Too late now.

RIP James Arness. I liked both brothers, although I always thought Gunsmoke was overrated. And what was the deal with Kitty? Was she Matt's girlfriend? Was she a hooker? Both?

Both of them had good tv series. Graves first starred in "Fury" (a show about a boy and his horse ... Graves was the boy's father), and later he was in "Mission Impossible".

Legend has it that John Wayne refused the "Gunsmoke" role (supposedly he was afraid that tv, then in its infancy, wouldn't be around too long) and suggested Arness for the role.

Miss Kitty was just a Saloon girl but I get your drift DT.
They probably wouldn't call it sexual tension back then but there were a few episodes in which we thought (and hoped) Marshall Dillon and Miss Kitty would hook-up (by yesterday's standards that would be kiss).

I never was big on westerns either, but as a kid we watched that all the time and I liked it.

I forgot about Fury. I loved Fury. I wasn't a regular watcher of Mission Impossible, although did watch it sometimes.




TIS

SC is correct; the voices of Arness and Peter Graves (the family name was Aurness) were quite similar.

Back in 1952, Arness co-starred with John Wayne in one of the most infamous "Red Scare" movies of the day: Big Jim McLain. (Guess who played Big Jim? ) They were rooting out Communist spies in Hawaii - nice work if you can get it! A couple of years later, when Gunsmoke was going to be turned into a TV series (it was originally a radio show starring William Conrad, later TV's Cannon.), the producers wanted Wayne for the role of Marshall Matt Dillon. He declined, but recommended his friend Arness. Ol' Duke even appeared on-camera before the first episode, telling the viewers to watch the show. ("Or else," no doubt.)

The rest is TV history.

Signor V.

wow...i am shocked to tell the truth. now i need to watch ' you don't know jack' and 'them' this weekend.i wonder if ill watch moulin rouge as well (the 1952 version)

BAM, be prepared. If you've never seen, "Them", the first 30+ minutes are among the BEST you will EVER see in ANY sci-fi movie. The buildup of suspense is absolutely wonderful. Once you get to actually see "them" it becomes a standard 1950s sci-fi flick.

BTW - You had Arness on your list.

thanks for the info SC, and yea i had arness and jack on my list. and, if i am right i should be tied for the lead at 4.

You're right. You had a doubleheader today!!

Matt got his first kiss from Kitty (on the cheek no less) in season 16! I'd call that sexual frustration, Tis, not tension!

I love the early black and white episodes of "Gunsmoke." Dennis Weaver was fantastic as Chester, and Burt Reynolds was wonderful as Quint, but as soon as Festus came on board the show became a parody of itself. In the latter episodes Arness hardly played a role at all. He usually showed up for the last five minutes or so. But I loved the character of Matt Dillon. He was an all-timer.

R.I.P James Arness.

Carl Gardner, the spunky tenor who was the lead singer of the original Coasters, whose mixture of rhythm-and-blues, doo-wop and sitcom humor created 1950s hits like “Yakety Yak,” “Charlie Brown” and “Searchin,’ ” died on Sunday in Port. St. Lucie, Fla. He was 83.

The cause was congestive heart failure, his wife, Veta, said. She said he also had Alzheimer’s disease.

The Coasters, one of the early black groups of the rock ’n’ roll era, specialized in witty story songs about characters who often exemplified the problems of teenagers. Formed at the suggestion of the songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who wrote much of the group’s material, they made their debut recording, “Down in Mexico,” in 1956. A bluesy number with a Latin tinge, it featured Mr. Gardner’s clear-voiced, plaintive and faintly licentious narration of an episode involving a seductive dancer in a south-of-the-border honky-tonk.

The song was an echo of a previous Leiber and Stoller hit, another semi-humorous, semi-sexy bar tale, “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” which Mr. Gardner had recorded with his previous group, the Robins. The Coasters’ first big hits, “Searchin’ ” and “Young Blood,” released in 1957, had the same yearning sexuality.

As the Coasters went on, however, their work took a turn for the light and youthful. In songs like “Yakety Yak,” a parental warning to a teenager to behave — “Don’t talk back!” — and do chores; “Charlie Brown,” a portrait of a class clown (“Who calls the English teacher Daddy-o?”); “Poison Ivy,” about the kind of girl who will make a young man itchy with desire (“You’re going to need an ocean/Of calamine lotion”), the Coasters spoke to teenagers in winking, clean-cut little melodramas — playlets, as Mr. Leiber called them...
Obit

Sad day for me. Peter Falk, best known for playing "Lt. Columbo" on tv, died last night at age 83.

He was one of my favorites and seemed like a genuinely good guy.

R.I.P. Peter

Actress Alice Playten has died at age 63.



She worked in TV, film, commercials, animated cartoons and theater for over forty years.

Her claim to TV immortality came in 1970, when she played the part of a young newlywed in a commercial for Alka-Seltzer. Sitting in bed, she enthused rapturously over her first home-cooked meal, while her husband suffered the after-effects of her cooking. She talked about "marshmallowed meatballs," then a huge dumpling that "really sticks to your ribs!" Her husband muttered, "That's right about where it's stuck!" as he goes for the Alka-Seltzer. After he returns from the bathroom, she gets an idea for her next meal: "Poached oysters!" she exclaims, prompting her poor spouse to make a quick U-turn back to the bathroom.

