Actor known for ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’, ‘Just Shoot Me!’, ‘The Goldbergs’
George Segal, an actor who brought a roguish charm to romantic comedy films in the 1970s and was also known for his Oscarnominated role in the psychological drama “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” before taking on longrunning parts in the TV sitcoms “Just Shoot Me!” and “The Goldbergs,” died March 23 at a hospital in Santa Rosa, Calif. He was 87.
The cause was complications from bypass surgery, his wife, Sonia, said in a statement.
Segal — who was born in New York City and grew up in Great Neck, N.Y. — was a versatile actor who adapted easily to a wide range of roles, including as a blackmarket-dealing prisoner of war in “King Rat” (1965), a police officer with a possessive mother in “No Way to Treat a Lady” (1968), a jewel thief in “The Hot Rock” (1972), a lawyer in love with his ex-wife in “Blume in Love” (1973) and a compulsive gambler who risks his middle-class life in the acclaimed 1974 Robert Altman film “California Split.”
Handsome but approachable, Segal brought a natural, modern urbanity to the screen, representing a change from the studiopolished personas of an older generation of Hollywood actors. Refusing to change his name or have a nose job, he had a wry, ever-hopeful acting style filtered through an open, almost neurotic sensibility.
In the 1970s, Segal seemed to be poised for stardom on the level of such contemporaries as Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson and Robert Redford, but he was never in a blockbuster hit movie.
He appeared alongside many acclaimed actresses, including Barbra Streisand in “The Owl and the Pussycat” (1970), Ruth Gordon in “Where’s Poppa?” (1970), Jane Fonda in “Fun With Dick and Jane” (1977) and Glenda Jackson, who won an Oscar for best actress playing opposite
Segal in the 1973 romantic comedy “A Touch of Class.”
Segal’s only Oscar nomination came for his portrayal of a young college professor in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966), a filmed version of the emotionally fraught play by Edward Albee. Mike Nichols directed a cast the included Hollywood superstars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor as George and Martha, a middle-aged couple in a college town, bitterly feuding with each other and their failed dreams.
Throughout his career as an actor, Segal also made appearances as a jovial banjo player in Dixieland bands and as a guest on talk shows. As he aged out of romantic leading man roles, he adapted easily to character roles. In “Just Shoot Me!,” which aired on NBC from 1997-03, he played the oft-married publisher of a fashion magazine.
Since 2013, Segal played a lovable, eccentric grandfather, Albert “Pops” Solomon, in “The Goldbergs,” an ABC sitcom set in the 1980s.