George Grizzard

George Cooper Grizzard Jr. (April 1, 1928 – October 2, 2007) was an American actor. He was the recipient of a Tony Award, a Grammy Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award, among other accolades.

Life and career Grizzard and Jane Fonda in a 1961 presentation of W. Somerset Maugham's A String of Beads

Early years and education Grizzard was born in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina and raised in Washington, DC. He once told an interviewer that he was "an only child and probably very lonely, so I made up children to play with — Gene and Bounds and Mrs. Pig and Mrs. Hog and their children and a town called Scottina. It was all a child's fantasy, but I guess that just kind of developed into wanting to create people."

Grizzard's stage debut was as the Miner in The Corn Is Green in 1944.

Grizzard guest-starred several times during the 1990s on the NBC television drama Law & Order as defense attorney Arthur Gold. He also portrayed President John Adams in the Emmy Award winning PBS miniseries The Adams Chronicles, produced by WNET. In 1980, he won an Emmy for his work in The Oldest Living Graduate. He starred as reporter Richard Larsen in The Deliberate Stranger, a television movie about serial killer Ted Bundy.

Grizzard declined to discuss his acting technique, saying it was intensely personal, and that he "didn't think it was anybody's business." But he once said that actors needed to "have this mystery to lure an audience in order for them to do part of your work, to involve them. Don't do it all for them."

Death Grizzard died in Manhattan of complications from lung cancer in 2007. According to his New York Times obituary, his only survivor was his partner, William Tynan.

Filmography Film YearTitleRoleNotes 1960 From the Terrace Alexander "Lex" Porter 1962 Advise & Consent Senator Fred Van Ackerman 1967 Warning Shot Walt Cody 1971 Happy Birthday, Wanda June Dr. Norbert Woodley 1978 Comes a Horseman Neil Atkinson 1979 Firepower Leo Gelhorn 1980 Seems Like Old Times Governor 1982 Wrong is Right President Bedford Forrest "Frosty" Lockwood 1984 Bachelor Party Ed Thompson 2000 Wonder Boys Fred Leer 2000 Small Time Crooks George Blint 2006 Flags of Our Fathers Older John Bradley Final film role

Television YearTitleRoleNotes 1956-1962 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Ted Lambert Hubert Winter Alan Chatterton Season 2 Episode 2: "Fog Closing In" as Ted Lambert (1956) Season 5 Episode 22: "Across the Threshold" as Hubert Winter (1960)

Season 7 Episode 27: "Act of Faith" as Alan Chatterton (1962) 1960 The Millionaire Jerry Mitchell Season 6 Episode 21: "The Story of Jerry Mitchell" 1960 Thriller Merle Jenkins Season 1 Episode 1: "The Twisted Image" 1960 The Twilight Zone Roger Shackleforth Season 1 Episode 31: "The Chaser" 1963 The Twilight Zone Alan Talbot /Walter Ryder, Jr. Season 4 Episode 1: "In His Image" 1963Espionage Lieutenant Bridger Season 1 Episode 10: "Festival of Pawns" 1963 Ben Casey Jonas King Season 3 Episode 16: "The Last Splintered Spoke of the Old Burlesque Wheel" 1964 Dr. Kildare Douglas Martin Season 3 Episode 24: "A Hundred Million Tomorrows" 1965 Rawhide Captain George Ballinger Season 7 Episode 16: "A Time for Waiting" 1971 Marcus Welby, MD George Adams Season 3 Episode 2: "A Portrait of Debbie" 1974 The Stranger Within David Collins Television movie 1975 Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan Attorney Clay Television movie 1975 The Lives of Jenny Dolan Ralph Stantlow Television movie 1976 The Adams Chronicles John Adams Television miniseriesNominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series (1977) 1978 Hawaii 5-0 Al Marsh Season 10 Episode 16: "Head to Head" 1980 The Oldest Living Graduate Floyd Kincaid Television moviePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (1981) 1982 American Playhouse Mr. Wooster Season 1 Episode 1: "The Shady Hill Kidnapping" 1984 Trapper John, M.D. Vernon Shaw Season 5 Episode 13: "Play Your Hunch" 1985 Spenser: For Hire Frank Silverman Season 1 Episode 3: "The Choice" 1985 The Cosby Show Mr. Barker Season 2 Episode 10: "Clair's Toe" 1985 Murder, She Wrote Dr. Aubrey Benton Season 2 Episode 11: "Murder Digs Deep" 1986 The Deliberate Stranger Richard Larsen Television movie 1987 Murder, She Wrote Professor Tyler Stoneham Season 3 Episode 14: "Murder in a Minor Key" 1988 Murder, She Wrote Edmund Hall Season 4 Episode 22: "The Body Politic" 1988 David Dr. Achauer Television Movie 1989-1990 The Golden Girls Jamie/George Devereaux Season 5 Episode 8: "That Old Feeling" Season 6 Episode 9: "Mrs. George Devereaux" 1990 Caroline? Paul Carmichael Television movie 1990 An Enemy of the People Mayor Peter Stockman Television movie 1991 Iran: Days of Crisis President Jimmy Carter Television movie 1992–2000 Law & Order Defense Attorney Arthur Gold Season 2 Episode 13: "Severance" (1992)

Season 3 Episode 22: "Benevolence" (1993)

Season 4 Episode 14: "Censure" (1994)

Season 7 Episode 13: "Matrimony" (1997)

Season 10 Episode 8: "Blood Money" (1999)

Season 11 Episode 3: "Dissonance" (2000) 1993 American Experience John W. Davis Season 5 Episode 8: "Simple Justice" 1993 Alex Haley's Queen Mr. Cherry Television movie 1993 Not in the Family Malcolm Worth Television movie 1994 Scarlett Henry Hamilton Television miniseries Sequel to Gone With the Wind 1994 The 5 Mrs. Buchanans Frank Collins Season 1 Episode 10: "Emma in Love" 1997 Sisters and Other Strangers Ben Strickland Television movie 1997–1998 3rd Rock from the Sun George Albright Season 3 Episode 4: "Dick-In-Law"

Season 3 Episode 20: "My Daddy's Little Girl" 1998 Touched by an Angel Charley Nott Season 5 Episode 11: "An Angel on the Roof" 2006 Haskett's Chance Peyton Haskett Television movie