George Macready--the name probably doesn't ring any bells for most but the voice would be unmistakable. He attended and graduated from Brown University and had a short stint as a New York newspaperman, but became interested in acting on the advice of colorful Polish émigré classical stage director 'Richard Boleslawski' and a host of others. To top it of, Macready gets involved in one of the great pie fights in film history, and takes one right in the kisser! In real life George Macready was as cultured as he appeared to be on-screen. He was a well-regarded connoisseur of art, and he and a fellow art devotee--and longtime friend--opened a very successful Los Angeles art gallery together during World War II. As far as the villain roles went, Macready was grateful for the depth they allowed him through his years as both film and television actor. "I like heavies," he once said, and to that he added with a philosophic twinkle, "I think there's a little bit of evil in all of us."
Though specializing in playing truly evil villains, he was actually a cultured and expert art collector, as was his good friend Vincent Price , with whom Macready was partners in a Los Angeles art gallery.
He claimed (probably correctly and truthfully) to be a descendant of the great 19th-century Shakespearean actor William Macready.
Grandfather of US gymnast John Macready and actor Oliver Macready , whose full name is Oliver George Macready.
The scar on Macreadys right cheek was the result of a car accident during his college days. According to his son Michael Macready , George and some fraternity brothers were riding in a Model T Ford when they hit an icy patch on the road. They struck a telephone pole, and George went through the windshield. His friends could find only one doctor in the vicinity, who happened to be a veterinarian. George did get his cheek stitched, but he also ended up with scarlet fever, apparently because the veterinarian didnt wash up properly.
George and Vincent Price opened the Little Gallery in Beverly Hills in the spring of 1943. According to Victoria Price (Vincents daughter), their customers included Charles Laughton , Tallulah Bankhead , Barbara Hutton , Fanny Brice , Katharine Hepburn and Greta Garbo. Of Garbo, Vincent said she "dropped in to look and, if anyone else was looking, dropped out--quickly." Jane Wyatt said, "It was a great, fun gallery. It was the place to go to meet and mingle. There was nothing else like it around. It was a wonderful place." George and Vincent eventually closed the Little Gallery when they could no longer do it justice while maintaining full-time movie careers.
George became good friends with Vincent Price when they were both appearing on stage with Helen Hayes in "Victoria Regina." Vincent wrote about George in a letter home: "The boy who plays my brother and is my understudy is a swell egg and I thank God for him.".
Macready won a varsity letter in football at Brown University in 1920 -- but as the manager, not as a player.
George had three children: Michael Macready (born 1932), Marcia (born 1934) and Elizabeth (born 1938).
Macready was a graduate of Classical High School in his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. He graduated from Brown University (also in Providence) in 1921.
Was initiated into the Beta chapter of Delta Phi fraternity at Brown University in 1918.
Donated his body to the UCLA medical school.
Among his hobbies were mind-challenging games such as deciphering cryptograms and writing his own crossword puzzles. He also enjoyed collecting paintings. His favorite artists were Henri Matisse , Auguste Renoir and Vincent van Gogh.
Macready was an avid reader, and he especially enjoyed reading mysteries. In fact, he was known to read a mystery novel while simultaneously listening to a mystery show on the radio.
In a 1960 article, Macready indicated that two of his favorite TV roles were in "Kraft Television Theatre" {The Diamond as Big as the Ritz (#9.1)} and "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" {Thunder in the Night (#2.12)} ).
The 1934 edition of the Brown University alumni newsletter said: "George Macready 21 is still touring the provinces with Katharine Cornell in Romeo and Juliet and The Barretts of Wimpole Street. Mrs. Macready [Elizabeth Dana] is in the company, and the Macready heir is in New York, where Miss Mary Macready, one of Georges aunts, is looking out for it until the parents come home".
George had a housekeeper who embroidered the titles of all of Georges movies on to an afghan.
When Orson Welles married in 1934, he was wearing a cutaway coat and pants that he had borrowed from Macready. Orsons mother-in-law wanted him to dress formally for the occasion, but he owned nothing appropriate to wear and couldnt afford to purchase formal attire. So, he asked Macready (with whom he had acted on the stage) to help. In Welles wedding photo, the pants look a little short -- probably because Welles was heavier than Macready and the pants fit him more tightly as a result.
Odd coincidence: In Macreadys movie debut in Commandos Strike at Dawn , he plays a schoolteacher. His first lines include the words "Im writing a novel myself." In his final movie, The Return of Count Yorga , - he portrays a professor. His final line is, "You havent read my book!".
Upon his death from emphysema in July 1973, George Macreadys body was donated to the School of Medicine of the University of California at Los Angeles.
[Discussing how he enjoyed playing villains] Purely in an academic way.
At heart, I am a kind man.
[Referring to a part he played on "Four Star Playhouse" (1952) ] I,play a mad--a maniacal--killer. Fun.
[Discussing a 1928 stage production of "Macbeth" in which the scene,design proved to be problematic] [The settings] appeared to be huge,packing boxes painted white and piled in different formations one on,top of the other. These created chaos on the first "performance" in,Philadelphia . . . when I tried to make my entrance in the battle scene,and found every entrance blocked by these ghastly boxes. I never did,make it. .
