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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2020 13:44:14 GMT -5
Actor Orson Bean was hit and killed by a car in Los Angeles.He played both Bilbo and Frodo in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings animated films.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2020 14:33:14 GMT -5
RIP to Victor Gorelick, Archie Comics icon and Editor in Chief, part of the Archie Comics family for over 60 years. -M
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Post by Calidore on Feb 8, 2020 19:34:42 GMT -5
RIP to Robert Conrad, reliable he-man television actor who starred in The Wild Wild West and several other shows.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 8, 2020 20:08:41 GMT -5
RIP to Robert Conrad, reliable he-man television actor who starred in The Wild Wild West and several other shows. Just saw this. Conrad’s work was all over my childhood. Used to rush home after school to watch reruns of The Wild Wild West. And Baa Baa Black Sheep was appointment TV.
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 8, 2020 23:21:40 GMT -5
Aw man, Conrad, right after Kirk Douglas. I suspect there will be some arm wrestling in the after-life.
Conrad was a long time favorite. We devoured the Wild Wild West, Baa-Baa Black Sheep and A Man Called Sloane, plus some of his other projects.
Conrad was from Chicago and his parents were 16 and 15 when he was born. His mother, under the name Jackie Smit, was a publicity director for Mercury Records. Her contacts helped get him a gig posing outside theaters playing Giant, due to his resemblance to James Dean. A chance meeting with Nick Adams led to a friendship and being cast on Bat Masterson. He went on to star in Hawaiian Eye before his iconic turn as Maj. James West, a secret service agent, who is partnered with disguise expert and inventor Artemus Gordon, traveling the west in a private rail car, fighting villains like Count Manzeppi and Dr Miguelito Loveless.
He also played DA Paul Ryan in a pair of tv movies and a short lived series, as well as spy Jake Webster. He was a notable fitness entrepreneur, who commits murder, in an episode of Columbo. He starred as Maj Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, the top Marine ace in WW2, in a tv movie and then the series Baa-Baa Black Sheep. Conrad was 41 when he starred in the pilot movie, while the real Boyington had been in his 30s, until the end of the war. The series featured young actors, like James Whitmore Jr, Dirk Blocker (son of Bonanza's an "Hoss" Blocker) and John Larroquette. Also appearing in the series was Elvis' buddy Red West, who had worked as a stunt man on TWWW. They would team up again for a pilot, Hard Knox, where he is a Marine officer who becomes commandant of a military school, where West was a retired Sgt Major.
A Man Called Sloane was an attempt at a new spy series, but proved short lived. he had better success with High Mountain Rangers.
Conrad never had much luck with film and mostly stuck to tv. He played G Gordon Liddy in the telemovie Will. He was also detective Nick Carter in The Adventures of Nick Carter, in 1972.
He was notable in the tv mini-series Centennial, as Pasquinel, a French courier and trader, who behinds a native tribe and falls for a woman there. Richard Chamberlain played his partner, Alexander McKeag, a Scotsman, who becomes his rival for the love of Clay Basket, played by Barbara Carrera.
In the late 70s, he became known for a series of Eveready battery commercials, where he dared you to knock it off his shoulder...
He also led the NBC team on the inaugural Battle of the Network Stars. He became somewhat infamous for taking the competition too seriously, most exemplified by contesting the outcome of a track event and challenging ABC captain Gabe Kaplan (Welcome Back Kotter)to a race of team captains to settle the protest...
Gabe smoked him like a fish!
The next year, Conrad was absent from the competition and, as I recall, they used some story that he had been banned or something (probably fiction to add drama or to cover up an injury or scheduling problem). However, he turned up during the tog of war finale to motivate NBC in winning.
In later years, when Mickey Rourke was trying to get into professional boxing, Conrad called in to Larry King Live to challenge Rourke to a charity fight. Conrad had boxed in his youth and was known to be pretty good. Rourke didn't accept the fight challenge.
RIP to a great actor, who knew his limitations and stuck to what he did best.
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 8, 2020 23:24:03 GMT -5
Actor Orson Bean was hit and killed by a car in Los Angeles.He played both Bilbo and Frodo in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings animated films. I think, until the Rankin-Bass Tolkien cartoons, I had never seen him actually act. I always saw him as a panelist on To Tell the Truth. It was only later I saw him act, in these, Dr Quinn and a few other things. Man, to make it to 91, only to be hit by a car.
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 11, 2020 15:41:22 GMT -5
"Douglas plays a Marine colonel, working at the Pentagon, for a dominate general who seems to think that the process of democracy isn't something left to the people. He uncovers a plot to stage a military coup, to defy efforts to bring peace and stability and an end to the nuclear stalemate. He remembers his oath is not to his commanding officer or even his president, though he acts to save him. His oath was to protect and defend the Constitution, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. He stands to protect that Constitution from a domestic enemy, one who would subvert the democratic process for his own gain, even though the general thinks his gain is what's best for the country. Douglas' colonel stays true to that oath and takes no pleasure in the outcome; he just performs his duty. It's an inspiring model that should be shown to those who shirk their duty to the Constitution and the nation."Hmmm.
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Post by foxley on Feb 11, 2020 16:54:35 GMT -5
Recently re-watched The War Wagon with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. Such a fun a movie. "Mine hit the ground first." "Mine was taller". Wayne and Douglas were political opposites who argued on set all the time, but they work together so well. Apparently when the studio offered to replace Douglas on The War Wagon because of their differences, Wayne refused, saying that Douglas was great actor and that was all that mattered.
Also saddened by the passing of Robert Conrad. Although his biggest hits were before my time, I now have Wild, Wild West on dvd, and when one of the local stations started showing Hawaiian Eye late at night, I found myself strangely hooked on it. I also remember him as a solid guest star on programs like Mission: Impossible and Columbo.
Edit: Just did a quick check and apparently Hawaiian Eye is not available on dvd. Shame.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 12, 2020 14:23:41 GMT -5
R.I.P. to Willie Nelson's drummer Paul English. English was the subject of the song Me & Paul and besides drumming for Nelson was involved in his touring business and acted as a bodyguard.
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Post by beccabear67 on Feb 13, 2020 14:27:02 GMT -5
Artist Bonnie Maclean, 1939-February 4th 2020
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2020 23:22:13 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2020 6:33:36 GMT -5
RIP to Kellye Nakahara Wallett best known for her role as Nurse Kellye for 10 seasons on M*A*S*H.
Also RIP to Ja'net Dubois, actress known for her roles on Goof Times (as the neighbor Willona) and for her voice work on the PJs.
Both were staples on the TV set during my childhood.
-M
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,571
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Post by Confessor on Feb 20, 2020 3:30:32 GMT -5
Andy Weatherall, DJ and Producer died a few days ago. Weatherall produced a number of classic singles by the likes of New Order and the Happy Mondays in the early 1990s, but he's perhaps best remembered for his remixing work on Primal Scream's landmark Screamadelica album, which included the song "Loaded", one of the greatest singles of the '90s IMHO. www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51535685
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 21, 2020 13:16:54 GMT -5
It's being reported on Facebook that long-time comics writer Nicola Cuti has passed away following a fight with cancer. I haven't found a confirmation from a news sight. I certainly knew him best as the co-creator (with Joe Staton) of E-Man.
R.I.P.
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Post by beccabear67 on Feb 21, 2020 14:11:11 GMT -5
Yeah, read the news about Mr. Cuti at the John Byrne site from Mr. Byrne.
1944-2020. I really enjoyed his Charlton work a lot!
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