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Happy Birthday! Fredric March (1897) Arthur Godfrey (1903) G.D. Spradlin (1920) Buddy Hackett (1924) James Coburn (1928) Noble Willingham (1931)
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950
Happy Birthday! Raymond Massey (1896) Shirley Booth (1898) Sarah Selby (1905) Joan Blondell (1906) Fred MacMurray (1908) At Rest: William Talman (1968) Glenn Ford (2006)
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Happy Birthday! Gus Glassmire (1879) Willard Waterman (1914) Ingrid Bergman (1915) Isabel Sanford (1917) Dick O'Neill (1928) At Rest: Jean Hagen (1977) Ingrid Bergman (1982)
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Happy Birthday! Stanley Andrews (1891) Charles Boyer (1899) Tol Avery (1915) Jack Kirby (1917) Nancy Kulp (1921) Donald O'Connor (1925) Roxie Roker (1929) Ben Gazzara (1930) At Rest: Anissa Jones (1976) Jan Clayton (1983) Ruth Gordon (1985)
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Happy Birthday! Jim Davis (1909) Jan Clayton (1917) June Whitley Taylor (1921) Michael Jeter (1952) At Rest: Charles Boyer (1978) Ted Knight (1986)
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Happy Birthday! Michael Rennie (1909) Don DeFore (1913) Van Johnson (1916) Mel Ferrer (1917) Graham Jarvis (1930) At Rest: Carl Barks (2000)
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Happy Birthday! Gil Perkins (1907) Durwood Kirby (1911) Hugh Franklin (1916) Hal Smith (1916) At Rest: Leonard Frey (1988) E.G. Marshall (1998) Mary Jane Croft (1999) Jane Greer (2001)
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Happy Birthday! Gene Kelly (1912) At Rest: Francis X. Bushman (1966) Hank Patterson (1975) Sebastian Cabot (1977) Kathleen Freeman (2001) Brock Peters (2005)
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Recently actress/singer Eydie Gorme passed away at the age of 84. In this post we remember her and also remember twenty-five other people that were not only marvelous legends in their own right but also guest stars on "Here's Lucy." The series was the 3rd weekly program for the redhead and ran from 1968 to 1974 on CBS producing 144 episodes. All of the people listed below have been remembered on this blog more than twice I'm sure...but they are all worth it. In some cases the performers appeared as themselves or as characters. Some of them appeared more than once. Jack Benny (1894-1974) Wally Cox (1924-1973) Milton Berle (1908-2002) Ed McMahon (1923-2009) Paul Winchell (1922-2005) Eddie Albert (1906-2005) Eva Gabor (1919-1995) Robert Cummings (1910-1990) Shelley Winters (1920-2006) Ricardo Montalban (1920-2009) Lawrence Welk (1903-1992) Jackie Gleason (1916-1987) Van Johnson (1916-2008) Dinah Shore (1916-1994) Ginger Rogers ...
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Happy Birthday! Jay Novello (1904) Lesley Woods (1910) Alam Beltran (1919) At Rest: Colleen Dewhurst (1991)
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Happy Birthday! Marie Blake (1895) Bob Jellison (1908) Billy Idelson (1919) Jack Weston (1924)
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Happy Birthday! Fred Kelsey (1884) Lurene Tuttle (1907) Alan Reed (1907) At Rest: Kim Stanley (2001) Phyllis Diller (2012)
Remembering the cast of "December Bride" (936)
"December Bride" ran from 1954 to 1959...it was your typical 50's sitcom...it featured a married couple, a mother-in-law, a best friend and a complaining neighbor... Spring Byington (1886-1971) played Lily Ruskin Frances Rafferty (1922-2004) played Lily's daughter Ruth Henshaw and Dean Miller (1924-2004) played Ruth's husband Matt Henshaw. Verna Felton (1890-1966) played Hilda Crocker, Lily's best friend Harry Morgan (1915-2011) played neighbor Pete Porter who was constantly complaining about his unseen wife Gladys. Gladys was finally seen in the spin-off series "Pete and Gladys", where she was played by Cara Williams. The spin-off ran from 1960 to 1962 and also featured Verna Felton reprising her role of Hilda.
