the Theatre Guild on The United States Steel Hour in April 1956. The play, in its original form, followed very closely

2360-496: The program was broadcast for eight years before it became a television series. Playwrights adapted to radio ranged from Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde to Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams . Numerous Broadway and Hollywood stars acted in the series, including Ingrid Bergman , Ronald Colman , Bette Davis , Rex Harrison , Helen Hayes , Katharine Hepburn , Gene Kelly , Deborah Kerr , Sam Levene , Agnes Moorehead , Basil Rathbone and Mary Sinclair . One notable performance

2419-567: The same year, Segal played banjo and sang with The Smothers Brothers when they performed Phil Ochs 's " Draft Dodger Rag " on their CBS television show . For over ten years after his success with Woolf , Segal received many notable film roles, often working with major filmmakers and becoming a significant figure in the New Hollywood movement. He starred in Carl Reiner 's celebrated dark comedy Where's Poppa? (1970), played

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2478-416: The semi-autobiographical sitcom Take Five (1987) and the crime drama Murphy's Law (1988–89). In 1985, he returned to Broadway in a short-lived production of Requiem for a Heavyweight by Rod Serling and in 1990 toured in a play called Double Act . He later reflected on his career trajectory: In the first 10 years, I was playing all different kinds of things. I loved the variety, and never had

2537-407: The sense of being a leading man but a character actor. Then I got frozen into this "urban" character. About the time of "The Last Married Couple in America" (1980) I remember Natalie (Wood) saying to me ... "It's one typed role after another, and pretty soon you forget everything. You forget why you're here, why you're doing it." Then my marriage started to fall apart ... I was disenchanted, I

2596-445: The show to television. The September 8, 1946, episode was "Angel Street", starring Hayes, Victor Jory , and Leo G. Carroll . The television version aired from October 27, 1953, to 1955 on ABC , and from 1955 to 1963 on CBS . Like its radio predecessor, it was a live dramatic anthology series. During its first season on television, the program alternated bi-weekly with The Motorola Television Hour . By its final year in 1963, it

2655-519: The show's production of No Time for Sergeants , and would reprise the lead role in the 1958 big screen adaptation. In 1956–57, Read Morgan made his television debut on the Steel Hour as a young boxer in two episodes titled "Sideshow". Child actor Darryl Richard , later of The Donna Reed Show , also made his acting debut in the episode "The Bogey Man", which aired January 18, 1955. In 1960, Johnny Carson starred with Anne Francis in "Queen of

2714-560: The television series Entourage (2009), guest starred in shows such as Boston Legal , Private Practice , and Pushing Daisies , appeared in comedic short videos such as Chutzpuh, This Is , and starred in the TV Land sitcom Retired at 35 (2011–2012), alongside his Bye Bye Braverman co-star Jessica Walter . Segal had another success when he starred in the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs (2013–2021), playing Albert "Pops" Solomon,

2773-419: The time that the entire trial and its aftermath was simply "They’re bastards, but they’re our bastards." So I wrote a play in which my antagonist was not just a killer but a regional idea. It was the story of a little town banding together to protect its own against outside condemnation. At no point in the conception of my story was there a black-white issue. The victim was an old Jew who ran a pawnshop. The killer

2832-431: Was State Fair in 1996. George Segal George Segal Jr. (February 13, 1934 – March 23, 2021) was an American actor. He became popular in the 1960s and 1970s for playing both dramatic and comedic roles. After first rising to prominence with roles in acclaimed films such as Ship of Fools (1965) and King Rat (1965), he co-starred in the classic drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Through

2891-417: Was John Gielgud as Hamlet , in an expanded 90-minute broadcast with Dorothy McGuire as Ophelia. Fredric March was heard in his only performance as Cyrano de Bergerac , a role he played neither onstage or onscreen. The series also featured the only radio broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein 's flop musical, Allegro . The radio series was broadcast until June 7, 1953, when U.S. Steel decided to move

2950-604: Was a kid in Great Neck. A friend had a red Harold Teen model; it won my heart. When I got to high school, I realized you couldn't play in a band with a ukulele , so I moved on to the four-string banjo." When his father died in 1947, Segal moved to New York City with his mother. He graduated from George School , a Quaker boarding school in Pennsylvania , in 1951 and attended Haverford College . He graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University in 1955 with

