I found out the other day that one of my favorite authors, Dorothy Gilman, has passed on. She created that wonderful character Mrs Emily Pollifax who, late in life, joined the CIA and so often was able to save the day when the James Bond types failed. She was portrayed in a couple of movies by Rosalind Russell and Angela Lansbury. I loved the early ( Read more... )

I just learned that Anne McCaffrey has passed on at the age of 85. She was one of the writers who lured me into the realm of science fiction way back when. I haven't read her books in years and, like others, had my disagreements with much of her work (see here) but she was a great influence and, with The White Dragon in 1978, became the first ( Read more... )

The first (for me) major death of the year is that of Anne Francis who passed on at age 80 on January 2nd. I first became aware of her as the stunningly beautiful denizen of Altair IV in "Forbidden Planet" where she had a pet tiger. Later on she had a pet ocelot (I so hope she liked cats) in "Honey West" in which she starred; it was the first TV ( Read more... )

The past few days have seen the passing on of Tom Bosley known for "Happy Days" and the "Father Dowling Mysteries", Bob Guccione, who started Penthouse and Omni which was a terrific blend of science and science fiction while it lasted and Johnny Sheffield known primarily as Boy in the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies. Requiescat in pace ( Read more... )

OMG Tony Curtis has passed on at age 85. Back in the days of my youth I had such a crush on him from seeing him in movies like "Son of Ali Baba" (yeah I wasted a lot of time watching silly stuff like that), "Some Like It Hot", "Operation Petticoat" (with Cary Grant), "40 Pounds of Trouble" and dozens of other movies. I'm fondest of his Danny Wilde ( Read more... )

I just heard that John Forsythe passed on at age 92. Most will probably remember him as the voice of Charlie in "Charlie's Angels" and Blake Carrington in "Dynasty" but I have some early memories of him as "Bachelor Father" and in "See How They Run" with Jane ("Father Knows Best") Wyatt and a young Pamela Franklin. SHTR is listed as a TV movie made ( Read more... )

OMG they're dropping like flies - 3 in little over a week (who will be next? *chews fingernails*). Last night I learned that another favorite actor from my childhood died - Robert Culp has passed on at the age of 79. He made his name in the series "I Spy" which was the first series to star a black actor (Bill Cosby of course). I recall liking the ( Read more... )

This morning I learned that another icon of my childhood died: Fess Parker has passed on at the age of 85 (purportedly on the 84th birthday of his wife Marcella - if true what a horrific birthday present!). Davy Crockett made little impact on me outside of that catchy theme song but I liked him as Daniel Boone (however I only watched the show ( Read more... )

OMG Peter Graves has passed on at age 83! Most people remember him from the original "Mission: Impossible" and the "Airplane" movies but when I was little I had a crush on him when he starred in "Fury" where he played a rancher named Jim Newton who takes in an orphaned boy and this beautiful black stallion (I must admit though that I may have ( Read more... )

A friend just informed me that Dick Francis has passed on at age 89. He was my favorite mystery author writing volume after volume of terrific mysteries with the most intriguing characters and plots generally revolving around horses (very apropo for an ex-jockey). He wrote more than 40 books among them my faves like Dead Cert, Odds Against, Rat ( Read more... )