Simple Tricks and Nonsense

In revisiting many of the television series I loved as a kid, I've realized that TV production in the 1960s, '70s, and '80 must've been a very small world. Watch enough of these old shows, and you'll see the same familiar faces over and over again. For example, part of the fun of watching The Andy Griffith Show, for me anyway, is seeing all the guest stars who also appeared on Star Trek. I don't notice this phenomenon quite as much these days, probably, I would imagine, because the barrier between TV and movies is so much more permeable than it used to be, which means there's a much larger talent pool to draw from, and also perhaps because the last vestiges of the old studio system -- in which actors were signed to exclusive contracts and used in everything the studio made -- are long gone. But back in the day, it seemed like I was constantly snapping my fingers (yes, I would actually snap my fingers!) and saying, "hey, that's the guy from -- !"

Continue reading "In Memoriam: Jeff Mackay" »

Posted by at 12:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Catching up with the news, I see the Hollywood obituary list has been unusually long the last couple weeks. They say these things always come in threes, but there have been seven notable passings recently: a renowned actor-director, a composer, three of the men who made the original Star Trek into the classic it is, one of the funniest comedy straight men who ever lived, and a seminal blues-rock guitarist. Chances are you've all already heard about these, but I'd like to mention them anyhow...

Continue reading "In Memoriam: Super-Jumbo Edition!" »

Posted by at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

John Kenneth Muir and The Bad Astronomer are both noting that the actor Barry Morse has died at the age of 89.

Morse was not one of those actors most people are going to know by name, but at least one of his roles -- Lt. Philip Gerard, the dogged pursuer of Dr. Richard Kimble on the original TV version of The Fugitive (the character played by Tommy Lee Jones in the 1993 feature film) -- is iconic.

Sci-fi fans are more likely to recognize him from the series Space: 1999, in which he played the fatherly Professor Victor Bergman for one season before being unceremoniously dumped in the show's second-season retool. (The character never even got an on-screen explanation for what happened to him; he simply wasn't on the show any more when year two began.)

Continue reading "Barry Morse" »

Posted by at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In other news that you may have missed, two more old friends we grew up watching on classic TV sitcoms have left us.

Continue reading "Allan Melvin and Suzanne Pleshette" »

Posted by at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Believe it or not, the primary focus of my fanboy energies throughout most of the 1990s was not the Star Wars saga. Really. I know it's hard to accept, but it really wasn't. It wasn't even Star Trek, despite all the various TV spin-offs running at that time. No, for the better part of the final decade of the 20th Century, I was seriously preoccupied by a fictional universe called Highlander.

Highlander is tough to explain to the uninitiated. It has a fairly bizarre premise to begin with, and its cause isn't helped by the fact that all the different properties that fall under the Highlander brand tend to contradict each other, or at the very least don't share the same continuity. I'm not going to go into all that in this entry -- I'll explore that topic some other time -- but what you need to know (if you don't already) is that the entire franchise originated with a 1986 movie and was revisited in a television series by the same name that ran from 1992 through 1998.

When Highlander: The Series ceased production in '98, The Girlfriend and I were sufficiently wrapped up in the whole scene that we flew to LA to attend a big farewell convention dedicated to the show. It was an exciting event -- the entire regular cast was in attendance, as well as a lot of the more prominent guest stars, and, of course, fans from all over the country.

Continue reading "Bill Panzer: That Guy in the Elevator" »

Posted by at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Ah, man, here's another one: the writer Sidney Sheldon died Tuesday, aged 89. I've never read any of his novels, but I Dream of Jeannie, the ridiculous sitcom he created back in the 1965, has always been a favorite of mine. Growing up, it was part of my afternoon block of "must-see" syndicated re-runs, which also included (on a rotating basis over the years) Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, Hogan's Heroes, Bewitched (that other sitcom about a hot blonde with magical powers), Get Smart, Laugh In, and, of course, Star Trek. As a little kid, I grooved on the slapstick of whatever trouble Majors Nelson and Healey got themselves into. When I got a little older, my interest in Jeannie became a little more, ahem, adult in nature. Let's just say that, If nothing else, Sheldon deserves our respect for bringing us the sight of Barbara Eden in diaphanous pants.

Ah, the glories of a misspent youth...

Posted by at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Huh... while digging for material about Yvonne DeCarlo, I learned that her Munsters co-star Al Lewis died just under a year ago, on February 3, 2006, at the age of 82. Somehow that little tidbit slipped past my notice. Here is an NPR obit for him.

Continue reading "Al Lewis, Way Overdue" »

Posted by at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Another of those familiar faces I grew up with, Yvonne DeCarlo of Munsters fame, died Monday, aged 84. Here is one of the more comprehensive obits for her.

Continue reading "Yvonne DeCarlo" »

Posted by at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just learned that Mike Evans, the first actor to play Archie Bunker's neighbor and occasional antagonist Lionel Jefferson on All in the Family (there were two Lionels, you know), died a couple weeks ago at the age of 57. As with so many others I eulogize around here, it was the damned cancer that got him. What a shame -- 57 isn't very old, and I'm sure he had lots of living left to do.

