Customer Reviews

Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?

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Empire Publishing presents "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?", telling the inside story of George Randolph Scott...born January 23. 1898 in Orange County, Virginia...left us March 2. 1987 in Los Angeles, California written by his son C.H. Scott in loving memory of his father.

Scott was a top box office draw for RKO, 20th Century Fox, Columbia, Paramount and Warner Bros...there was a an expression when you featured Randolph Scott in a film it was money in the bank...full of answers to many questions his fans had from early on...when you went to see him on the big screen, you got exactly what the marquee said...plenty of thrills, action and hard riding...a straight-shooting hero they had always known and was ageless...seems Scott got better with the more films he made and the scripts were always top notch.

Table of Contents (Chapter, Title and Page Numbers)

Introduction - 6
Chapter 1 - Keeping Up with the Giant - 8
Chapter 2 - On the Way Up - 41
Chapter 3 - Practice and Passion - 78
Chapter 4 - Humor -107
Chapter 5 - Family - 131
Chapter 6 - Friends - 158
Chapter 7 - On the Practical Side - 184
Chapter 8 - Problems - 211
Chapter 9 - Heroes - 225
Filmography - 230


As stated by Chris in the book "My fathers last four pictures were a fitting culmination to a career of excellence and dedication to the craft of acting and the audiences who were so faithful for several decades...RIDE LONESOME, WESTBOUND, COMANCHE STATIONS and his last film RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY"...Randy took his job and his responsibility to his audience very seriously...would not settle for anything less than his best...same was true in his personal life.

Chris Scott reports Daniel Webster defines "Legend", as being a notable person, or the stories told about that person exploits...well by the time Randolph Scott made his best films he had long established himself as a legend in the film industry...they say practice makes perfect, if that is true by 1958 at 60 years of age he was the master with THUNDER OVER THE PLAINS, RIDING SHOTGUN, THE BOUNTY HUNTER, RAGE AT DAWN, TEN WANTED MEN, TALL MAN RIDING, A LAWLESS STREET and SEVEN MEN FROM NOW...in the mid '50s his was in igh gear with SUGARFOOT, SANTA FE, FORTH WORTH, MAN IN THE SADDLE, THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN, CARSON CITY and THE STRANGER WORE A GUN...his age seemed to matter little, they only came to see another Randolph Scott film and always got their money's worth...Scott's films were good and getting better becoming classics with SEVENTH CAVALRY, THE TALL T, SHOOTOUT AT MEDICINE BEND, DECISION AT SUNDOWN and BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE

"Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?" was not disappointing to me at all...in fact his marriage to Pat Scott for over 45 years to the one women in his life is refreshing, especially in the Hollywood scene, which Randy was not a part of...his very close friends included Fred Astaire, Freeman Gosden (creator of Amos & Andy), Dwight David Eisenhower, Reverend Billy Graham, Clark Gable, Bob Hope, Howard Hughes, Dinah Shore, Donna Reed (Chris Scott's Godmother), Tony Owen (Donna's husband)...agree with the one reviewer who states ~ As far as the book about his sex life,,,People forget that when Cary Grant and Randolph Scott were living together, it was not socially acceptable to be living with women when you were not married to them...one forgets that Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart also shared living quarters together early in their careers as bachelors, their sexual preference was never questioned

Randy Scott had a quiet gentleman nature about him which is not seen in the films of today...thank you Chris, for sharing your love for your father and the respect we all had for him...Don't miss this one...now appearing on Amazon and Empire Publishing ...Randolph Scott is alive and well in our hearts when the films he has made appear on Turner Classic Movies, DVD and books like this one come along...get your copy today. Great reading in the days and weeks to come...I guarantee it!

