Oscar-nominated actor George Segal dies at age 87 ‘due to complications from bypass surgery’
George Segal, the Oscar-nominated actor who sparred with Richard Burton in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, romanced Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class and won laughs in the TV sitcom The Goldbergs, has died at the age of 87, his wife Sonia said on Tuesday.
‘The family is devastated to announce that this morning George Segal passed away due to complications from bypass surgery,’ Sonia Segal said in a statement to entertainment outlets Variety and Deadline Hollywood.
Charming and witty, Segal excelled in dramatic and comedic roles and had a life-long passion for the banjo.
George Segal (pictured in 2013), the Oscar-nominated actor who sparred with Richard Burton in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, romanced Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class and won laughs in the TV sitcom The Goldbergs, has died at the age of 87
Segal’s acting career began on the New York stage and television in the early 1960s.
A native of Great Neck, New York, Segal’s most famous role was in a harrowing 1966 drama, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
The entire cast of the film, based on Edward Albee’s acclaimed play, was nominated for Academy Awards: Elizabeth Taylor and Burton for starring roles, Sandy Dennis and Segal for supporting performances. The women won Oscars, the men did not.
To younger audiences, he was better known for playing magazine publisher Jack Gallo on the long-running NBC series Just Shoot Me from 1997 to 2003, and as grandfather Albert ‘Pops’ Solomon on the The Goldbergs since 2013.
He performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1981 with his group, the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band.
He quickly moved into films, playing an artist in the star-studded ensemble drama Ship of Fools and a scheming, wily American corporal in a World War Two prisoner-of-war camp in King Rat in 1965.