Continue reading "Long-Delayed Tributes to the Departed" »

Posted by at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm sure you've all noticed that the InterWeb has been buzzing with news and commentary about the untimely death of Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin, the, um, energetic TV personality who was killed yesterday in an underwater encounter with a stingray. I don't know about you, but I wasn't surprised in the least that his life was ended by a wild animal. The only unexpected aspect of this story was that his killer wasn't reptillian in nature.

Continue reading "The Crocodile Hunter" »

Posted by at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've never seen Sayanora, the film for which Red Buttons won his Oscar in 1958, so I can't say anything about that. In fact, as I've tried to think of a signature Buttons role to hang this tribute on, I find I can't think of him in any specific part or film. He's simply one of the many familiar faces that I grew up recognizing on television and in movies, like Barnard Hughes. However, unlike Hughes, who stands out in my mind because of specific characters (or at least a specific character type) that he played, Buttons was always just... Red Buttons.

Continue reading "Red Buttons" »

Posted by at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was saddened to learn this morning that the veteran actor Barnard Hughes has died at the age of 90. He had a long career, stretching back to an uncredited role in a 1954 movie I've never heard of, Playgirl, but most people will recognize him from his more recent work playing various crusty old men with soft hearts.

Continue reading "Barnard Hughes" »

Posted by at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As long as I'm writing eulogies today, I may as well go for the trifecta and say a few words about TV producer Aaron Spelling, who passed away last weekend at the age of 83.

Continue reading "Aaron Spelling, The Cheeseburger King" »

Posted by at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Evanier, I've learned of another notable death: the character and voice-over actor Lennie Weinrib.

What's that, you say? The name "Lennie Weinrib" doesn't ring a bell? Don't feel bad, I didn't recognize it, either. But I certainly recognized his best-known role: the title character from the old Sid and Marty Krofft kid's show H.R. Pufnstuf. I wrote about Pufnstuf in this entry, and I won't repeat myself except to note that ol' Puffy was a pretty special part of my childhood, and I'm sorry to hear that his voice has gone silent.

Continue reading "Time for Timer" »

Posted by at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, this is a bummer: Peter David is reporting that Andreas Katsulas has died of cancer at the age of 59. Katsulas is one of those terrific character actors whose name you probably don't know, but whose face ought to be instantly familiar. He's done dozens of film and TV roles over the years, usually playing a heavy of some kind. Genre fans will remember him as Ambassador G'Kar on the cult-fave series Babylon 5, as well as the recurring character of Romulan Commander Tomalak on Star Trek: The Next Generation, while more mainstream movie-goers know him as the dastardly One-Armed Man in the Harrison Ford version of The Fugitive.

I wasn't a regular viewer of B5, but I caught it frequently enough to be impressed by Katsulas' talent. The character he played was a reptillian alien, requiring him to all but bury his distinctive features under make-up appliances, but his great power as an actor shone through all the latex, making G'Kar, curiously, one of the most sympathetic and emotional characters on the series. The character was tragic, filled with frustration and rage at the fate of his species but essentially noble and haunted by the things circumstance forced him to do. Katsulas was utterly convincing in the part, and that's saying something; not many actors are that good in extensive make-up, and most aren't any good at all.

I haven't found much in the way of official obituaries for him, but his B5 co-star Bill Mumy has a brief, fond note on his website, and Peter David's wife Kathleen tells a heartwarming tale that I think explains what kind of man he must've been as well as anything could.

Posted by at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By now, I'm sure everybody has probably heard about the death of actor Pat Morita over Thanksgiving weekend. The standard obits all highlight his role as the noble sensei Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid, which I guess is appropriate since that film was such a huge pop-cultural landmark, especially for anyone who came of age during the '80s. (Come on, admit it: all of us '80s-kids experimented with Daniel-san's flying crane kick, didn't we? Or at least fanatasized about using it against those jerks who mocked us in gym class. Or am I revealing way too much about my own pathetic history?)

Oddly enough, however, the roles that come to my mind when I think of Morita are all smaller and more obscure.

Continue reading "Wax Off" »

Posted by at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

All the standard obituaries for Brock Peters, the imposing actor who died yesterday at the age of 78, are emphasizing his role as Tom Robinson in the classic film To Kill a Mockingbird. But for me, he'll always be the voice of Darth Vader.

Continue reading "Brock Peters" »

Posted by at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Jimmy Doohan died this morning at the age of 85. It's hardly a shock -- he's been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and made his final public appearance slightly under a year ago -- but it still hurts. My beloved Scotty has beamed off to whatever adventure awaits us all beyond this life, and another piece of my childhood is gone. I'm fighting back tears as I type this at an all-too-public computer.

Continue reading "The Word is Given..." »

Posted by at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well, here we go again... two more fine character actors that none of my readers will recognize by name have passed away. Oddly, both John Fiedler and Paul Winchell, who died within 24 hours of each other, are best known for working on the same projects, specifically Disney's "Winnie the Pooh" films. Winchell, who died Friday at the age of 86, was the voice of Tigger from 1968 until 1999, and it was he who coined Tigger's memorable catch-phrase "ta-ta for now!"