3009-401: Was a neurotic malcontent who lashed out at something or someone who might be materially and physically the scapegoat for his own unhappy, purposeless, miserable existence. Philosophically I felt that I was on sound ground. I felt that I was dealing with a sociological phenomenon—the need of human beings to have a scapegoat to rationalize their own shortcomings. Noon on Doomsday finally went on

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3068-403: Was best known for his regular roles in two popular sitcoms, playing Jack Gallo on Just Shoot Me! (1997–2003) and Albert "Pops" Solomon on The Goldbergs (2013–2021). Segal was also an accomplished banjo player. (In addition to the banjo, he frequently played other small lute instruments such as the ukulele and dobro on TV and in his movies.) He released three albums and performed with

3127-526: Was later selected to the National Film Registry , is arguably Segal's best known and, for his role, he was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe. The same year, Segal released his debut LP, The Yama Yama Man . The title track is a ragtime version of the 1908 tune " The Yama Yama Man " with horns and banjos. Segal released the album at a time when he appeared regularly playing banjo on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . In

3186-664: Was loaned to Warner Bros. for Mike Nichols ' directorial debut Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), a now-classic adaptation of the Edward Albee play . Nichols had previously directed Segal in a 1964 Off-Broadway play titled The Knack and cast him again in Woolf after Robert Redford had turned down the role. In the four-person ensemble piece, Segal played the young faculty member, Nick, alongside Elizabeth Taylor , Richard Burton , and Sandy Dennis . The film, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and

3245-596: Was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture . The same year, he also had the title role of a scheming POW in the well-regarded war drama King Rat (a role originally meant for Frank Sinatra ) and received acclaim for both performances. In other notable film appearances, he played a secret service agent on assignment in Berlin in The Quiller Memorandum (1966) (a role originally meant for Charlton Heston ), an Algerian paratrooper who becomes

3304-1112: Was the last surviving live anthology series from the Golden Age of Television . It was still on the air during President John F. Kennedy 's famous April 11, 1962, confrontation with steel companies over the hefty raising of their prices. The show featured a range of television acting talent, and its episodes explored a wide variety of contemporary social issues, from the mundane to the controversial. Notable guest star actors included Martin Balsam , Tallulah Bankhead , Ralph Bellamy , James Dean , Dolores del Río , Keir Dullea , Andy Griffith , Dick Van Dyke , Rex Harrison , Celeste Holm , Sally Ann Howes , Jack Klugman , Sam Levene , Peter Lorre , Walter Matthau , Bennye Gatteys , Paul Newman , George Peppard , Suzanne Storrs , Albert Salmi , George Segal and Johnny Washbrook . Washbrook played Johnny Sullivan in The Roads Home in his first ever screen role. Griffith made his onscreen debut in

3363-622: Was the second Golden Globe of his career. During this time, he had many other leading roles in various genres. He played a perplexed police detective in No Way to Treat a Lady (1968), a war-weary platoon commander in The Bridge at Remagen (1969), a man laying waste to his marriage in Loving (1970), and a hairdresser-turned- junkie in Born to Win (1971). The Owl and the Pussycat (1970),

3422-628: Was to produce non-commercial works by American and foreign playwrights . It differed from other theaters at the time in that its board of directors shared the responsibility of choosing plays, management, and production. The Theatre Guild contributed greatly to the success of Broadway from the 1920s throughout the 1970s. The Guild has produced a total of 228 plays on Broadway, including 18 by George Bernard Shaw and seven by Eugene O'Neill . Other major playwrights introduced to theatre-going Americans include Robert E. Sherwood , Maxwell Anderson , Sidney Howard , William Saroyan , and Philip Barry . In

3481-631: Was turning in on myself, I was doing a lot of self-destructive things ... there were drugs ... I'm also sure I was guilty of spoiled behavior. I think it's impossible when that star rush comes not to get a little full of yourself, which is what I was. Nevertheless, after this relatively dry period, Segal re-established himself as a successful character actor in the 1990s. Though he appeared in some less-acclaimed films, he also worked with directors such as Mark Rydell , Gus Van Sant , Barbra Streisand, David O. Russell , Randal Kleiser , and Ben Stiller , respectively, in well-received films such as For

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