Zachary Scott : Hollywood's Sophisticated Cad

by Davis, Ronald L.

• ISBN13: 9781578068371
• ISBN10: 1578068371
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Mississippi

Summary

"Throughout the 1940s, Zachary Scott (1914-1965) was the model for sophisticated, debonair villians in American film. His best-known roles include a mysterious criminal in The Mask of Dimitrios and the indolent husband of Mildred Pierce. He garnered further acclaim for his portrayal of villains in Her Kind of Man, Danger Signal, and South of St. Louis. Although he earned critical praise for his performance as a heroic tenant farmer in Jean Renoir's The Southerner, Scott never quite escaped typecasting." "In Zachary Scott: Hollywood's Sophisticated Cad, Ronald L. Davis writes a biography of the film star. Scott grew up in privileged circumstances - his father was a distinguished physician; his grandfather was a pioneer cattle baron - and was expected to follow his father into medical practice. Instead, Scott began to pursue a career in theater while studying at the University of Texas and subsequently worked his way on a ship to England to pursue acting. Upon his return to America, he began to look for work in New York." "Excelling on stage and screen throughout the 1940s, Scott seemed destined for stardom. By the end of 1950, however, he had suffered through a turbulent divorce. A rafting accident left him badly shaken and clinically depressed. His frustration over his roles mounted, and he began to drink heavily." "He remarried and spent the rest of his career concentrating on stage and television work. Although Scott continued to perform occasionally in films, he never reclaimed the level of stardom that he had in the mid-1940s." "To reconstruct Scott's life, Davis uses interviews with Scott and colleagues, and he uses reviews, articles, and archival correspondence from the Scott papers at the University of Texas and from the Warner Brothers Archives. The result is a portrait of a talented actor who was rarely allowed to show his versatility on the screen."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	3	(5)
Born into Wealth and Privilege	8	(19)
Early College and England	27	(23)
Marriage, Graduation, and Summer Stock	50	(19)
Broadway and First Films	69	(26)
Warner Bros. Contract Player	95	(38)
Changing Partners and Directions	133	(33)
Gentleman Actor	166	(26)
Early Death	192	(11)
Bibliographical Essay	203	(18)
Filmography	221	(4)
Index	225