#Sorrel Arthur Miller

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The Longevity of George Segal by Susan King

Newer generations of audiences primarily know George Segal as a sitcom actor who played the publisher of a fashion magazine on the NBC comedy series Just Shoot Me!, and for the past six seasons, the amiable grandfather always eager to give advice on ABC’s The Goldbergs. But to baby boomers, he was one of top leading men of the 1970s. He may not have reached the heights of Burt Reynolds, Paul Newman, Robert Redford or Al Pacino during the decade, but nobody could do romantic comedy better than Segal. He was charming, adorable, sexy and a bit world-weary. Sort of a neurotic New York Jewish Cary Grant with a fabulous head of thick air.

Segal starred in such comedies as 1970’s WHERE’S POPPA? (the funniest scene is when Ruth Gordon pulls down his pants and bites him on the tuchus) and THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT, THE HOT ROCK (‘72), BLUME IN LOVE (‘73) and A TOUCH OF CLASS (‘73), for which he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor and his costar, Glenda Jackson, took home the Best Actress Oscar.

Segal, now 85, told me during an interview I did with him in 2011 for the Los Angeles Times at the famed eatery Musso & Franks that he had “no notion I was going to take a comedy direction.��� In fact, one of his first major stage roles was in 1956 in Jose Quintero’s legendary off-Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, starring Jason Robards in his signature role of Hickey.

And when he began in features in the early 1960s, Segal starred in such dramatic fare as 1965’s SHIP OF FOOL; Mike Nichols’ superb WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (‘66), for which Segal earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actor; the 1966 thriller THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM and that same year, CBS’ broadcast of Arthur Miller’s DEATH OF A SALESMAN.

Segal was also a popular guest on daytime and evening talk shows where he got to demonstrate his goofy charming side. He’d always bring out his banjo and sing the 1909 song “The Yama Yama Man.” Housewives and mothers—mine included—fell in love with him.

And so did director Jack Smight, who, Segal noted, thought he would be perfect for his 1968 dark comedy NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY. Segal was pitch perfect as Morris Brummel, a tough-nosed New York detective out to kill a flamboyant serial killer (Rod Steiger) with major mother issue.

Hollywood realized they had a romantic leading man on their hands.

The depth and breadth of Segal’s talent—both comedic and dramatic—can be seen in Bryan Forbes’ searing 1965 World War II drama, KING RAT. Segal plays one of the 10,000 American, Australian and British prisoners at a Japanese POW II. But Segal’s Captain King is a ruthless hustler who runs the black-market operation in the camp. Segal’s skill is also present in Robert Altman’s underrated CALIFORIA SPLIT (‘74), a comedy with dramatic overtones with Segal and Elliott Gould as gamblers who bond over the gambling tables.

Segal is in full flower as a romantic leading man in Paul Mazursky’s comedy BLUME IN LOVE. He plays a divorce attorney who falls in love with the beautiful Nina (Susan Anspach), marries her, cheats on her then tries to win her back after they divorce. The film also stars Marsha Mason in her film debut and a delightful Kris Kristofferson.

At the time of my interview, Segal and the late Mazursky were still the best of friends and met for breakfast several times a month. “I just saw him this morning,” he noted. “I meet these geezers at the Farmer’s Market. We usually talk about showbusiness, the old days and what’s happening now.”

Segal didn’t turn his back on dramas in the 1970s, as witnessed with Irvin Kershner’s superb 1970 dramedy LOVING, in which he plays a commercial artist living in the suburbs with his wife (Eva Marie Saint) and their kids while not dealing very well with a mid-life crisis.

Segal also starred in Sidney Lumet’s 1968 dramedy BYE BYE BRAVERMAN, a box-office flop the filmmaker didn’t like: “It should have been a soufflé, but it turned out a pancake.” The film about four Jewish intellectuals—Segal, Jack Warden, Sorrell Booke and Joseph Wiseman—that travel to a friend’s funeral in a cramped Volkswagen Beetle, may not have excited the critics either, but it’s a wonderful opportunity to catch an early comedic turn by Segal as a public relations writer. Time singled out Segal: “As the story’s central character, actor Segal shows flashes of a comic talent hitherto unexplored by Hollywood.”

By the end of the 1970s and early 80s, Segal’s career slowed because his films weren’t burning up the box office. “Most of us get about 10 years at best [at the top],” Segal confessed. “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. 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.”