Today's column is the annual look back at notable TV folk who died in the last year. (And the more I look at that subject line, the more I realize how much it would annoy George Carlin. Sorry, George.)
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sepinwall on TV: TV people we lost in 2008
Today's column is the annual look back at notable TV folk who died in the last year. (And the more I look at that subject line, the more I realize how much it would annoy George Carlin. Sorry, George.)
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Also: Jack Narz, host of "Concentration", "Beat the Clock" and others, died October 15 (age 85).
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (76) - Wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, played Nurse Chapel on the Original Series, Counselor Troi's mother Lwaxana on the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and the computer voice of the Enterprise and any other Federation starship on all 5 series and some of the movies, including J.J. Abrams' upcoming movie as her final role.
Julius Carry.
I confess, I missed the news when he died, and only found out about it in one of these end-of-year retrospectives. I remember him mostly as Bruce Campbell's sidekick/partner, Lord Bowler, in The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., and as Matt Frewer's medical partner Abe Butterfield in Doctor, Doctor, both shows that were too good for television, and both roles that were refreshingly not stereotypically black.
Thanks for the additions, folks. Like the column says, I never have enough room to include everybody.
Poor Julius Carry. A very funny actor who unfortunately had to go through much of his career being known only as the Shogun of Harlem from "The Last Samurai." The one time I met him, the mention of that film seemed to bring him physical pain, and that was in the context of me discussing a bunch of other things he had done that I liked.
The deaths of Bernie Mac and Julius Carry still make me very sad. I also remember Mr. Carry mostly as Lord Bowler--never saw that samurai movie.
Is anyone else flabbergasted to learn that Paul Benedict wasn't British? He was American!
Seeing pics of Tim Russert still makes me sigh.
sigh
That version of The Last Samurai with Julius Carry in it must be wacky: I'd like to see how Edward Zwick explains what a black man is doing in 19th century Japan. Julius Carry was in The Last Dragon.
Also worth remembering: Isaac Hayes, Neal Hefti (composer of the themes from the '60s Batman and the Lemmon/Matthau and Randall/Klugman versions of The Odd Couple) and Kim Chan, whom I remember as the Egg Man in Now and Again.
Re Paul Benedict: I remember when The Jeffersons was on, reading an interview with him in TV Guide where this was discussed. As I recall, he suffered from some kind of pituitary problem that made his nose and jaw big (George Washington had the same thing), and people thought that made him look British, so they cast him as a Brit.
Re Julius Carry: I don't think I ever saw that Shogun of Harlem role. I thought Carry was just wonderful, loved that trademark deep laugh he had: he he he.
Benedict had acromegaly, and apparently it was diagnosed by an audience member after a stage performance.
Beverly Garland passed away earlier this month.
Don't forget Christopher Allport (Pete Campbell's awesomely plaid-clad father) who died tragically this past year.
Anon - A friend of mine is an endocrinologist who once diagnosed acromegaly in a stranger on the street.
But it wasn't Paul Benedict's face that made me think he was British, it was his voice, which always sounded British to me.
I saw a daily calendar with quotes from George Carlin in a store the other day. I thought, "Over his dead body, indeed."
I'm floored that I never knew Benedict was American. Even when he was playing an American role, he still sounded vaguely British.
Bernie Mac and Tim Russert were HUGE losses. Watching Russert hold an entire nation spellbound with nothing but a marker and a dry-erase board board during Election 2000 was one of the most thrilling nights of my life. That man was so, so great.
Alan, your story about Julius Carry makes me really sad. I don't remember The Last Dragon (I was very, very young), but I'm often sad when I hear about actors whose careers are overshadowed and undermined by one role that follows them forever. That might make for a really interesting column or blog entry in the future.
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