A classic TV commercial. The husband was played by a young Terry Kiser, who later went on to play the title corpse in Weekend At Bernie's (and the sequel).

She died of heart failure in NYC at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital on June 25.

R.I.P.

Signor V

Immortality??? Her career once went plop-plop-fizz-fizz and that was it.

Hardly.

Alice Playten at IMDb

Alice Playten's Theatre Credits

Obituary at Playbill.com

NY Times Obituary

Her career actually spanned over fifty years. She began as a child actress and was in the original production of Gypsy on Broadway.

Signor V.

Ooops.... she may have been a household name in HER house but she's just below Clara "Where's the Beef" Peller on the list in MY house.

Jimmy Roselli, another crooner from Hoboken, NJ, died yesterday at age 85. He followed in Frank Sinatra's footsteps but never achieved the lofty heights that Frank did.

IMO he was one of the best saloon singers I ever heard.

R.I.P. Jimmy

I can't say I am real familiar with Roselli, but when I was visiting Michigan last, I saw one of his cd's in my dad's collection of music. I really don't know though any of his songs.


TIS

That doesn't surprise me, TIS. Roselli was a favorite of Italians all over the country in the '60s. He really had very few "hits" of his own but was best known for his versions of the standards.

When I used to help my father out (with his jukeboxes) I was always getting Jimmy Roselli records for the bars.

I remember Jimmy Roselli, but I hadn't heard his name in more years than I can remember.

What I do remember is that way back in 1968, he had a hit with a song called "Buona Sera," a pleasant tune that was the theme from the movie Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell. The enjoyable little comedy starred Gina Lollobrigida. The song got a lot of air play.

Signor V.

Although I couldn't tell you the plot, I do remember when that movie was out SV. Didn't Louie Prima sing the Buona Sera song originally(if it's the song I'm thinking of)?


TIS

They were two different songs.

Signor V.

He was a bit before my time but I heard folks talk about him.



BALTIMORE - As one of football's great tight ends, the Baltimore Colts' John Mackey used to bull his way past the goal line, dragging tacklers on his back. As the first president of the National Football League Players Association, he carried his brethren into the modern era of free agency and big-money contracts.

Mackey, whose off-the-field exploits were as important as his accomplishments on it, died Wednesday of frontal temporal dementia, a disease he had battled for 10 years, at Keswick Multi-Care Center in Baltimore. He was 69.

Bull-necked and indomitable, Mackey forged a reputation with the Colts as an explosive receiver able to turn a short look-in pass into an 80-yard touchdown. The club's No. 2 draft pick in 1963, he redefined the role of the lumbering blocking end.

He revolutionized that position, said Don Shula, the Colts' coach from 1963 to 1969.

"Previous to John, tight ends were big strong guys like (Mike) Ditka and (Ron) Kramer who would block and catch short passes over the middle," Shula said. "Mackey gave us a tight end who weighed 230, ran a 4.6 and could catch the bomb. It was a weapon other teams didn't have."

The 19th player chosen in the 1963 NFL draft, Mackey impressed his Colts teammates even before he signed a contract.

"The first time I saw John was when he walked through the locker room, after practice, to meet Shula," said Ordell Braase, defensive end. "John was wearing a suit, and right behind him were his lawyer, physician and a couple of others in suits, too.

"I thought, 'What's going on here?' Back then, most players negotiated their own deals, but Mackey had a task force with him. I said, 'By God, this guy is not going to get taken.'

"He was focused on what he wanted, and I admired him for that."

Full Obit

Betty Ford has died. Now she was one person I actually used to have on my list.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/08/betty-ford-dead-at-93/

same...i replaced her with kirk douglas

rip

Geoff, SC, Mig and I all had her on our lists.

I hadn't heard of her passing. RIP



TIS

Here are three more well-known American actors that died recently:

Sada Thompson - award-winning stage and television actress died from lung disease on May 4 at the age of 83. Among her many memorable roles, she was the matriarch in the 1976 TV series "Family," and played Mary Todd Lincoln in the early '70s miniseries "Sandburg's Lincoln" opposite Hal Holbrook.



Marian Mercer - Tony award-winning stage and TV actress known for her comedic roles on "The Dean Martin Show," "Making A Living," and many other guest-starring roles, died April 27 at the age of 75 from Alzheimer's Disease. She won her Tony award for her role in the 1969 Broadway musical "Promises, Promises."



Don Diamond - character actor known for cartoon voice overs, and who also appeared in the TV series "The Adventures of Kit Carson," and was probably most remembered as the Indian "Crazy Cat" in the 1960's TV series "F Troop." He died from heart failure at the age of 90 on June 19.



For the record, way back in the day - forty years ago - I thought Marian Mercer was gorgeous as well as being quite talented. The older one gets, the quicker time passes.

Signor V.

"She's still alive! They hit her with
five shots and she's still alive!"

does anybody wanna bet that zsa zsa will last longer than kirk douglas, ernest borgnine, and abe vigoda?

also too is their some guy who is 102 right now?

Last night, my 15 year old son came up with this pearl of wisdom: "Wouldn't it have been ironic if Betty Ford died at the Betty Ford Center?"

Now I'm going to have to look into trade schools for the boy.

It reminded me of when Chris Moltisanti said this: "You ever think what a coincidence it is that Lou Gehrig died of Lou Gehrig's disease?"