In Memoriam

Fredric March (1897) Arthur Godfrey (1903) G.D. Spradlin (1920) Buddy Hackett (1924) James Coburn (1928) Noble Willingham (1931)

This is post number 475......there will be an extra special post when we hit 500! Happy Birthday: Raymond Massey (1896) Shirley Booth (1898) Joan Blondell (1906) Fred MacMurray (1908) At Rest: William Talman (1968) Glenn Ford (2006)

Born: August 26, 1909 He was best known for his roles in several westerns over the course of his career.  It was only fitting that his final part on television would be as the patriarch of a Texas oil family... From 1958 to 1960 he starred in the program "Resuce 8" and in 1974 he was the star of "The Cowboys."  His guest appearance credits include "Lassie", "The Donna Reed Show", "Wagon Train", "Perry Mason", "Bonanza", "The Lucy Show", "The Bold Ones: The New Doctors", "The F.B.I." and "Gunsmoke" (11 times) and "Cannon."  In 1978 he took on the role of John Ross "Jock" Ewing, Sr. on the prime time soap opera "Dallas."  As the head of rough tough Ewing clan he had his beloved wife Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) by his side as he dealt with the antics of his eldest son J.R. (Larry Hagman) and his two younger sons Gary (David Ackroyd then Ted ...

Happy Birthday! Gene Kelly (1912) At Rest: Francis X. Bushman (1966) Hank Patterson (1975) Sebastian Cabot (1977) Kathleen Freeman (2001) Brock Peters (2005)

Born: December 17, 1927 This wonderful gentleman was a fine actor who left us much too soon.  His career spanned four decades and he appeared on some of the most popular programs of the day. His first film appearance was in 1946's Tomorrow is Forever with Claudette Colbert.  He also played Tom Kettle, a son of Ma and Pa Kettle in four of the nine films made featuring those characters.  The Egg and I was the first film in which he portrayed Tom...his time with the series went from 1947 to 1951.  Other famous co-stars were Marjorie Main, Orson Welles, Loretta Young and Barbara Stanwyck.  He appeared with Stanwyck in 1953's All I Desire.  Twelve years later he would play her character's eldest son on the television series "The Big Valley." On television he appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show", "Stump the Stars", "The Merv Griffin Show", "The Hollywood Squares", "Password All-Stars", "Lux Video Theatre"...

Mr. Fred Flintstone himself, Alan Reed was born on this day in 1907. Yaba Daba Do....!

Born July 26, 1909, the great Vivian Vance left us on this day in 1979.  Let's take a moment to remember "Viv" 

At Rest: Amanda Blake (1989) Phil Leeds (1998) Jeff Corey (2002)

August 13th -Alfred Hitchcock (1899) August 15th Ethel Barrymore (1879) Julia Child (1912)

Happy Birthday! Marion Lorne (1883) Joe Besser (1907) Jane Wyatt (1910) Marjorie Reynolds (1916) At Rest: Henry Fonda (1982) Loretta Young (2000) Merv Griffin (2007)

Happy Birthday! Jack Haley (1898) Noah Beery, Jr. (1913) ***Jeff Corey (1914) ***=Just a note about how good an actor Jeff Corey was.  He played the lead villain in the 1951 motion picture Superman and the Mole Men and it was because of that role that I actually hated him whenever I would see him in any other performance.  Now there's a damn fine actor when the performance is so good that you actually believe the character is real! 

Happy 90th Birthday! Rosetta LeNoire (1911) At Rest: Richard Deacon (1984) Louise Brooks (1985) Alan Napier (1988) Edna Skinner (2003) Fay Wray (2004) Barbara Bel Geddes (2005) Patricia Neal (2010)

Born: August 6, 1911 Died:  April 26, 1989 Very few words are needed... 100 years ago a genius was born...

One of the old school's most dedicated... Born: January 16, 1903 He began in films in 1932 appearing in such productions as Roar of the Dragon, Alias Mr. Twilight, The Return of Monte Cristo, Miss Grant Takes Richmond and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. On television made his face known on just about every show spanning five decades.  On the "Adventures of Superman" he appeared three times, each time playing a disturbed villain.  In the episode "The Secret of Superman" he uses mind control drugs on Perry White (John Hamilton), Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larson), Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates) and Clark Kent (George Reeves) in order to discover Superman's secret identity.  Shortly before his demise he does succeed in figuring out the Man of Steel's secret.  He later appeared as an ex-con, ex-circus performer in the episode "The Clown that Cried" in 1954 and as the Spectre in "The Phantom Ring" in 1955. He appeared in two episodes of ...