Ed Asner, who played Lou Grant in two different series, has died at age 91.

Yeah, I saw that on the evening news. They said he's the only actor that has won an Emmy for drama and comedy while playing the same character. I watched "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" as a kid but saw only some episodes of "Lou Grant."

Except for maybe a few actors that had small guest roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I think Betty White is the only remaining star left.

One of the funniest episodes on youtube is "Chuckles Bites The Dust" and it features the whole cast at their best in a story about the passing of Chuckles the Clown, who died when he was dressed as a peanut and an elephant stomped on him. It's a classic episode and, if you never saw it, you should check it out for Ed Asner and the entire cast playing their characters at their very best. This was close to being the best TV cast in history.

Lou, Murray, and Phyllis all gone just this year, but at least each actor made it into their 90's.

Mary, Rhoda, and Georgette all passed within the last 4 years. Mary and Valerie were 80 and Georgia was 70.

I was thinking about that episode, Mary trying to keep from laughing at the funeral, now that Asner has passed away. Yeah, Betty White is the last surviving cast member. Barbara Eden is the last one from "I Dream of Jeannie." Bob Newhart and Peter Bonerz are the last ones from "The Bob Newhart Show." I think Elinor Donahue is the last of the semi-regulars from "The Odd Couple." I feel lucky to have watched those shows when they were new, or in Jeannie's case, right after it went into syndication. They weren't just good shows. They became known as classics of their genre.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Except for maybe a few actors that had small guest roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I think Betty White is the only remaining star left.

One of the funniest episodes on youtube is "Chuckles Bites The Dust" and it features the whole cast at their best in a story about the passing of Chuckles the Clown, who died when he was dressed as a peanut and an elephant stomped on him. It's a classic episode and, if you never saw it, you should check it out for Ed Asner and the entire cast playing their characters at their very best. This was close to being the best TV cast in history.

Gerry Marsden's passing on January 3 of this year was noted but no one posted any cards. Here are two cards, the first one showing him and his band, Gerry and the Pacemakers. He was the band's lead vocalist and guitarist. They were big in the mid-60's but broke up in '67. Marsden later went on to a successful solo career. The first card is from an unknown set of 60's music cards; the second is a signed promo card showing a more recent photo of him.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Except for maybe a few actors that had small guest roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I think Betty White is the only remaining star left.

John Amos (weatherman Gordy Howard), Lisa Gerritsen (Phyllis's daughter Bess)

Willard Scott, best known for being the weatherman for years on the Today Show, but who also was the first Ronald McDonald, has died at age 87.

He seemed like a nice guy. Al Roker had taken over the weather segments several years ago but Scott was still announcing the 100-year/100-year plus birthdays remotely until he officially retired just a few years ago. He had an incredible run.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
Willard Scott, best known for being the weatherman for years on the Today Show, but who also was the first Ronald McDonald, has died at age 87.

Michael Constantine, who played the father in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" along with a whole bunch of other roles, died on Aug. 31 at age 94.

I'll always remember Michael Constantine from "Room 222," a show my parents liked. It ran during that time when I started to watch TV and understand what was going on.

Here are three cards from the test set that Topps did in 1969. Most of the known cards were printed in black-and-white but some printed in color have also been found. In his "The Sport Americana Price Guide to the Non-Sports Cards" Number 4 (Edgewater Book Company, 1992), Christopher Benjamin speculated that the color ones may be proofs.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

Beloved comedian Norm MacDonald at 61.
Polarizing during his time as SNL Weekend Update anchor (I loved him, but my brother, his TV bosses, and OJ Simpson hated him), he went on to a solid career as an all-purpose funnyman including voiceover work for the likes of the "Dr. Dolittle" film series, the "Mike Tyson Mysteries" on Adult Swim, and "The Orville" sci-fi TV series with his trademark deadpan delivery.

Here's his character from "The Orville", the gelatinous alien Yaphit, from the Rittenhouse set.



As it's hard to get a sense of the man from that (the real Norm had a nose and eyes, and didn't usually carry a guitar around), here's a fan made card from Pinterest showing Norm in the uniform he's hopefully suited up in now.

I'm still thinking about Norm. I watched his 1999-2001 sitcom, "The Norm Show," during its run. It was a funny show. One episode played on the fact that some people still didn't know what the internet was. At one point, Norm's boss orders him to give him the internet after hearing that Norm ridiculed him on it. Norm hands him a random diskette and his boss walks off satisfied.

Both Stephen Colbert and Seth Myers both took a few minutes to talk about his passing, both also recalling when they first met him. Myers mentioned what some comedians consider his best joke. Look up "the moth joke" on Youtube.

I always looked forward to seeing him on late night shows when I heard he was going to be on. I'd switch over to that channel no matter who was on the show I was watching.

Damn, that's sad news.

