George Segal, the Oscar-nominated actor whose credits vary from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Where is Daddy? for Just shoot me! and The Goldbergs, died today in Santa Rosa, CA, of complications from bypass surgery. He was 87 years old.
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His wife, Sonia Segal, confirmed the news. “The family is devastated to announce that George Segal passed away this morning due to complications from bypass surgery,” she said in a statement.
For the past eight years, Segal had regularly participated in the family comedy series set on ABC in the 1980s The Goldbergs. The last episode he filmed before his death, episode 16 of the show’s current eighth season, is scheduled to air on April 7. The series should pay homage to Segal on the air.
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Segal is probably best known for his roles in TV comedies as magazine editor Jack Gallo at NBC’s Just shoot me !, a role that earned him two Golden Globe nominations and as the patriarch of the Albert “Pops” Solomon family in The Goldbergs. He also spearheaded ABC’s late 80s police drama Murphy’s Law, the 1987 CBS comedy Take five and the TV Land sitcom He retired at 35.
But Segal was also nominated for an Oscar for the 1966 adaptation of Mike Nichols’ Edward Albee Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – co-starring with sisters Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton – and a film protagonist. He starred in films of legends like Stanley Kramer (Ships of fools, 1965), Sidney Lumet (Bye, bye Braverman, 1968), Carl Reiner (Where is Daddy ?, 1970), Herbert Ross (The owl and the kitten, 1970), Paul Mazursky (Passionate Blume, 1973) and Robert Altman (California Split, 1974).
He also starred in two films by writer and director Melvin Frank – 1973 A Touch of Class, alongside Glenda Jackson, and 1976’s The Duchess and the Fox Dirtwater, with Goldie Hawn – and opposite Barbra Streisand in The mirror has two faces (1996), which she also directed.
The many other Segal roles on the big screen include The Terminal Man, The Black Bird, Fun with Dick and Jane, Russian Roulette, Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, Time of Darkness and For the boys.
Among his first film credits were Young doctors (1961) and playing an Army Ranger in The longest day, the 1962 D-Day epic, whose set included John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, Peter Lawford, Eddie Albert, Rod Steiger, Robert Wagner, Red Buttons, Steve Forrest and a pre-Bond Sean Connery.
Born on February 13, 1934, in Great Neck, NY, Segal spent a season in the army before starting on the small screen, as a guest on shows like Naked City, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Arrest and Trial.
He also had several roles on Broadway, including starring with John Lithgow in the 1985 adaptation of Rod Serling Requiem for a Heavy Weight and 1999 Art with Alan Alda, Victor Garbver and Alfred Molina.
Along with his Oscar nomination, Segal has been nominated for a Golden Globe five times and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.