George Segal, the US actor who was Oscar-nominated for his performance in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, has died at the age of 87.
The New Yorker starred alongside Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the 1966 film adaptation of Edward Albee’s play.
He went on to play comic roles in shows like The Goldbergs and Just Shoot Me.
His wife Sonia Segal said she and her family were “devastated” to confirm he died on Tuesday in California.
She added Segal had died “due to complications from bypass surgery”.
Hollywood actor and director Ben Stiller led tributes to Segal, describing him as an “iconic cool funny” movie star.
egal was nominated for best supporting actor by the Academy for his portrayal of Nick, in the celebrated Mike Nichols-directed adaptation of Edward Albee’s dark comedy-drama.
In it, the new biology teacher and his wife Honey (played by Oscar-winner Sandy Dennis) attend an unsettling late night gathering at the home of college history professor George (played by Burton) and his wife Martha (Taylor, who also won an Oscar for her role).
“Elizabeth and Richard were the king and queen of the world at that moment and there was a lot of buzz about it,” Segal told The Daily Beast in 2016.
“For me, there was a great satisfaction of being involved with it.”
He later became known to younger audiences by starring as magazine publisher Jack Gallo in the US sitcom Just Shoot Me from 1997 to 2003; and from 2013 he played Albert “Pops” Solomon in The Goldbergs.
‘A kid at heart’
“Today we lost a legend,” said The Goldbergs creator Adam Goldberg, reacting to the news of his death. “It was a true honour being a small part of George Segal’s amazing legacy.
“By pure fate, I ended up casting the perfect person to play Pops. Just like my grandfather, George was a kid at heart with a magical spark.”
Wendi McLendon-Covey, Segal’s co-star on the show, posted a photograph of the two of them together online in tribute.