Here's a promo from 1999 when his sitcom started.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Myers mentioned what some comedians consider his best joke. Look up "the moth joke" on Youtube.

Macdonald was one of that specific group of comedians who do everything funny in the delivery and, as an audience, either you thought he was a comic genius or you just sat there wondering why other people were laughing. He had the kind of career admired by other comedians and people in show business, but he couldn't break out into mainstream solo popularity like many SNL stars did. He died much too young.

And that joke, you could see the punchline coming from the first line.

I think he is admired by other comedians because he didn't try too hard to go mainstream. His sitcom was as close as he wanted to get. His refusal to stop telling the jokes he wanted to tell got him in trouble. He was fired from SNL in the late 90's and I think he was not allowed on "The Tonight Show" for a while when another joke touched a nerve with the network. Letterman and Conan kept bringing him on.

I didn't see the punchline coming. I was still processing the complicated set-up when he delivered it.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Myers mentioned what some comedians consider his best joke. Look up "the moth joke" on Youtube.

Macdonald was one of that specific group of comedians who do everything funny in the delivery and, as an audience, either you thought he was a comic genius or you just sat there wondering why other people were laughing. He had the kind of career admired by other comedians and people in show business, but he couldn't break out into mainstream solo popularity like many SNL stars did. He died much too young.

And that joke, you could see the punchline coming from the first line.

Actress Jane Powell, who was one of the surviving members of Hollywood's "Golden Age", has died at age 92.

I was looking at a list of surviving actors from Hollywood's Golden Age and nearly everyone they came up with didn't really have any part in it. They had a reasonable age, but weren't really in any films of the era where "They Had Faces Then". For example people like Betty White are frequently cited when her fame came from 60's TV. Or Kim Novak, who certainly was a star of many notable movies, but after the passing of the Golden Age. Or Joanne Woodward, same later arrival.

The only living actor I can think of who really was a part of that era now that Powell has passed, although usually a supporting star at that time, is Angela Lansbury. She goes back to the early 40's and she was in Cecil B. Demille's Samson and Delilah. I don't think you can get any better than a DeMille picture from the Golden Age.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
I was looking at a list of surviving actors from Hollywood's Golden Age and nearly everyone they came up with didn't really have any part in it. They had a reasonable age, but weren't really in any films of the era where "They Had Faces Then". For example people like Betty White are frequently cited when her fame came from 60's TV. Or Kim Novak, who certainly was a star of many notable movies, but after the passing of the Golden Age. Or Joanne Woodward, same later arrival.

The only living actor I can think of who really was a part of that era now that Powell has passed, although usually a supporting star at that time, is Angela Lansbury. She goes back to the early 40's and she was in Cecil B. Demille's Samson and Delilah. I don't think you can get any better than a DeMille picture from the Golden Age.

She was also in 'Gaslight' in 1944. Now that was a memorable film from that era. I haven't seen it for years but it was the first film that popped into my head when Angela Lansbury's name was mentioned

quote:

Originally posted by Kevin F:
She was also in 'Gaslight' in 1944. Now that was a memorable film from that era. I haven't seen it for years but it was the first film that popped into my head when Angela Lansbury's name was mentioned

Yeah, Ingrid Bergman was the female lead. Have you noticed how the term "gaslighting" has come back into popular vocabulary in the last few years. I wonder how many young people who use it now even know that the expression originated from that movie?

BTW I looked up Hollywood's Golden Era and apparently some film historians have decided that it went from 1915 - 1963, which is why the are counting actors who arrived in the 1950's. I would have to disagree, 1949 would be the cutoff for me.

Kind of like the discussions we have about the dividing lines for vintage and modern cards. How do you call a card made in 1981 and a card made in 2021 both modern when the process is nothing alike? We need another name for cards made after 2010 or so. Sorry to ramble in obits.

Yeah, today I was thinking about where the cut-off would be. It seems weird to put the early silent films in the same category as those from the 50's-early 60's though the Golden Era seems to be widely defined as the duration across which a few big studios controlled the movie industry. Some might break it differently such as when movies were more widely filmed in color.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by Kevin F:
She was also in 'Gaslight' in 1944. Now that was a memorable film from that era. I haven't seen it for years but it was the first film that popped into my head when Angela Lansbury's name was mentioned

Yeah, Ingrid Bergman was the female lead. Have you noticed how the term "gaslighting" has come back into popular vocabulary in the last few years. I wonder how many young people who use it now even know that the expression originated from that movie?

BTW I looked up Hollywood's Golden Era and apparently some film historians have decided that it went from 1915 - 1963, which is why the are counting actors who arrived in the 1950's. I would have to disagree, 1949 would be the cutoff for me.

Kind of like the discussions we have about the dividing lines for vintage and modern cards. How do you call a card made in 1981 and a card made in 2021 both modern when the process is nothing alike? We need another name for cards made after 2010 or so. Sorry to ramble in obits.