George Segal dies: The Goldbergs star and Just Shoot Me! alum was 87

The Hollywood Reporter

Segal died Tuesday of complications from bypass surgery, according to his wife, Sonia. Although Segal earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1967, he is also remembered for starring in two network sitcoms later in life: Just Shoot Me!, which earned him two Golden Globe nominations, and The Goldbergs. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, Segal "was most associated with comedy and playing brainy, neurotic characters, Segal's acting range was considerable...Segal, however, did comedy the best. He starred for seven seasons (1997-2003) on the NBC workplace sitcom Just Shoot Me! as Jack Gallo, the roguish, many-times-married publisher who employs his journalist daughter (Laura San Giacomo) at his fashion magazine, Blush. And starting in 2013, he was still going strong as Pops Solomon, a grandfather always on the lookout for the ladies, on the ABC's 1980s-set The Goldbergs." Segal also had many memorable appearnces with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. Segal got to reunite with his Just Shoot Me! castmates twice last year -- in March on David Spade's Lights Out and as part of a Hulu reunion in June. "Today we lost a legend," tweeted The Goldbergs creator Adam F. Goldberg. "It was a true honor 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. I think these memories say it all..."

ALSO:

• David Spade remembers his Just Shoot Me! co-star: "met George Siegel (sic) on the table read of the first episode of Just Shoot Me. For those of you didn’t know, Just Shoot Me was a TV pilot that was already shot but I was added after the fact. I wasn’t sure how that would work and if everyone would be OK with it. But they were all very welcoming and turned out to be friends for life. George was someone we all really looked up to. He had done huge movies and was already legendary when we started. I was always trying to learn from him. About acting ,about life , anything. He would say that the show was 4 actors and a cartoon. About a week ago I realized I was the cartoon. ( true) I laughed the hardest with him. The show was a gift and it kept on giving after we wrapped. He will be missed by fans all over the world."
• Read more celebrity tributes to George Segal