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| George C.Scott as Patton - One of the greatest movie performances - EVER |
After a week in Disneyland I took a break last weekend to resume watching old movies with my father-in-law who suffers from dementia. And yes, I can confirm that both Patton co-stars George C. Scott and Karl Malden are indeed dead. Interestingly enough, George C. Scott who refused to accept as Oscar also refused to mark his grave and Karl Malden who died in 2009 at the age of 97 was survived by his wife. He was married more to her than 70 years at the time of his passing. Patton is my favorite war movie to sit down and watch (at about 3 hours long). Six of the Magnificent Seven have also passed on to the great beyond with only actor Robert Vaughn still among the living. The Magnificent Seven is my second favorite Western ever behind Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter.
More trivia about the movies: George C. Scott apparently was one of the most intimidating actors ever. One well known actress who was appearing with Scott in a play on Broadway complained to the play's director Mike Nicolls (Academy Award / Tony Award winning director) "I'm a afraid of George." To which Nicolls replied "My dear, we're all afraid of George C. Scott".
Magnificent Seven costars Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen had a legendary dislike for each other. With Brynner getting the top billing, the actor was always thinking the McQueen was trying to steal the scenes in which the two actors appeared together (which he was if you watch the movie closely).
One of the great minor memories of my life was being able to see Yul Brynner live on stage in San Francisco give one of his great performances of The King and I. He did the role around the world more than 4000 times and won both an Academy and Tony Award for the playing the King. A great night once upon a time.
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| The Magnificent Seven |
