George Macready

George Macready
George Macready in the trailer for Paths of Glory (1957)
Born	George Peabody Macready Jr. (1899-08-29)August 29, 1899 Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
Died	July 2, 1973(1973-07-02) (aged 73) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Emphysema
Resting place	Corpse donated to medical science
Residence	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Classical High School Brown University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1926-1971
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Dana Macready (1931-1943) 3 children
Children	Michael Macready Marcia Macready Elizabeth Macready

George Macready (August 29, 1899 – July 2, 1973), was an American stage, film, and television actor often cast in roles as polished villains.

George Peabody Macready Jr. was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated from the local Classical High School (1917) and, in 1921, from Brown University, where he was a member of Delta Phi fraternity and won a letter as the football team manager. While in college, Macready was injured in an accident in a Model T Ford. He sustained a permanent scar on his right cheek, having been thrust through the windshield while traveling on an icy road when the vehicle skidded and hit a telephone pole. The injury, along with his high brow and perfect diction, gave Macready the Gothic look of an authoritarian or villainous character. He was stitched up by a veterinarian, but he caught scarlet fever during the ordeal.

Macready first worked in a bank in Providence and was then briefly a newspaperman in New York City before he turned to stage acting. He claimed to have been descended from the 19th century Shakespearean actor William Macready.

He made his Broadway debut in 1926 in a stage adaptation of The Scarlet Letter. Through 1958, he appeared in fifteen plays, both drama and comedy, including The Barretts of Wimpole Street, based on the family of the English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Macready's penchant for acting was spurred in part by the director Richard Boleslawski. His Shakespearean stage credits include Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (1927), Malcolm in Macbeth (1928), and Paris in Romeo and Juliet (1934). On film, he played Marallus in the 1953 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. He also played Prince Ernst in the original stage version of Victoria Regina (1936), starring Helen Hayes.