Olympia Dukakis passed away today at 89. Just about everyone's seen Moonstruck. She has played many people's Mother, along with having a long theatre career. I almost saw her once on Broadway. We had ordered tickets, but the play closed the same week it opened. One of her rare mistakes I guess.

Johnny Crawford, who played the son of Chuck Connors' character in the late 50's-early 60's TV show, "The Rifleman," passed away on April 29. He appeared in other TV shows and had a hit song, "Cindy's Birthday," in 1962 as well.

Jess

Billie Hayes, who played Witchiepoo on "H.R. Pufnstuf," (kid's show from 1969) has passed away. She was 96.

It was a funky show about a shipwrecked boy who had a magic flute and a witch who wanted to steal it. I always thought it was on for 2-3, maybe 4 seasons but there are only 17 episodes. Despite the short run, my brother and I remember the colorful look of the show and a couple of the characters. Hayes' performance was part of what made that show memorable.

Jess

Just read that actor and former football player Frank McRae passed away late last month at 80. He had several credits, probably best known here for License To Kill and The Last Action Hero. He does have Bond cards.

Actor and writer Charles Grodin has passed away at 86. He was the kind of comedian who was so dry, he always seemed to be playing it straight until you laughed. He had a string of hit movies, usually being paired with another main actor or a dog. The Heartbreak Kid, Midnight Run, Taking Care of Business and Beethoven are the top ones I can remember.

Hey Raven,

I was sorry to hear of Grodin's passing last night on the news. He was a great comic actor who specialized in a more subtle or dry humor as you said that you don't see much of today. He was great in a great movie, "Heaven Can Wait." I saw him in "Seems Like Old Times" and "Sunburn, which had the tagline something like "A private dick, a classy chick, and a guy named Al." I don't recall it being a great movie but it had a great song, "With a Little Luck" by Paul McCartney and Wings over the end credits.

I remember him from his appearances on Letterman too in which he would act abrasive playing an anti-guest which Letterman seemed to appreciate because he kept bringing him back.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Actor and writer Charles Grodin has passed away at 86. He was the kind of comedian who was so dry, he always seemed to be playing it straight until you laughed. He had a string of hit movies, usually being paired with another main actor or a dog. The Heartbreak Kid, Midnight Run, Taking Care of Business and Beethoven are the top ones I can remember.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by catskilleagle:
. . . and "Sunburn, which had the tagline something like "A private dick, a classy chick, and a guy named Al." I don't recall it being a great movie but it had a great song, "With a Little Luck" by Paul McCartney and Wings over the end credits.

Hey Jess,

You know why I find that interesting? We had a VHS of Sunburn, it also starred Farrah Fawcett. When I went to switch over to DVDs that was one of a few movies I could never find. I don't think they ever made a studio transfer and I'm wondering now if the soundtrack rights could have been one of the reasons. Nah, it wasn't very good, but the scenery was nice.

Yeah, that could be the reason. The soundtrack of the 1981 movie, "Heavy Metal" wasn't released until the mid-90's because it took that long to secure the rights to most of the songs. One of my friends knew all the details on that.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by catskilleagle:
. . . and "Sunburn, which had the tagline something like "A private dick, a classy chick, and a guy named Al." I don't recall it being a great movie but it had a great song, "With a Little Luck" by Paul McCartney and Wings over the end credits.

Hey Jess,

You know why I find that interesting? We had a VHS of Sunburn, it also starred Farrah Fawcett. When I went to switch over to DVDs that was one of a few movies I could never find. I don't think they ever made a studio transfer and I'm wondering now if the soundtrack rights could have been one of the reasons. Nah, it wasn't very good, but the scenery was nice.

Joe Lara, who played Tarzan in "Tarzan: The Epic Adventures" during the 1996-1997 TV season, was among 7 people, including his wife and her son-in-law, who were killed in a plane crash near Nashville, Tennessee on May 29. I hope the family was able to get together today.

Hollywood producer/executive (and executive producer), Douglas S. Cramer, passed away June 7 at the age of 89. He produced and co-produced a number of big TV shows of the 70's and 80's including Wonder Woman, Love Boat, Vega$, and Dynasty also working on so many other shows including Star Trek, Batman, Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Love American Style. At one time he was head of Paramount Television.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Billie Hayes, who played Witchiepoo on "H.R. Pufnstuf," (kid's show from 1969) has passed away. She was 96.

