Posted Feb 10th 2009 2:29PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Daytime, Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
Many years ago, while trying to figure out some way to convince my mom that she should watch what I wanted to watch instead of her stupid soap operas, I got hooked on soap operas. My main soap (sorry, "daytime drama") was
Guiding Light (which I've started to watch again since
an old favorite returned yesterday), but I also watched
One Life To Live every single day for many years too. And then, well, I didn't. I probably couldn't tell you what the hell was happening on the show if I turned it on today, though I'm sure many of the same characters and actors are still on the show.
Except two. This has been a bad week for the Buchanan family as two of the top former actors from the passed away within just days of each other.
Continue reading Half of One Life To Live's Buchanan family passed away this week
Posted Jan 14th 2009 6:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free, Star Trek: Original Series
First Patrick McGoohan and now Ricardo Montalban.
Montalban died earlier today in Los Angeles. He was 88. He was best known for playing Mr. Roarke on the odd ABC show
Fantasy Island. Actually, he was probably equally known for his role in
Star Trek. He played Khan in a classic episode of the original series in the 60s, and later reprised the role in the big screen flick
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, arguably the best of the
Trek movies. Though I also liked the one with the whales.
Montalban had a long career, appearing in such shows as
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,
The Wild, Wild West,
I Spy,
Gunsmoke,
Hawaii Five-0,
Here's Lucy,
Dynasty,
Murder, She Wrote (which seems to show up in every obit I write here),
B.L. Stryker,
Chicago Hope, and many more. He was in my favorite version of
Wonder Woman. His last role was on an episode of
Family Guy earlier this year. He also did a ton of movies, the first one being
Five Were Chosen in 1942.
Coincidentally, like McGoohan, Montalban also played a killer on
Columbo. He killed a guy with a bull.
Posted Jan 14th 2009 1:11PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Video, Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
Just the other night I was watching the
Simpsons episode "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes." It featured a spoof of
The Prisoner, and Patrick McGoohan even reprised his role as Number 6 in the episode. McGoohan didn't do a ton of television, so it was really cool that he decided to lend his voice to the episode. I wonder how many fans of the Simpsons had no idea what the references in the show even meant and were just confused by it all.
McGoohan died in Los Angeles yesterday at age 80.
Continue reading Patrick McGoohan dead at 80 - VIDEO
Posted Dec 29th 2008 3:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Festivus, Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
This is always the most depressing end-of-year list -- the TV people (in front of and behind the camera) who died during the past year. This is a big list, but if we forgot anyone, let us know in the comments (and check out the
obituary category for more).
Continue reading Top TV Stories of 2008: People we lost
Posted Dec 19th 2008 4:29PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Obituaries, Reality-Free
Star Trek fans everywhere are mourning the loss of Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who
died yesterday at her home in Bel Air, Calif., after a battle with leukemia. Barrett Roddenberry was the widow of
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who boldly cast her as second-in-command of the USS Enterprise in the original 1964
Star Trek pilot.
She didn't stay in command for long, thanks to the NBC execs of the time, but Roddenberry remained aboard the Enterprise in the role of Nurse Chapel and as the voice of the ship's computer. She went on to voice the computer for six
Trek series and many of the films, including J.J. Abrams'
upcoming reboot. She also guest-starred as Lwaxana Troi, the Captain Picard-chasing empath, on
Star Trek: The Next Generation and
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Continue reading Majel Barrett Roddenberry's star will never fade for Trek fans
Posted Dec 8th 2008 8:06AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
Sometimes a celebrity dies who wasn't just a TV star, they actually had a hand in almost every aspect of television over a very long period of time. We lost two such stars over the weekend.
For example, fans of
NCIS will know Nina Foch (right) from her role as Ducky's mother on the show. But did you know she also starred in several vintage horror movies back as early as the early 40s, such as
Return of the Vampire and
Cry of the Werewolf? She also had the honor of being the very first murder victim on
Columbo, in 1968's
Prescription: Murder (done in by hubby Gene Barry). She also appeared in several other TV shows, such as
Bull,
Just Shoot Me,
Dharma & Greg,
Murder She Wrote,
L.A. Law,
Hunter,
Lou Grant,
Barnaby Jones,
Hawaii Five-0,
That Girl, and a ton of others. She appeared in
Spartacus,
The Ten Commandments,
An American in Paris and others. She was even the associate director on
The Diary of Anne Frank.
Foch passed away in Los Angeles on Friday at age 84.
Continue reading Goodbye to two great ladies of the small (and big) screen
Posted Oct 16th 2008 3:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV Royalty, Celebrities, Obituaries, Game Show, Reality-Free
Veteran game show host Jack Narz has died at the age of 85.
I don't like the headline at this
L.A. Times obituary for Narz, "Jack Narz Dies At 85; Host Of One Of First Programs Involved In Quiz Show Scandals." It makes the casual reader think that Narz actually had something to do with rigging the game show
Dotto (found to have given some contestants the answers, along with
Twenty-One and
The $64,000 Question) in the 50s when in actuality he knew nothing about it. Sure, he's part of the story, but keep that info for the body of the article and not the headline.
Continue reading Game show icon Jack Narz dead at 85
Posted Sep 16th 2008 8:04AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- Mel Harris: He was an exec at both Paramount and Sony Television who helped launch USA Network, Star Trek: TNG, and Entertainment Tonight. He was also one of the first executives in the 70s to push the idea of selling movies to the public on videotapes. He died of cancer at age 65.
Continue reading TV Obits: Harris, Monroe, Mallon, Monette
Posted Sep 4th 2008 8:38AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV Royalty, Video, Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
We have a
TV Royalty category here at TV Squad, and if there's anyone who worked in television and deserved the honor it's Bill Melendez.
