The Loss Of a Friend

I lost my friend yesterday.  He died after a short, but valiant, battle with cancer.  George W Scott died and he was my friend.

You might have even seen him before. He was in the 2001 movie, The Last Castle, which stared the great Robert Redford. The movie cast also included Delroy Lindo, Mark Ruffalo, Micheal Irby and the late James Gandolfini.  That movie is at the center of the origin of our friendship.

George Scott as Thumper in Last Castle

We met in an acting class in Atlanta in 1999.  The Professional Actors Studio taught by Nick Conti.  Today, this studio is a sprawling building in the buckhead section of Atlanta. But then, it was just in Nick’s basement.

I auditioned and got directly into his “Advanced” scene study acting class on Wednesday nights.  At the time I was the first person to make his advanced class in over a year.  Incidentally my record lasted only a week, after another actor also made it in, right after me.

Nonetheless, getting into this tight knit, long standing, acting class of about 9 people was interesting.  I was this raw firebrand theater actor from NYC who took everything, and everyone, as a challenge and challenger. And George was this laid back, easy going, cerebral actor from Atlanta, who just wanted to do good work.  We didn’t mesh immediately.  We were always cordial and friendly, but never got close.

Some time in early 2000, I decided to take a break from the class for few months.  I lost contact with most of the class, including George.  During my hiatus I got an audition for Last Castle.  Not the same role George eventually booked, but another one.  I secured a callback, a second audition, with the director.  The callbacks were in 250 mile north of Atlanta, in Nashville TN.

I drove to Nashville with my brother, Ali, who had just happened to visit me in Atlanta, the weekend of the callbacks.  While sitting in front, waiting to be called in, George walked in.  I had not seen or spoken to him, since I left Nick’s class.  We chatted for a few and both seemed relieved that we were auditioning for different roles and not going up against each other.  I did my callback and left.

After a few weeks, and not hearing anything, I knew I didn’t book the role. I had heard Nick’s class had moved out of his basement to a building.  I decided to go back to class.  The first day I walked into the new studio I noticed the celebration wall.  Nick would put the headshots of students who have recently booked acting gigs on a wall in the front of the studio.  And there was George’s smiling headshot. 

I returned to Nick’s class, where I met many of my closest friends till this day.  However, I was not booking many gigs.  I wondered if leaving NYC has been a good idea and if I should quit acting all together. Then out of the blue. I get an email from George.  He had never sent me an email before.

It was like we were old friends. He talked about filming Last Castle and how much of a learning experience it was.  That it energized him so much, that he quit his UPS job, packed up his stuff and drove to LA, and he wasn’t coming back.  He went on to say that although he and I had never been close, he had always wanted to tell me that I was one of the finest actors he knew.  That being in LA now, made him think of the people he felt he should tell not to give up on the dream. That I was one of them and that I belonged in LA.

I was blown away.  He and I had not be close, but the fact that he took the time to write me this email moved me. I responded, thanking him for his kind words and guaranteed him the I would keep pursuing acting.  And that I would visit him if I ever got to LA.

Then in early 2001, my job sent me to San Francisco for a week.  It was the first time I had ever been the California.  After a week in SF, I called George to tell him, that I wanted to take a quick trip to LA before heading back to Atlanta.  That he should suggest some good hotels.

“I know a great place” he said “my place”

I flew down to LA from SF and headed George’s place in Van Nuys.  As luck would have it, it was the opening weekend for “Last Castle”.  He was going to a fellow cast member’s house for a celebration party, then after to see the movie. 

Me with Mike Irby and George

We went to a house party of a fellow cast member in the movie, Michael Irby.  George tells Mike, that I am also from NY.   We looked at each other and said “You look familiar!”.  However we just couldn’t place where we had met. We sat down in his living room for drinks and Mike calls out to his wife.

“Susan! Come on out, George is here with his friend, Chet”

“Chet!!??”, Susan yells and comes running out of the back.

I see her and I’m shocked! His wife Susan and I knew each other from being in a play together in NYC back in 1997.  Two years before I ever moved to Atlanta, and ever met George.  It was an amazing reunion.  We all laughed at how small the world was. It was kismet. We were family.

Later that evening, we all piled into the awaiting limousine and headed to the theater along with Mike and Susan’s wonferfully warm friends and family.  We watched the movie and cheered every time Mike or George showed on the screen.  It was so cool to see George on this huge screen in LA.  George had made it to where we all aspired to be, and he shared it with me. It was a night I never forgot.

Mike, me, Susan and George

And George was great in Last Castle!  He played a lovable giant named “Thumper”.  His performance was sublime and heartfelt.  Everything George himself was.  A lovable heartfelt giant of a man. You see, even as his star was beginning to rise and shine, he only thought about reaching back to pull someone, like me, up along with him. That was George Scott.

George and I became very close from that day.  It was his place I stayed whenever I visited LA.  His PO Box in Van Nuys, was the one I got for myself, because I thought it would be a good idea to have an LA mailing address. He took over the box when I abandoned my LA move many years before.

He became interwoven with my life. He celebrated with me, on the birth of 3 of my children. Gave me a shoulder to lean on during my divorce and cheered when I met my wife, Rebekah, saying he never saw me so happy.  He was ecstatic when I finally moved to the west coast, albeit 14yrs after his email.

George, myself, and another former acting class alum, Jermaine, who also eventually moved west, became thick as thieves.  The 3 of us would watch Sunday football at my house.  Attend high school football games, not to watch the game, but cheer my daughter, doing cheer.  We would laugh uproariously on our constant text thread, about anything from sports, politics, gifs or memes..  A text thread that is silent today.

From that email in 2000, till today, he has been the most gentle, loving, good natured, kind hearted, warmest person I have known.  His innate lack of a complex ego was rooted in his ability to see good in almost anyone or anything and to root for everyone.

When he got sick, he still made jokes and laughed, as we face-timed our visits in this covid world.  As a director of rehab for a large healthcare company, Rebekah ensured he got the best rehab facility after his first surgery.  She talked to case workers, and hospitals on his behalf.  Not just because he was my friend, because he was hers.  

He relapsed recently, was rushed to the hospital.  He was revived after coding and then went to the ICU.  He never made it out of there.

The world lost a gentle, good, wonderful person today….
And he was my friend….
And I will miss him always…

Rest now, G.Scott… Rest…. 

- Chet Bashari Anekwe -