Scofield is non easily-known to cinema-goers, despite getting won a Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in A Man for All Seasons (1966). He began his stage career inside 1940, and was before long existence equated by using Laurence Olivier. Although his range is considerable, he has tended to become selective, preferring definitive roles to victims which will use won him additional popular eclat. He has won many awards for his stage appearances, including the Tony for the original stage version of The Human for Everthing Seasons, & was Salieri in the original stage production of Amadeus in 1979.

Inside 1994 he starred in Quiz Show, a film directed by Robert Redford about the quiz indicate scandal in the United States in the 1950s. Scofield played Mark Van Doren, father of Charles Van Doren, the human at the center of the scandal, & standard a nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He has rejected the offer of a knighthood on three occasions, however was appointed CBE in 1956, and became the Companion of Honour in 2001.