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George C. Scott was an immensely talented actor, a star of the big screen, stage and television. He was born on October 18, 1927 in Wise, Virginia, to Helena Agnes (Slemp) and George Dewey Scott. At the age of eight, his mother died, and his father, an executive at Buick, raised him. In 1945, he joined the United States Marines and spent four years with them, no doubt an inspiration for portraying General George S. Patton years later. When Scott left the Marines, he enrolled in journalism classes at the University of Missouri, but it was while performing in a play there that the acting bug bit him. He has said it "clicked, just like tumblers in a safe."
It was in 1957 that he landed a role in "Richard III" in New York City. The play was a success and brought the young actor to the attention of critics. He soon began to get work on television, mostly in live broadcasts of plays, and he landed the role of the crafty prosecutor in Anatomy of a Murder (1959). It was this role that got him his first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor.
However, George and Oscar wouldn't actually become the best of friends. In fact, he felt the whole process forced actors to become stars and that the ceremony was little more than a "meat market." In 1962, he was nominated again for Best Supporting Actor, this time opposite Paul Newman in The Hustler (1961), but sent a message saying "No, thanks" and refused the nomination.
However, whether he was being temperamental or simply stubborn in his opinion of awards, it did not seem to stop him from being nominated in the future. "Anatomy" and "The Hustler" were followed by the clever mystery The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), in which he starred alongside Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum and cameos by major stars of the time, including Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra. It's a must-see, directed by John Huston with tongue deeply in cheek.
The following year, Scott starred as General "Buck" Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's comical anti-war film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). This became one of his favorites and he often said that he felt guilty getting paid for it, as he had so much fun making it. Another comedy followed, The Flim-Flam Man (1967), with Scott playing a smooth-talking con artist who takes on an apprentice whom he soon discovers has too many morals.
Three years followed, with some smaller television movies, before he got the role for which he will always be identified: the aforementioned General Patton in Patton (1970). This was a war movie that came at the end of a decade where anti-war protests had rocked a nation and become a symbol of youth dissatisfied with what was expected of them. Still, the actor's portrayal of this aggressive military icon actually drew sympathy for the controversial hero. He won the Oscar this time, but stayed at home watching hockey instead.
A pair of films that he made in the early 1980s were outstanding. The first of these was The Changeling (1980), a film often packaged as a horror movie but one that's really more of a supernatural thriller. He plays John Russell, a composer and music professor who loses his wife and daughter in a tragic accident. Seeking solace, he moves into an archaic mansion that had been unoccupied for 12 years. However, a child-like presence seems to be sharing the house with him and trying to share its secrets with him. From learning of the house's past, he discovers its horrific secret of long ago, a secret that the presence will no longer allow to be kept.
Then he starred -- along with a young cast of then largely unknowns, including Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn and Tom Cruise -- in the intense drama Taps (1981). He played the head of a military academy that's suddenly slated for destruction when the property is sold to local developers who plan to build condos. The students take over the academy when they feel that the regular channels are closed to them.
Scott kept up in films, television and on stage in the later years of his life (Broadway dimmed its lights for one minute on the night of his death). Among his projects were playing Ebenezer Scrooge in a worthy television update of A Christmas Carol (1984), an acclaimed performance on Broadway of "Death of a Salesman", the voice of McLeach in Disney's The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and co-starring roles in television remakes of two classic films, 12 Angry Men (1997) and Inherit the Wind (1999), to name just a few. After his death the accolades poured in, with Jack Lemmon saying, "George was truly one of the greatest and most generous actors I have ever known," while Tony Randall called him "the greatest actor in American history".- Robin Mullins was born on 15 January 1958 in Wise, Virginia, USA. She is an actress, known for Safe Haven (2013), Nell (1994) and The Secret Life of Bees (2008).
- Early Cantrell was born on 28 April 1909 in Wise, Virginia, USA. She was an actress, known for Open Season for Saps (1944), West of the Alamo (1946) and Jiggers, My Wife (1946). She died on 23 May 1997 in California, USA.
- Dean Whitworth was born on 17 October 1937 in Wise County, Virginia, USA. He was an actor, known for Cold Mountain (2003), Trapper County War (1989) and Sommersby (1993). He died on 1 September 2018 in Butler, Tennessee, USA.
- April Millsap was born on 2 January 2000 in Wise County, Virginia, USA. She died on 24 July 2014 in Armada, Michigan, USA.
- Jason Arthur Kilgore was born on December 3, 1975 in Wise, Virginia. Raised by his parents Frank Kilgore an attorney and author from St. Paul, Virginia and Dallas Rudder a transplant from Glendale, California. Jason spent much of the free time of his youth with his reclusive grandfather, Arthur Kilgore, a Word War II vet, coal miner and former moonshiner, exploring the Appalachian mountains in Southwest Virginia learning about hunting, fishing, and living off the land. Jason attended St. Paul High School in St. Paul, VA where he played basketball and ran cross country. Jason attended Hargrave Military Acedemy for a semester his sophomore year of high school where he was sent ponder some of his life choices to which he learned some valuable lessons. Jason was a huge Michael Jordan fan and still enjoys playing basketball to this day. Jason has a diverse background working in an auto parts warehouse through high school, he also worked as a mechanic in a friend's garage and a landscaper in his early twenties before his career in information technology. Jason is an avid weight lifter and firearms enthusiast and has also run in several 5k's and half marathons and Spartan races. in 2012 Jason ran for town council in his hometown of St. Paul, VA and won the election, he has made many improvements to the town especially in the area of recreation with the renovation of the 30 year old pool and playground area as well as building new hiking trails in town with the help of his father and other volunteers. Jason's break into acting was a chance meeting with Daniel Springen of Orlando, Florida when he was visiting St. Paul for potential shooting locations for his film, Survival's End. Dan Springen's fiancée, Holley Morgan was from St. Paul and her family lived there for several years. Jason met with Dan to talk about being an extra in the movie and when Dan saw Jason's height, muscular build, shaved head and beard he asked Jason if he would be willing to play Solar Flare, the main villain in the movie, to which Jason agreed and was subsequently flown to Florida to shoot the trailer for Survival's End. Jason is being mentored by a 30 year veteran of film acting, Frank Hoyt Taylor (Big Fish, The River, Junebug, Matewan, etc.) who happened to be a friend of the family and lives only a few miles away from Jason's hometown.
- Carroll Dale was born on 24 April 1938 in Wise, Virginia, USA.