Barbara Hale, best remembered as a randy
middle-aged astronomer trying to combat The Giant Spider Invasion in the MST3K
classic, has died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the age of 94. She
had some high-profile roles opposite top leading men, most notably headlining
Lorna Doone, then spent 13 years in Raymond Burr’s shadow as Della Street, his
ever-capable legal secretary, on Perry Mason. Twenty years later, Street put
all the tricks she learned to good use, committing a murder that forces Mason
to give up his job as an appellate court judge so that he can come to her
defense. Other roles included Dean Martin’s wife in Airport, and playing
William Katt’s mother in real life and in The Greatest American Hero and Big
Wednesday.
Miguel Jose Ferrer, best remembered as the man
who designed RoboCop, but wasn’t smart enough to not cross Ronny Cox, has died
of throat cancer at the age of 61. The son of Jose Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney,
cousin of George Clooney and brother-in-law of Debbie Boone, Ferrer’s first
major role was as a deck officer of the USS Excelsior, sabotaged by Montgomery
Scott in its pursuit of the stolen Enterprise in Star Trek III. He took over
the DeepStar Six when it was attacked by a sea monster in 1989, the summer of
the sea monster movies, and tried to sell Gordon Shumway in the TV movie
Project: ALF. He played abrasive forensics expert Albert Rosenfeld in Twin
Peaks, was the head of the Office of the Criminal Examiner in Crossing Jordan
and until his death, was assistant director on NCIS: Los Angeles. Ironically,
the cigarettes that led to his cancer also contributed to his gruff voice,
which kept him in high demand as a voiceover specialist, especially with
superheros, as he voiced Sinestro, Aquaman, J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter,
thought he also found himself on screen rubbing elbows with the Justice League
of America as The Weather Wizard, the Bionic Woman, and Iron Man as Vice
President Rodriguez.
Glen A. Larson, who decided that the only thing that Tron was missing was Desi Arnaz, Jr, has died at the age of 77. At one point, Larson had 5 shows on the air at a time, usually high-minded fare like a self-righteous medical examiner on Quincy, ME; a babe-chasing truck driver with a chimp for a best friend on BJ and the Bear; a professor who was the master of the secrets that divide man from animal, animal from man on Manimal; a shadowy organization relying on a talking car to enforce peace on Knight Rider; a handsome but somewhat inept PI on Magnum, PI, and his allegory for anti-semitism (interspersed with repeated shots of the exact same explosion 5 times an episode), Battlestar Galactica.
Sally Starr, who appeared in the Three Stooges last movie
(The Outlaws Is Coming) and made an album with Bill Haley and the Comets,
making her far more unique than some mayor’s wife, has died at the age of 90.
The Philadelphia TV pioneer rode in wearing a white cowboy hat and a fringed
and starred cowgirl outfit and boots that would have embarrassed Liberace,
astride a palomino with a silver saddle and hosted Popeye Theater, one of the
city’s longest-running kiddie programs, with more than 1.5 million viewers a
day at her peak, besting even Chief Halftown and Captain Kangeroo. She had been
on TV in Philadelphia since the 1940s, appearing on Hayloft Hoedown, the first
network TV show to originate from Philadelphia, with her husband Jesse Rogers,
a country-western singer she first met while trying to get an autograph and married
when she was 15. Despite a range of personal setbacks, Our Gal Sal continued
making personal appearances and signing autographs for her adopted Delaware
Valley family into her 80s, and hosted a South Jersey country music show until
April 2011 when she retired for health reasons.
Here’s the Story, of a TV Mogul, Who Stopped Breathing One Lovely July Night
Or Just sit right back and you’ll hear the tale The tale of a fateful trip That started down the river Styx Clutched in death’s icy grip
Or Deadwood Schwartz
Or The Silver Platters Announce Reunion Tour to Pay for Headstone
Or A Very Brady Funeral (Additional accolades for Phil)
Or Here's the Story... of a Corpse Named Sherwood! (Can I get a whoop whoop for Terry?)
Or The Minnow Has Been Lost (Props to Phil)
Or The Minnow Meets a Watery Grave (Kudos to Phil)
Or Hey Professor, you can built a radio out of coconuts, but you can't raise the dead? (More merit for Phil) Sherwood Schwartz, TV theme song auteur, has died at the age of 94. The Emmy-award winning writer of The Red Skelton Show had a vision for a sitcom bringing together a varied group of white people to serve as a microcosm for society that would enable him to explore some of the deeper questions of modern times, like what is man’s place in the universe?, has America developed an unbreachable schism between the classes?, and Mary Ann or Ginger? But as Schwartz assured concerned CBS Chairman William S. Paley, it’s a funny microcosm. Still, network executives were concerned that the show would be too high concept for casual viewers, forcing Schwartz to develop the iconic theme song to explain the show. After 3 seasons the show was canceled suddenly, pre-empting Schwartz’s planned finale revealing that the Minnow had actually sunk in the storm, taking all the “castaways” with it and that the island was actually purgatory and the giant incredibly fake spider and the bird that terrified it represented the good and evil sides of the island. Several years later, Schwartz tried to relax American taboos on the concept of incest with his open-minded take on family The Brady Bunch. Removing the blood relation to sneak around censors, Schwartz intended to show how to strengthen family bonds with bondage. Again, his show was canceled before Marcia got the chance to break something other than her nose up in Greg’s groovy attic apartment. Luckily, Alice and Sam were on hand to sex things up, with Sam’s job as a butcher giving a subliminal nod to talking about his meat. It’s About Time, about two astronauts cavorting with cavemen, Dusty’s Trail, basically Gilligan’s Island in a wagon train, and Big John, Little John, a sitcom built around Robbie Rist, best known as show running Cousin Oliver, were less well received.
Richard Whiteley, the host of
one of the U.K.'s best game shows, has died following heart surgery at the age
of 61. Whiteley was the U.K.’s version of Pat Sajak, a host of a simple word
game who was extremely popular with very old people for more than 20 years.
Countdown’s fan’s included the Queen and George Clooney and a man who had one
of the show’s signature songs played during his cremation. Whiteley was also
the local news anchor in Yorkshire for more than 20 years, known for collection
of more than 500 jackets and nearly 200 garish ties, constant puns and the
blooper seen worldwide of him being bitten on camera by a ferret. His was the
first face seen on Britain’s Channel 4, and his was reportedly the most seen
face in British television history.
(Borrowed liberally and without
permission from game show aficionado Mike)