Katherine Chancellor, First Lady of Genoa City, Dies
This will be the third time that In Memoriam will recognize the passing of a fictional person. Katherine Chancellor Murphy has died at age 84. She leaves behind a great legacy and a great place in everyone's hearts. She is survived by her husband of four years, Patrick Murphy, Sons Brock Reynolds of New Orleans and Tucker McCall of Hong Kong, Grandchildren Devon Hamilton of Genoa City and MacKenzie Hellstrom of Washington D.C. as well as Great-Grandson Dylan Hellstrom also of Washington D.C., Stepchildren Phillip Chancellor III of Melbourne, Australia, Danny Romalotti and Gina Roma, Goddaughters Victoria Abbott and Chloe Fisher both of Genoa City and Ashley Abbott of New York City, Stepgrandchildren Phillip "Chance" Chancellor IV and Daniel Romalotti and stepgreat-grandchild Lucy Romalotti. In addition to her parents she was also predeceased by husbands Gary Reynolds, Phillip Chancellor II and Rex Sterling, stepson Francis Murphy and beloved friend John Abbot...
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Remembering a great lady 34 years later... July 26, 1909 - August 17, 1979 This great actress had an incredible career on Broadway in the 1930's and 40's but it wasn't until she began playing the role of Ethel Mertz in 1951 that she became a household name. On "I Love Lucy" she played Ethel to Lucille Ball's Lucy Ricardo and together they were two zany housewives always on a mission. Their husbands were Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) and Fred Mertz (William Frawley) respectively. The show ran from 1951 until 1957 and then the cast played the same characters on 13 Lucy-Desi specials between 1957 and 1960. In 1962 she returned to television once again with Ball to appear as Vivian Bagley in "The Lucy Show." This character would turn out to be the first divorced woman in prime time American television. She left the series in 1965 but returned for regular guest appearances. Ball's third series, "Here's Lucy", ran from 1968...
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Happy Birthday! Eddie Green (1896) Glenn Strange (1899) Gloria Blondell (1910 or 1915) Eydie Gorme (1928) Robert Culp (1930) At Rest: Amanda Blake (1989) Phil Leeds (1998) Jeff Corey (2002) William Windom (2012)
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Today is the 90th birthday of actress Rose Marie. In honor of the occasion we are remembering those who also would've been 90 this year (some made it and left us shortly after) Note: Everyone following Estelle Getty is listed in order of their birth. Charlton Heston Estelle Getty Barbara Baxley Jean Stapleton Florence Halop Conrad Bain Eve Whitney Keene Curtis Allan Melvin Charles Durning Barney Martin Ed McMahon Dolores Fuller Pamela Britton Murray Hamilton Edward Mulhare Dann Cahn Ann Miller Don Adams Tito Puente Aaron Spelling Al Lewis Anne Baxter James Arness Dale Robertson Jean Hagen Jackie Kelk Peter Lawford Cliff Robertson Louis Edmonds William Windom Frank Sutton Ned Wertimer Leonard Stone Ted Knight Harold Gould Andrew Duggan
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Today I am paying tribute to a special group of performers that helped to support a classic cast on a classic television show. "Falcon Crest" has lost five members of its major cast - Jane Wyman, Cesar Romero, Mel Ferrer, Chao-Li Chi and Simon MacCorkindale but is also lost numerous members of its supporting cast including some big names in Hollywood that dropped in for a guest shot and also the wonderful character actors that help to mold those stories. Ian Abercromibie (1934-2012) Bettye Ackerman (1924-2006) Eddie Albert (1906-2005) Stephen Elliott (1918-2005) John David Carson (1952-2009) Father Robert P. Curtis, C.S.P. (1932-2004) Robert Donner (1931-2006) Dana Elcar (1927-2005) Andrew Duggan (1923-1988) Frank Aletter (1926-2009) Dana Andrews (1909-1992) Edward Anhalt (1914-2000) Edward Albert (1951-2006) Gretchen Wyler (1932-2007) E.G. Marshall (1914-1998) Bill Erwin (1914-2010) Michael Fox (1921-1996) Susan French (1912-2003) Ro...
