The Canadian Press: Broadway actor George Grizzard dies of lung cancer in New York

The Canadian Press: Broadway actor George Grizzard dies of lung cancer in New York

NEW YORK - George Grizzard, a Tony Award-winning actor who won acclaim for performing in Edward Albee's plays and also appeared in movies and television shows over a 50-year career, has died. He was 79.

Grizzard died Monday at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center of complications from lung cancer, said his agent, Clifford Stevens.

Grizzard appeared in the original Broadway production of Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and won a Tony Award more than 30 years later in 1996 for his performance in a revival of another Albee play, "A Delicate Balance."

He made his Broadway debut as Paul Newman's brother and fellow convict in "The Desperate Hours" in 1955.

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," a searing portrait of marital strife, caused a sensation when it opened in 1962.

Grizzard played Nick, the young victim of the warring couple George and Martha, but left the play after a few months to play Hamlet at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. He also played the title role in Shakespeare's "Henry V" there.

His film roles included a bullying U.S. senator in "Advise and Consent" in 1962 and an oilman in "Comes a Horseman" in 1978. He and Elaine Stritch played a wealthy couple in Woody Allen's "Small Time Crooks" in 2000.

On television, Grizzard made regular appearances on "Law & Order" and other series.

He won an Emmy Award starring with Henry Fonda in "The Oldest Living Graduate" in 1980.