Suave, debonaire, and effortlessly charming, classic cinema star ZACHARY SCOTT is best known for his role in MICHAEL CURTIZ's film noir classic Mildred Pierce (1945). As the duplicitous, silver-tongued charmer Monte Beragon, he romances Mildred, played by JOAN CRAWFORD (in her Oscar-winning role), and Mildred's daughter, Veda (ANN BLYTH). This became Scott's signature role: the sexy cad who was usually at his best swindling, seducing, or being a general scoundrel. It was always fun watching Scott's dastardly ways unfold. He could rock a tux, looked naked without a martini in his hand, and always had a cigarette close by. He was so magnetic that he could even make film-goers feel sorry for him. While he seldom got to play the good guy, when he did, as in what is perhaps one of his best roles in JEAN RENOIR's The Southerner (1945), you realize the versatility that he seldom had the opportunity to display. With a career that included over 40 films and dozens of television roles, ZACHARY SCOTT is our Star of the Month.

SHOW NOTES:

Sources:

Zachary Scott: Hollywood’s Sophisticated Cad (2009), by Ronald L. Davis;

“Actor Zachary Scott, Leading Man for 3 Decades, Dies of Brain Tumor,” October 4, 1965, Akron Bacon Journal

“Who Was Zachary Scott?” www.zachtheatre.org;

“Zachary Scott’s Guilded Cage,” Spring 2020, by Farren Smith Nehme, www.filmnoirfoundation.org;

IMDBPro.com;

Wikipedia.com;


Movies Mentioned:

Mildred Pierce (1945), starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Zachary Scott, Jack Carson, Eve Arden, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, and Butterfly McQueen;

The Southerner (1945), starring Zachary Scott, Betty Field, Beulah Bondi, Norman Lloyd, J. Carroll Naish, Jay Gilpin, Jean Vanderwilt, Blanche Yurka, and Percy Kilbride;

The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), starring Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet;

Hollywood Canteen (1944), starring Bette Davis, John Garfield, Joan Crawford, Joan Leslie, Dane Clark, Joe E, Brown, Barbara Stanwyck, Id Lupino, Sydney Greenstreet, and Jack Benny;

Danger Signal (1945), starring Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Mona Freeman, Richard Erdman, Rosemary DeCamp, and Joyce Compton;

Her Kind Of Man (1946), starring Zachary Scott, Dane Clark, Janis Page, and Faye Emerson;

The Unfaithful (1947), starring Ann Sheridan, Lew Ayres, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden;

Stallion Road (1947), starring Ronald Reagan, Alexis Smith, and Zachary Scott;

Cass Timberlane (1947), starring Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Zachary Scott, Tom Drake, Mary Astor, Margaret Lindsay, and Albert Dekker;

Ruthless (1948), starring Zachary Scott, Louis Hayward, Diana Lynn, Sydney Greenstreet, Lucille Bremer, and Martha Vickers;

Whiplash (1948), staring Dane Clark, Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, S.Z. Sakall, Jefferey Lynn, and Alan Hale Jr;

Flamingo Road (1949), starring Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet, David Brian, Virginia Huston, Gladys George, and Fred Clark;

Shadow On The Wall (1950), starring Ann Sothern, Zachary Scott, John McIntire, Gigi Perreau, Kristine Miller, and Nancy Davis;

Born To Be Bad (1950), starring Joan Fontaine, Zachary Scott, Joan Leslie, Robert Ryan, and Mel Ferrer;

Stronghold (1951), starring Veronica Lake, Zachary Scott, and Rita Meceda;

The Secret of Convict Lake (1951), starring Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Zachary Scott, Ethel Barrymore, Ann Dvorak, Barbara Bates, and Janette Nolan;

Dead On Course (1953), starring Zachary Scott and Kay Kendall;

Flame of the Islands (1955), staring Yvonne DeCarlo, Howard Duff, and Zachary Scott;

Violent Stranger (1957), starring Zachary Scott, and Faith Domergue