George C. Scott inherits a Broadway favorite
April 6, 1996
Web posted at: 8:00 a.m. ESTFrom Correspondent Cynthia Tornquist
NEW YORK (CNN) -- George C. Scott was not fully recovered from the illness that delayed the Broadway opening of "Inherit the Wind" but he is back on his feet and center stage with co-star Charles Durning.
Written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, the play is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes Monkey trial in which a Tennessee teacher is tried for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.
The production is seen as the best example of the kind of work that the National Actors Theater has been striving to present since its creation in 1991. But for theater founder, actor-director Tony Randall, the play has a more personal connection, one that goes back to 1955 when he appeared in the original Broadway version.
"Forty years ago, when we did the play and all that time, I've wanted to do this again," Randall says.
"Tony had been asking me to do it for a long time and I just never had an opportunity until now," Scott says.
But when Scott, 68, arrived for rehearsals in February he was ill, reportedly having caught the flu while shooting a CBS-TV movie. The role required Scott to appear in scenes in a Virginia coal mine.
"I did not enjoy going into the mines at all. The ceilings are 42 inches high and (we had) to crawl," Scott says.
The filming caused Scott to miss some previews and led to the postponement of the show's opening. Scott recently returned to the production.
"I think he's probably one of the three or four great actors we have in this country," Durning says.
And to see the great actor at work, you may have to reserve seats at the theater in the future.
"Inherit the Wind's" Broadway engagement has been extended through May 5.
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