It was a funky show about a shipwrecked boy who had a magic flute and a witch who wanted to steal it. I always thought it was on for 2-3, maybe 4 seasons but there are only 17 episodes. Despite the short run, my brother and I remember the colorful look of the show and a couple of the characters. Hayes' performance was part of what made that show memorable.

Jess

Pufinstuf was awesome, but I never saw it in color until I was an adult. Totally different show without the color.

A very familiar TV face, Frank Bonner, has passed away at 79. He is best known for his role as salesman Herb Tarlek in WKRP In Cincinnati, which was quite a popular show for awhile. He had many TV and film credits, but also was a director on many projects, including some WKRP episodes. He died from complications of dementia, a thing I hate to hear. RIP Mr. Bonner.

I'm sorry to hear that. "WKRP" was a good show with memorable characters. I remember Venus Flytrap breaking down the atom for a guy who was going to drop out of school. Of course, someone put the scene on Youtube. I recall Les Nessman's alternate pronunciation of Chi Chi Rodriguez, which is an old joke running between a friend and me. A radio DJ I worked with changed names from station to station like Dr. Johnny Fever. Part of it was to adapt to whatever the format was - part of it was to evade the occasional stalker.

Dementia is horrible. People think there is relief for the family afterward but it's still the same adjustment to the full weight of the loss on top of already experiencing loss across years. I hope Bonner's family is remembering good times today too.

Stuart Damon, best known for playing Craig Stirling in the classic 1960s TV series 'The Champions' (at least here in the UK), has passed away. So there is only William Gaunt left of the original super-powered trio.

Charles Robinson, who played "Mac Robinson" on "Night Court" (NBC sitcom, 1984-1992) passed away at the age of 75 on July 11. He contributed to a great show.

He might be on one of the "Charmed" cards.

Missed reading this, but William Smith died on July 5th at the age of 88. He had many credits, but starred in a couple of cult favorites, Invasion of the Bee Girls and Grave of the Vampire, before settling into mostly bad guy roles. He did many guest appearances on TV shows in the 80s and too many low budget movies that you never heard of to name. I liked him. He had a presence on film. Sorry his passing wasn't more widely reported. RIP Mr. Smith.

Markie Post, best known for Night Court, but a popular TV headliner and guest throughout the 80's and 90's, has passed away at the age of 70 from a long illness. RIP Ms. Post.

I first saw Markie Post on "Fall Guy." She joined the show after Jo Ann Pflug left. "Night Court" was a great show. She did another popular comedy, "Hearts Afire," with John Ritter in the 90's.

Markie Post was cast as Electra Woman maybe 20-25 years ago in a reboot of "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl" but I don't think it got out of the development stage. There was a photo of her in costume on the web back then.

She was also among that last generation of actresses who posed for a pin-up (bikini) poster. I don't remember many in the 90's other than Pamela Anderson. Do high school and college kids still put posters on their walls?

She always seemed so positive and lively in interviews. It's difficult to think of her as gone.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Markie Post, best known for Night Court, but a popular TV headliner and guest throughout the 80's and 90's, has passed away at the age of 70 from a long illness. RIP Ms. Post.

It was announced on Saturday that Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, alto saxophonist for supergroup, Kool & & the Gang, has passed away at the age of 70. He was one of the founding members of the band that formed way back in 1969. He had performed with them just last month.

I've been meaning to get back to this. Yeah, William Smith was a good actor - usually played a tough bad guy. I guessed he guest-starred on "The Six Million Dollar Man" and I was right but it seemed he was in at least one episode of every drama and action show/movie of the 70's. He was a bad guy in the pilot episode of "The Rockford Files," one pf my favorite shows of all time. Smith was the good guy in "Invasion of the Bee Girls," a movie we've noted elsewhere on the board. I haven't checked to see if the card set for that is still in production.

I didn't hear about his passing right after it happened either. It didn't make the top of the internet news pages but Smith was a familiar face in the 70's. I didn't know he was a child actor before that nor that he served in the Air Force during the Korean War. He was also a world champion arm wrestler in his weight class as well as an amateur boxer with a record of 31-1. He didn't just play tough dudes. He was a tough dude.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Missed reading this, but William Smith died on July 5th at the age of 88. He had many credits, but starred in a couple of cult favorites, Invasion of the Bee Girls and Grave of the Vampire, before settling into mostly bad guy roles. He did many guest appearances on TV shows in the 80s and too many low budget movies that you never heard of to name. I liked him. He had a presence on film. Sorry his passing wasn't more widely reported. RIP Mr. Smith.