Meanwhile, Fiedler, who was 80 when he left us on Saturday, continued to play Pooh's gentle little buddy Piglet right up to this year's entry in the long-running franchise, Pooh's Heffalump Movie.

Continue reading "A Sad Day at Pooh Corner..." »

Posted by at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, now, this sucks -- I just learned that one of my favorite character actors, Lane Smith, has died.

He's one of those guys whose name you probably don't recognize, but you'd know his face instantly; he did a lot of movies in the '70s and '80s that qualify as minor classics, including Rooster Cogburn, Network, Prince of the City, Frances, Places in the Heart, and one of the most incredibly jingoistic and far-fetched (yet entertaining) movies to emerge from the Reagan Era, Red Dawn. More recently, he's appeared in lighter fare such as My Cousin Vinny, The Mighty Ducks, and Son-in-Law, which has the dubious distinction of being the only Pauly Shore movie that is remotely watchable.

Fans of genre TV will remember Smith as Nathan Bates, the power-hungry industrialist who collaborated with the alien Visitors in V: The Series, as well as the Elvis-obsessed editor Perry White in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Also, all the obituaries I've scanned note that Smith played Nixon in a TV miniseries called The Final Days, which I'm sorry to say I've never seen. (Personally, I tend to picture him in the opening credits of V, parked behind a big desk with an oily smile, an ugly suit, and a cigar the size of a car muffler.)

The best obituary I've found indicates that he died from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. I mention this little factoid only because I've had some personal experience with ALS, and my ears tend to prick up when I hear of someone being afflicted with it. Trust me, it's not a pretty way to go, and it breaks my heart that this talented man had to face such a miserable end.

For the record, he was 69 years old, only a few years older than my parents and way too damn young for this...

Posted by at 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Mr. Jordan has been busy lately -- the latest person to wander into his presence is Ossie Davis, a wonderful stage-and-screen actor and all-round impressive human being who died last week at the age of 87.

I can't remember for sure when I first became aware of Mr. Davis -- he worked so steadily throughout his long life that it seems like he's just always been there, somewhere -- but I think I connected his name to his face when he co-starred in a short-lived TV series called B.L. Stryker. Stryker was a would-be comeback vehicle for Burt Reynolds, a rather unremarkable detective series in the Magnum/Rockford Files mode. It didn't go anywhere, obviously, but it did lead to a longer-term job for both Ossie and Burt, the amiable sitcom Evening Shade, which I remember watching pretty regularly in the early '90s (although I'll be damned if I can remember much of what it was about).

The thing I liked about Ossie Davis was that he always seemed to radiate warmth and dignity, no matter how minor or ridiculous the project. Case in point is one of his final films, Bubba-Ho-Tep, a bizarre cross-breeding of horror, comedy and social commentary in which Davis played a character who claimed he was John F. Kennedy, despite the fact that he was obviously still alive. And black. When questioned on these points by his fellow retirement-home inhabitant, Elvis Presley (who also is still alive, by the way, at least in this filmic universe), "Jack" explains that the assasination was faked and the CIA dyed him black before dumping him in the worst, most anonymous old-folks' home in Texas. Pretty silly stuff -- and this is even before the ancient Egyptian mummy shows up and begins to feed on the souls of the old folks! -- but Davis plays Jack as, well, presidential. It's a wonderful performance in a movie that many actors wouldn't have taken at all seriously. I think that says all you need to know about the sort of man Davis was... however, if you would like to know more about the remarkable life of a remarkable man, check out Roger Ebert's fine eulogy.

Posted by at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just heard that actor Jerry Orbach died yesterday of prostate cancer. Damn shame, on so many levels. He was only 69, just a few years older than my mom, and his cancer was apparently discovered too late for treatment.

He was one of our finest character actors, a familiar face that has been appearing in stage, television, and film work for years. He appeared in 42nd Street and Chicago on Broadway, was the voice of Lumiere in Disney's Beauty and the Beast (the film, not the stage musical), and starred in TV's Law and Order for twelve years. Despite all these roles, however, my first thought on hearing the news was that Baby's dad from Dirty Dancing was gone.

Continue reading "Jerry Orbach" »

Posted by at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In addition to the rocket launch I mentioned in the last post, there is also sad news on the 'net today. One of the faces I grew up with, the terrific Tony Randall, has passed away. Randall is best known for playing neat-freak Felix Unger on the TV version of The Odd Couple, and it's mostly from this show that I know him. I fondly remember watching TOC with my folks. Randall inhabited the role so successfully that when I saw the original Odd Couple film in later years, I had a hard time accepting Jack Lemmon in the role. I recently saw a few re-runs of TOC and was disapppointed to find that they don't play as well now as I remember them -- this is always a problem with seeing something that you loved as a kid, and if you don't believe me, just try sitting through an episode of Gilligan's Island these days -- but Randall was still funny.

Continue reading "Tony Randall" »

Posted by at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)