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Happy Birthday! Regis Toomey (1898) Alfred Hitchcock (1899) Tristram Coffin (1909) At Rest: Jane Darwell (1967)
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Happy Birthday! Marion Lorne (1883) Joe Besser (1907) Jane Wyatt (1910) Marjorie Reynolds (1917) Bob Carroll, Jr. (1918) Douglas Croft (1926) Deborah Walley (1941) At Rest: Henry Fonda (1982) Loretta Young (2000) Merv Griffin (2007)
Remembering the radio cast of "The Great Gildersleeve" (927)
"The Great Gildersleeve" is one of the first (if not the first) spin-offs in entertainment history. The Gildersleeve character began in 1939 on radio's "Fibber McGee & Molly" and then received his own radio show on August 31, 1941. Harold "Hal" Peary (1908-1985) played Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve from 1941 to 1950 and was followed up by Willard Waterman (1914-1995) from 1950 until the show's conclusion in 1957. The plot of the show involved Gildersleeve raising his young niece and nephew in the small town of Summerfield. Eventually he would become water commissioner and a very well respected member of the community. Walter Tetley (1915-1975) played Leroy Forrester, Gildy's nephew Lurene Tuttle (1907-1986) and Mary Lee Robb (1926-2006) played Marjorie Forrester Thompson, Gildy's niece Louise Erickson also played Marjorie for a period of time, at the time of this writing she is still with us ...
Remembering the cast of "Gunsmoke" and the cast of "Bonanza" (925)
Television programs in the "western" setting are most likely a thing of the past. This post pays tribute to television two longest running western dramas. "Gunsmoke" (1955-1975) James Arness (1923-2011) as Matt Dillon Milburn Stone (1904-1980) as Dr. Galen "Doc" Adams Amanda Blake (1929-1989) as Miss Kitty Ken Curtis (1916-1991) as Festus Dennis Weaver (1924-2006) as Chester Glenn Strange (1899-1973) as Sam, the bartendar Pat Hingle (1924-2009) as Dr. John Chapman "Bonanza" (1959-1973) Lorne Greene (1915-1987) as Ben Cartwright Michael Landon (1936-1991) as "Little Joe" Cartwright Dan Blocker (1928-1972) as "Hoss" Cartwright Pernell Roberts (1928-2010) as Adam Cartwright Victor Sen Yung (1915-1980) as Hop Sing
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Happy Birthday! Rosetta LeNoire (1911) William Asher (1921) Esther Williams (1921) At Rest: Richard Deacon (1984) Louise Brooks (1985) Alan Napier (1988) Edna Skinner (2003) Fay Wray (2004) Barbara Bel Geddes (2005) Patricia Neal (2010)
Happy Birthday Red! (922)
August 6, 1911 - April 26, 1989 Happy 102nd Birthday!!!! Star of "My Favorite Husband", "I Love Lucy", "The Lucy Show", "Here's Lucy" and "Life with Lucy"....! In Memoriam Remembers: Lucille Ball
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Happy Birthday! Louella Parsons (1881) Kathleen Mulqueen (1899) Robert Mitchum (1917) Jackie Kelk (1923) Lois Nettleton (1927) Norman Bartold (1928)
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Happy Birthday! Joan Hickson (1906) Parley Baer (1914) Selma Diamond (1920) At Rest: Marilyn Monroe (1962) Richard Burton (1984)
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On this clear summer Sunday morning we remember twenty-one people who made a living making people laugh... Bob Hope (1903-2003) Dean Martin (1917-1995) Phyllis Diller (1917-2012) Nipsey Russell (1918-2005) Foster Brooks (1912-2001) Totie Fields (1927-1978) Milton Berle (1908-2002) Jack Benny (1894-1974) Redd Foxx (1922-1991) LaWanda Page (1920-2002) Lucille Ball (1911-1989) Jackie Gleason (1916-1987) Harvey Korman (1927-2008) Bud Abbott (1895-1974) Lou Costello (1906-1959) George Burns (1896-1996) Gracie Allen (1895-1964) Henny Youngman (1906-1998) Johnny Carson (1925-2005) Groucho Marx (1890-1977) Imogene Coca (1908-2001)
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Happy Birthday! Irene Tedrow (1907) Jean Hagen (1923) At Rest: Carolyn Jones (1983) Ida Lupino (1995) Christopher Hewett (2001)
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Happy Birthday! Myrna Loy (1905) Gary Merrill (1915) Carroll O'Connor (1924) At Rest: Totie Fields (1978)