Why, yes. The Academy "forgot"…. Farrah Fawcett (who was phenonmenal in Extremities)Bea ArthurRicardo Montelban…. Why weren't they included? Not an oversight. They just didn't make the cut: The In Memoriam segment can be the most moving part of the Oscar telecast. It’s also the toughest to produce. "It is the single most troubling element of the Oscar show every year," … Read More
RIP Kathryn Grayson
The star of popular MGM musicals of the 1940s and '50s ("Anchors Aweigh," "Show Boat" and "Kiss Me Kate") used to make my ears bleed — especially when she sang with duets with Howard Kiel – but she was an icon in movie musicals. So she deserves her due credit. She died at age 88. (She was born, by the way, in … Read More
RIP Howard Zinn
Best known for his classic, A People's History of the United States, Zinn changed the way many think about America. The book, written from an unapologetic liberal stance, decided not to glorigy America and its founders, but noted the struggles of real Americans in making change. Zinn himself would admit that the book has a biased slant — and it … Read More
RIP Miep Gies
New York Times: Miep Gies, the last survivor among Anne Frank’s protectors and the woman who preserved the diary that endures as a testament to the human spirit in the face of unfathomable evil, died Monday night, the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam said. She was 100.
RIP Mary Travers
Good singer. Looked like Jabba the Hut in later years. Probably not nice of me to say that.
RIP: Patrick Swayze
References to Ghost and "(I've Had The) Time of My Life" are not encouraged. Succumbed after long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57. Patrick Swayze, Lisa Niemi (Swayze's wife), George De La Pena in One Last Dance
RIP: “Norma Rae”
Crystal Lee Sutton, formerly Crystal Lee Jordan, was fired from her job folding towels at the J.P. Stevens textile plant in her hometown of Roanoke Rapids, N.C. for trying to organize a union in the early 1970s. Her last action at the plant — writing the word "UNION" on a piece of cardboard and standing on her work table, leading … Read More
RIP: The Man Who Saved More Lives Than Any Other Person In History
Oh, I could tell you his name, but it probably wouldn't mean anything to you: Norman E. Borlaug. He died at the age of 95 last night. What was his claim to fame? Well, the title above says it all. He saved more human lives than anybody in the history of…. well…. in the history of history. How many lives? … Read More
Accusing Someone Of Politicization Is Itself Politicization
Conservatives Warn of Wellstone Effect: Key conservative voices have begun to charge in the day after Sen. Ted Kennedy’s death that Democrats are inappropriately politicizing the senator’s death, his memorial and his legacy. Kennedy was that ultimate political creature, a “lion of the Senate,” and the last son of the archetypal American political family — his passing is inevitably political. … Read More
Conservative Kennedy Bashing
I don't want to draw too much attention to the vileness from some conservative quarters on the subject of Ted Kennedy's death – it's rather ugly. But it confounds me that many of these conservatives like to cloak themselves in the Bible and Christian goodness. I mean, I'm not saying that Kennedy was a saint, but if Jesus had a vote in … Read More
Teddy Hagiography
Last night was literally the first evening in months where I had no rehearsals, no performances, no auditions, no theatre-related meetings, etc. In other words, it was the first evening in months where I could veg in front of the TV. Man, what a bleak oasis. With nothing to grab my interest, I gravitated to the news channels, where there … Read More
RIP Edward Kennedy
In the 1930's, Joe Kennedy knew one of his sons would be President. That future president, everyone assumed, was to be smart, handsome, and charismatic Joe Kennedy, Jr. But Joe Jr. was shot down and killed in WWII. All eyes fell to John. Joe Kennedy lived long enough to see JFK become President, as well as the younger brother Bobby become Attorney … Read More
RIP Bob Novak
Some greatest hits: He was an old-school Washington reporter. He took a downward spiral when he became a member of the fledgling Tv network CNN in the early 1980's. The Evans-Novak Report was pretty thoughtful, but then came Capital Gang, and the Crossfire, setting the groundwork for TV political panel yell-a-thons. Then he became a tool for the Bush White … Read More
Sincerely, John Hughes
What started as a fan letter to John Hughes turned into a two-year penpal relationship for Alison Byrne (now Alison Fields). They corresponded often from 1985-1987. At one point, Hughes wrote: "You've already received more letters from me than any living relative of mine has received to date. Truly, hope all is well with you and high school isn't as … Read More