Tony Winning Actor George Grizzard Passes On
Spoken of George Grizzard:
“What was remarkable about his acting was he didn’t seem to be acting at all. There was no sense of effort or strain. . . . The curtain went up and there was George, just being this character.” - Andre Bishop, Los Angeles Times
Theater-goers have lost a beloved artist this week. George Grizzard, who portrayed Nick in the original production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in the 1960s passed away this week due to complications from lung cancer. He was 79 years old.
Gizzard was an amazing stage and screen actor who impressed his fellow actors with his skill, wit and charm. Grizzard made his Broadway debut in The Desperate Hours in 1955. He frequently worked on or in Edward Albee plays - Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962), A Delicate Balance (1966), and Seascape (2005). He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in 1996 for A Delicate Balance. He also held roles in The Creation of the World and Other Business, The Glass Menagerie, The Country Girl, The Royal Family, and California Suite. On the small screen, Gizzard played John Adams in the Emmy Award-winning WNET-produced PBS mini-series The Adams Chronicles. His final movie role was in Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers.
You can read a loving tribute in memory of George Grizzard at Time online.