Among his hobbies were mind-challenging games such as deciphering cryptograms and writing his own crossword puzzles. He also enjoyed collecting paintings. His favorite artists were Matisse, Renoir, and Van Gogh.
Donated his body to the UCLA medical school.
George and Vincent Price opened the Little Gallery in Beverly Hills in the spring of 1943. According to Victoria Price (Vincent's daughter), their customers included Charles Laughton, Tallulah Bankhead, Barbara Hutton, Fanny Brice, Katharine Hepburn and Greta Garbo. Of Garbo, Vincent said she "dropped in to look and, if anyone else was looking, dropped out--quickly." Jane Wyatt said, "It was a great, fun gallery. It was the place to go to meet and mingle. There was nothing else like it around. It was a wonderful place." George and Vincent eventually closed the Little Gallery when they could no longer do it justice while maintaining full-time movie careers.
George became good friends with Vincent Price when they were both appearing on stage with Helen Hayes in "Victoria Regina." Vincent wrote about George in a letter home: "The boy who plays my brother and is my understudy is a swell egg and I thank God for him.".
George had a housekeeper who embroidered the titles of all of George's movies on to an afghan.
George had three children: Michael Macready (born 1932), Marcia (born 1934) and Elizabeth (born 1938).
Grandfather of US gymnast John Macready and actor Oliver Macready, whose full name is Oliver George Macready.
He claimed (probably correctly and truthfully) to be a descendant of the great 19th-century Shakespearean actor William Macready.
In a 1960 article, Macready indicated that two of his favorite TV roles were in "Kraft Theatre: The Diamond as Big as the Ritz (#9.1)" (1955) and "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse: Thunder in the Night (#2.12)" (1960)).
Macready was a graduate of Classical High School in his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. He graduated from Brown University (also in Providence) in 1921.
Macready was an avid reader, and he especially enjoyed reading mysteries. In fact, he was known to read a mystery novel while simultaneously listening to a mystery show on the radio.
Macready won a varsity letter in football at Brown University in 1920 -- but as the manager, not as a player.
Odd coincidence: In Macready's movie debut in Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942), he plays a schoolteacher. His first lines include the words "I'm writing a novel myself." In his final movie, The Return of Count Yorga (1971), - he portrays a professor. His final line is, "You haven't read my book!".
The 1934 edition of the Brown University alumni newsletter said: "George Macready '21 is still touring the provinces with Katharine Cornell in 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'The Barretts of Wimpole Street.' Mrs. Macready [Elizabeth Dana] is in the company, and the Macready heir is in New York, where Miss Mary Macready, one of George's aunts, is looking out for it until the parents come home".
The scar on Macready's right cheek was the result of a car accident during his college days. According to his son Michael Macready, George and some fraternity brothers were riding in a Model T Ford when they hit an icy patch on the road. They struck a telephone pole, and George went through the windshield. His friends could find only one doctor in the vicinity, who happened to be a veterinarian. George did get his cheek stitched, but he also ended up with scarlet fever, apparently because the veterinarian didn't wash up properly.
Though specializing in playing truly evil villains, he was actually a cultured and expert art collector, as was his good friend Vincent Price, with whom Macready was partners in a Los Angeles art gallery.
Was initiated into the Beta chapter of Delta Phi fraternity at Brown University in 1918.
When Orson Welles married in 1934, he was wearing a cutaway coat and pants that he had borrowed from Macready. Orson's mother-in-law wanted him to dress formally for the occasion, but he owned nothing appropriate to wear and couldn't afford to purchase formal attire. So, he asked Macready (with whom he had acted on the stage) to help. In Welles' wedding photo, the pants look a little short -- probably because Welles was heavier than Macready and the pants fit him more tightly as a result.