Zachary Scott

Handsome, slender, often mustachioed actor, who, after making his mark on the stage, made an auspicious film debut in the title role of "The Mask of Dimitrios" in 1944. Scott contributed a memorable turn as a sharecropper in Jean Renoir's finest American work, "The Southerner" (1945), and went on to play a variety of unctuous cads and scoundrels (with an occasional sympathetic variation) through the 1950s and early 60s. One of his best remembered performances was as the seductive, snaky socialite who marries the ultimate upwardly mobile mom, "Mildred Pierce" (1945). He was married to actress Ruth Ford.

• Also Credited As:
  Zachary Thomson Scott Jr
• Born:
  February 24, 1914 in Austin, Texas
• Died:
  October 3, 1965.
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Cabin boy

Education

• University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

Milestones

• 1934 First prominent stage role in "The Outsider" performed in Bath, England
• 1935 Returned to the USA
• 1940 Moved to NYC to work with the Theater Guild
• 1944 Screen debut in "The Mask of Dimitrios"
• 1944 Signed to severn-year contract by Warner Bros.
• 1945 Co-starred with Joan Crawford in "Mildred Pierce"
• 1945 Starred in what is generally considered his best role, "The Southerner"
• 1948 Played a remorseless villain in "Ruthless"
• 1950 Injured in a boating accident
• 1951 Arrested twice; once in New Orleans for drinking with blacks; and again in Hawaii for public drunkeness
• 1951 When Warner Bros. contract ended, worked free-lance
• 1956 Co-starred with Gilbert Roland and Robert Mitchum in "Bandito"
• 1956 Played the King in the Broadway musical "The King and I"
• 1959 Starred opposite wife Ruth Ford on Broadway in the short-lived "Requiem for a Nun"
• 1960 Directed by Luis Bunuel in "The Young One/La Joven"
• 1961 Portrayed Rochester in a TV adaptation of "Jane Eyre" (CBS)
• 1962 Final film, "It's Only Money"
• 1963 Last stage appearance in "Rainy Night in Newark"
• 1964 Diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor
• 1965 In July, underwent brain surgery
• Began appearing in TV shows like "Robert Montgomery Presents", "Lux Video Theater" and others
• Dropped out of college and sailed to England to pursue a stage career
• Toured with the English Repertory Company