Total Page: 239 ~ Empire Publishing 9-780944-019160 ~ (10/01/1994)

Originally published as "In the Footsteps of the Giant," (and listed on amazon.com under that title as well), this is a loving tribute of a son for his father. It is not at all a revelatory book, nor in any sense a biography of interest to film scholars. It earnestly refutes rumors regarding Scott's sexual orientation, but unfortunately does so only by calling the rumors ugly and baseless. I personally find the rumors less than convincing, but this book by Scott fils is not part of why I don't believe them. There is less insight into Randolph Scott than one would have liked here, and perhaps a little more about the son than the average film student needs. But it's a valuable book nonetheless, simply because it's one of the few pebbles in the gaping hole where a book-length study of Scott's life and career should be.

I have adored Randolph Scott ever since I was a little girl. This book was not disappointing to me at all. As far as the book about his sex life, gee it is funny that this author chose to write this after BOTH actors were dead. People forget that when Cary Grant and Randolph Scott were living together, it was not socially acceptable to be living with women when you were not married to them . I hardly think that if they had a problem, Randolph Scott would not have been married for 45 years to one woman and look at how many times Cary Grant was married. I was not a "Grant" fan but I sure respected Mr. Scott and how he kept his private life to himself. To me, Randolph Scott was the best looking man I have ever seen and he only got better with age. Then there was that quiet, gentleman nature about him that not another Actor in these days has. Do I love and respect him, Yes, I do. Thanks to his son also for sharing his love and respect for his father.

I looked forward to reading this book since there are just a few titles on legendary actor Randolph Scott. Once in hand, I was very disappointed at the lack of biographical content and the simple prose of the author. You are going to need a great deal of patience to get through the simple tales of the author's interactions with his father. As a previous reviewer stated, this is really a tribute by the author to his father and not a biography of Randolph Scott, doesn't even get to first base.

The author did not answer his own question... Whatever happened to Scott after he stopped acting? Why was he so reclusive and so on? The author himself does not know.

The author testifies that his father was wonderful and dignified man, but what would most people write about their fathers? It seems that the son was quite distant from his father, because it was in his father's nature to be distant from everyone and everything.

C.H. Scott is preoccupied with one thing only in this book: refuting rumor about his father and Cary Grant. I sympathize with the author. But if he meant to fight against "the slander", then he fails. Instead of being factual and objective in his refute, he just keeps coming back to the issue with his childish arguments. As the result this book is THE MOST BORING READ ever!!!

The author talks about his own life too much. If this book was titled: "Me and My Dad, Randolph Scott", it would have been appropriate. There aren't even any good photos, except for "the young George Randolph Scott in his family house". The author should have taken a lesson from his father: When you have nothing to say, DON'T SAY ANYTHING!

This book was disappointing. I was expecting a Randolph Scott biography. What I got was a loving tribute to a father by his son. As C.H. Scott wrote, "This is an account of my relationship with my father, the thoughts we shared and the experiences I had with him." If I deleted Randolph Scott's name from the book, I could just as easily have been reading about my own father. The reader will learn little about Randolph Scott, other than he was a good father whose son loved/loves him.

Written by Randolph Scott's son, this book gives us an inside look at a truly wonderful man, his passions, his films, his devotion to his family, friends and his craft. If you're looking for a "Who Slept With Who," you won't find it here.

As one who needed to clear cerebral cobwebs formed while I watched, as a boy in the 50's, Randolph Scott in Saturday westerns, I was tantalized by every chapter of What Ever Happened to Randolph Scott?. To add to this reader's exasperation with this mysteriously superficial biography, Randolph Scott's adopted son states at several points that Randolph's life was much more complex than the son is willing to reveal out of respect to Randolph's wife and friends. My guess is that Randolph's family still controls what is by all accounts a fabulous estate; thus both their own as well as Randolph's privacy interests will live on. If the family will not cooperate with an effort to substantiate and compile a definitive biography, there is virtually no chance that the son will ever be able to tell us more.

Nonetheless, my curiousity was relieved and I am grateful for crumbs.

Alexander Witkowski

This is a wonderfully written book about a very private actor. C.H. Scott confirms that Randolph Scott was the same person off screen as on. C.H. Scott also displays great respect for his family in showing a glimpse of their personal life while still maintaing the level of privacy that was so important to his father.