The Tragic Death Of George C. Scott

Publish date: 2024-03-18

Scott joined an all-star cast, which included Jack Lemmon, Ossie Davis, and Hume Cronyn, for the TV movie remake of "12 Angry Men" in 1997. He played one of the 12 jurors in this courtroom drama. For his last project, Scott brought to a favorite play, "Inherit the Wind," to the small screen. But this time he played the prosecutor, not the defense attorney. Instead Jack Lemmon took the role of Henry Drummond. By the time this production aired in 1999, Scott only had a few months to live.

On September 22, 1999, Scott died at the age of 71 of "a rupture of a major blood vessel in his abdomen," according to Variety. The body of the man who had made his mark on Hollywood with such films as "Patton" and "Dr. Strangelove" was discovered by a friend in Scott's Westlake Village, California home. Despite his declining health, his sudden passing came as a shock. "It was unexpected," Scott's publicist, Jim Mahoney, told the Baltimore Sun. Scott was survived by his fourth wife Trish Van Devere and five children, including actor Campbell Scott. Perhaps in keeping with Scott's disdain for honors, he was laid to rest in an unmarked grave at the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles. After all, Scott made history in 1971 as the first man to decline an Academy Award (via E Online).

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