George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987), generally known as Randolph Scott, was an American film actor whose career spanned the sound era from the late 1920s to the early 1960s. He reached the height of his popularity in the 1940s and 1950s, appearing in such films as Gung Ho! and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm; but he was especially famous for his numerous westerns including Virginia City (1940) with Errol Flynn and Humphrey Bogart, Western Union (1941) with Robert Young, Seven Men from Now (1956) with Lee Marvin, The Tall T (1957) with Richard Boone, and Ride the High Country (1962) with Joel McCrea (a coin was flipped to see whether Scott or McCrea would receive top billing, and Scott won despite having a slightly smaller role). His long fistfight with John Wayne in The Spoilers (1942) was frequently cited by critics and the press as the most thrilling ever filmed; they were fighting over Marlene Dietrich. Similarly to the case with Joel McCrea in the later Ride the High Country, Randolph Scott was billed over John Wayne despite having a smaller part, but in this situation it was because Scott was a bigger name than Wayne at the time. Dietrich, Scott, and Wayne made another smash hit film together that same year called Pittsburgh, with Scott again billed over Wayne while playing a smaller role.

Of Scott's performance in Western Union, Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote, "Randolph Scott, who is getting to look and act more and more like William S. Hart, herein shapes one of the truest and most appreciable characters of his career as the party's scout." ¹ Prior to becoming a western star he attended Woodberry Forest School and Georgia Tech.

The Virginia-born actor was a veteran of World War I and by the end of his life a religious person who was close to Rev. Billy Graham. Scott shared a beach house with Cary Grant for twelve years in California , known as "Bachelor Hall" that was frequented by many female guests. It is however rumored that Scott and Grant were actually romantically involved, and that the moniker of "Bachelor Hall" and supposed parade of women were invented by the studio who wanted to keep their valuable actors away from any public scandal. In his book, Cary Grant: Grant's Secret Sixth Marriage, Marc Eliot claims Grant had a sexual relationship with Scott after they met on the set of Hot Saturday (1932) and that their physical attraction was so immediate and strong that the actors lived together for the next 12 years. In his book, Hollywood Gays, Boze Hadleigh makes various claims for Scott's homosexuality. He cites gay director George Cukor who said about the homosexual relationship between the two: "Oh, Cary won't talk about it. At most, he'll say they did some wonderful pictures together. But Randolph will admit it – to a friend." According to William J. Mann's book, Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969, photographer Jerome Zerbe spent "three gay months" (his words) in the movie colony taking many photographs of Grant and Scott, "attesting to their involvement in the gay scene." In 1944, Scott and Grant stopped living together but remained close friends throughout their lives. Grant sued actor Chevy Chase when he insinuated that Grant was gay on Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow Show" on NBC in 1980, and collected; Grant always denied being gay and many of his friends have concurred over the years.

Scott married twice, the first time in 1936 he became the second husband of heiress Marion Du Pont, daughter of William Du Pont, Sr. and great-granddaughter of Éleuthère Irénée Du Pont de Nemours the founder of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. The marriage ended in divorce three years later. In 1944, Scott remarried to Patricia Stillman with whom he had two children. The marriage lasted 43 years until Scott's death in 1987. Following his father's death, son Christopher Scott wrote a book refuting rumors of his father's homosexuality.

Scott's high stature as a Western actor was spoofed in Mel Brooks' 1974 comedy Blazing Saddles; after a group of townspeople refuses a request, the sheriff replies, "You'd do it for Randolph Scott." The people immediately take off their hats and whisper, "Randolph Scott!" A chorus singing "Randolph Scott" is then heard. Brooks may have been inspired to include Scott in Blazing Saddles by the Statler Brothers’ song Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?, a top Country music song from 1973.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Randolph Scott has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6243 Hollywood Blvd. In 1975, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Randolph Scott died at age 89 in Beverly Hills, California, and is interred in the Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte, North Carolina.

See also: Other notable figures in Western films

External links

• IMDb filmography
• NNDB profile

References

1898 births | 1987 deaths | American World War I veterans | American actors | Hollywood Walk of Fame | People from Virginia | Western movie actors

Randolph Scott | Randolph Scott | Randolph Scott