Editing George C. Scott (section)

===1958–1962: Early roles ===
[[File:George C. Scott - 1958.jpg|thumb|upright|On stage as Richard III, 1958]]
Scott first rose to prominence for his work with [[Joseph Papp]]'s [[New York Shakespeare Festival]]. In 1958, he won an [[Obie Award]] for his performances in ''Children of Darkness''<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e2PZrFziBbwC&q=off+broadway+children+of+darkness&pg=PA125 |title=Colleen Dewhurst: Her Autobiography |page=126 |publisher=Scribner |date=April 29, 2002 |isbn=978-0743242707}}</ref> (in which he made the first of many appearances opposite his future wife, actress [[Colleen Dewhurst]]), for ''[[As You Like It]]'' (1958), and for playing [[Richard III of England|the title character]] in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' (1957–58) (a performance one critic said was the "angriest" Richard III of all time).<ref name="obie">{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0153529.html|title=1957–1958 Obie Awards|publisher=Infoplease.com|year=2007|access-date=2011-12-23}}</ref>

Scott's Broadway debut was in ''Comes a Day'' (1958) which had a short run.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grodin |first1=Charles |title=It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here: My Journey Through Show Business |date=September 1990 |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |isbn=0-679-73134-2 |pages=61–62}}</ref> Scott's television debut was in a 1958 adaptation of ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'' for the ''[[Dupont Show of the Month]]'' directed by [[Robert Mulligan]]. He also appeared in a televised version of ''[[The Outcasts of Poker Flat]]'' (1958) plus episodes of ''[[Kraft Theatre]]'', and ''[[Omnibus (U.S. TV series)|Omnibus]]''. Scott's feature film debut was in ''[[The Hanging Tree (film)|The Hanging Tree]]'' (1959), starring [[Gary Cooper]] and [[Maria Schell]].

[[File:George C. Scott - Geraldine Page - 1959.JPG|thumb|left|With [[Geraldine Page]] (1959) in a publicity still for ''People Kill People Sometimes'']]
Scott earned his first Academy Award nomination for his performance in [[Otto Preminger]]'s ''[[Anatomy of a Murder]]'' (1959). Later that year he appeared on Broadway in ''[[The Andersonville Trial]]'' by [[Saul Levitt]] directed by [[Jose Ferrer]], winning critical acclaim for his portrayal of the prosecutor. This was based on the military trial of the commandant of the infamous [[American Civil War|Civil War]] prison camp in [[Andersonville, Georgia]]. It ran for 179 performances from December 1959 to June 1960.

Scott received good reviews for ''The Wall'' (1960–61) which ran for 167 performances. He guest-starred on episodes of ''[[NBC Sunday Showcase|Sunday Showcase]]'', ''[[Playhouse 90]]'', ''[[The Play of the Week|Play of the Week]]'' (doing "[[Don Juan in Hell]]"), ''[[Dow Hour of Great Mysteries]]'', and a ''[[Hallmark Hall of Fame]]'' production of ''[[Winterset (play)|Winterset]]'', originally written for the stage. Scott received superb notices for his performance in ''[[The Hustler]]'' (1961). He returned to Broadway to direct ''General Seeger'' (1962) by [[Ira Levin]] but it only lasted two performances. The play ''Great Day in the Morning'' (1962), in which he was directed by [[José Quintero]], also had only a brief run.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

Scott was in much demand for guest shots on TV shows, appearing in episodes of ''[[Ben Casey]]'' and ''[[Naked City (TV series)|Naked City]]''. In 1962, Scott appeared as school teacher Arthur Lilly on [[NBC]]'s ''[[The Virginian (TV series)|The Virginian]]'', in the episode "The Brazen Bell", in which he recites [[Oscar Wilde]]'s poem "[[The Ballad of Reading Gaol]]". That same year, he appeared in NBC's [[medical drama]] ''[[The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)|The Eleventh Hour]]'', in the episode "I Don't Belong in a White-Painted House". He appeared opposite [[Laurence Olivier]] and [[Julie Harris (American actress)|Julie Harris]] in [[Graham Greene]]'s ''[[The Power and the Glory (1961 film)|The Power and the Glory]]'' in a 1961 television production<ref name="olivier">{{cite book|title=Olivier|author=Terry Coleman|publisher=Henry Holt & Co|year=2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/olivier00cole/page/591 591]|isbn=0-8050-7536-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/olivier00cole/page/591}}</ref> and also performed in ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' (1962) off-Broadway.