Melendez was an animator for Walt Disney Studios in the 1930 and 40s, working on such classic movies as
Fantasia and
Pinocchio and Mickey Mouse shorts, then went on to make
tons of movies, cartoons and commercials (he worked on many Bugs Bunny shorts and other famous cartoons) for well-known companies such as United Productions of America (where he was an animator on
Gerald McBoing McBoing) and Playhouse Pictures. He then met Charles Schulz in 1959 and went on to animate (and often direct and produce) most of the Peanuts TV specials, including
A Charlie Brown Christmas,
A Boy Named Charlie Brown,
It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and many, many others. Many people don't know this but he was also the voice of both Snoopy and Woodstock (they didn't talk, of course, but he did all of the howls and other noises). He worked on TV versions of
Cathy and
Garfield too.
Continue reading Bill Melendez, animator and voice of Snoopy, dead at 91 - VIDEO
Posted Sep 2nd 2008 9:22AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- Michael Pate: He was a veteran Australian actor who appeared in many TV shows over the years, including Batman, The Rifleman, The Time Tunnel, The Rat Patrol, Matlock Police, Hondo, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Disneyland, The Wild Wild West, Daktari, Get Smart, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Zorro, Wagon Train, Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Lassie, and a ton of westerns. He was also the first person to play the Felix Leiter character, in the 50s TV version of Casino Royale. He appeared in several movies, including Houdini, Major Dundee, The Silver Chalice, Howling III, Return of the Gunfighter, PT109, McClintock!, and Sergeants 3. He died of complications from pneumonia at age 88.
Continue reading TV Obits: Pate, Keller, Mosel, Priestley
Posted Aug 27th 2008 1:23PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- Jeff MacKay: He was a veteran character actor who you know as Mac from Magnum, P.I. and his role as Bud's father on JAG. He was also a regular on Tales of the Gold Monkey and Baa Baa Black Sheep and appeared on other shows such as Diagnosis: Murder, Outlaws, Airwolf, The Greatest American Hero, Hardcastle and McCormack, and the original Battlestar Galactica. He also appeared in such movies as All The President's Men and The Wild, Wild West Revisited. He died of liver failure at age 60.
Continue reading TV Obits: MacKay, Cohen, Crane, Theobald
Posted Aug 21st 2008 11:22AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- Julius Carry: He was probably best known for his role as Lord Bowler on The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. Carry was also a regular on The District, Doctor, Doctor, and Do Over, and had recurring roles on Murphy Brown, Boy Meets World, and Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place. He also did guest spots on many other shows, including Columbo, Diagnosis Murder, Spin City, Caroline in the City, Earth 2, Grace Under Fire, Hill Street Blues, Empty Nest, Tales from the Crypt, Murder, She Wrote, Moonlighting, and many others. His last role was on an episode of The Unit. He also appeared in such movies as The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh, Moving, The Last Dragon, and The Man with One Red Shoe. He died of pancreatic cancer at age 56.
I was thinking about treating myself to a
Brisco County marathon this weekend, and now I think that's a definite.
Continue reading TV Obits: Carry, Pflug, Mooney
Posted Aug 17th 2008 12:05PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- George Furth: He was a veteran character actor who appeared in tons of TV shows over the years, including L.A. Law, All in the Family, Murder, She Wrote, Happy Days, The Odd Couple, Bonanza, Green Acres, Adam-12, Night Gallery, I Dream of Jeannie, The Monkees, The Good Guys, That Girl, Batman, F Troop, McHale's Navy, The Defenders, The Nanny, and Wings, as well as movies such as Blazing Saddles, Shampoo, Airport '77, The Boston Strangler, Bulworth, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He was also an acclaimed playwright, writing the play Twigs and collaborating with Stephen Sondheim on Company, Merrily We Roll Along, and Getting Away with Murder. He died at age 75.
Continue reading TV Obits: Furth, Rigby, Stulla, Krupnick, Boghossian
Posted Aug 9th 2008 2:47PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- Bernie Brillstein: He was a veteran manager and producer who not only produced such shows as NewsRadio, Just Shoot Me, Mr. Show, It's Garry Shandling's Show, Heist, ALF, and The Martin Short Show, he helped bring Saturday Night Live and The Sopranos to television, and helped the careers of such performers as Brad Pitt, John Belushi, Lorne Michaels, Jim Henson, Peter Falk, Geena Davis, Norm Crosby, George Wendt, Richard Dreyfus, and many others, including several TV and film writers. He also wrote a memoir in the late 90s titled Where Did I Go Right? and produced such movies as The Cable Guy, Happy Gilmore, The Blues Brothers, and the two Ghost Busters films. He died of heart disease at age 77.
Continue reading TV Obits: Brillstein, Taylor, Scott, Insul
Posted Aug 9th 2008 10:20AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
Sad news coming out of Chicago this morning;
Bernie Mac has died. Mac had been in the hospital for the past week battling pneumonia. The 50-year-old comedian and star of Fox's
The Bernie Mac Show had previously battled sarcoidosis, an immune system disorder that can affect the lungs, but that disease was said to have been in remission.
Rumors regarding the
severity of Mac's illness swirled around the internet last weekend when a family member reportedly said that his condition was "very, very critical." However, Mac's publicist came out on Thursday and said that her client's condition was "stable."
In addition to his TV work, Mac was probably best known for co-starring with George Clooney and Brad Pitt in
Ocean's 11 and its subsequent sequels.
The Bernie Mac show ran for five seasons on Fox before it ended in 2006. I always enjoyed his Cliff Huxtable-as-a-movie-star take on
The Bernie Mac Show as well as the different comedic sensibility he brought to the table in the
Ocean's movies. Mac had a lot of comedy left in him, and I'm sorry to see him go.
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