People ask me: which was your worst celebrity interview ever? I always reply without hesitation: Sam Neill. Born in Ireland and raised in New Zealand, the Golden Globe and Emmy nominated actor passed away July 13 at 78. He had shared on social media recently that tests showed he had licked a rare blood lymphoma.
In 2022 I had the good fortune to welcome Ronnie Schell as a guest on this podcast. Schell was a familiar face and voice on TV for decades, most prominently as Jim Nabors’ army pal on Gomer Pyle, USMC. He was also the voice of Hockey Night in Canada‘s animated mascot Peter Puck, did many Disney movies
When I was on “Humble” Howard Glassman and Fred Patterson’s Internet radio show this past week I picked up a good tip on a current comedy movie. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Every two months I guest as their go-to TV critic, and inevitably Howard has seen way more news shows than
Louise Lasser was a genuine original who burned bright in the 1970s. The star of the daily, syndicated, soap-comedy Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976 -77), she was probably the first major TV character to suffer a season-long nervous breakdown. Post Nixon, Watergate and Vietnam, she represented what many North Americans were feeling at what was,
Joby Baker might have had a bigger TV career if only he was better at memorizing his lines. The Montreal native, who passed away June 22 at 92, was raised in Hawaii before studying acting in New York. He had only one starring role on television. That was when he was paired with Ronnie Schell
In Part II of this two-part conversation, retired Globe and Mail TV columnist John Doyle returns to talk a little bit more about soccer but mostly about our shared fascination with television. The two of us tackle several of today’s biggest TV challenges. For example: are late night talk shows going the way of the
“Canada’s Country Gentleman,” as he was known for decades on CBC, Tommy Hunter pased away peacefully July 2 in the city where he was born, London Ontario. He was 89. Hunter was a friendly face on Canadian television for decades. The tall singer/musician first entered living rooms while still in his teen years on Country
People ask me: which was your worst celebrity interview ever? I always reply without hesitation: Sam Neill. Born in Ireland and raised in New Zealand, the Golden Globe and Emmy nominated actor passed away July 13 at 78. He had shared on social media recently that tests showed he had licked a rare blood lymphoma.
Louise Lasser was a genuine original who burned bright in the 1970s. The star of the daily, syndicated, soap-comedy Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976 -77), she was probably the first major TV character to suffer a season-long nervous breakdown. Post Nixon, Watergate and Vietnam, she represented what many North Americans were feeling at what was,
Joby Baker might have had a bigger TV career if only he was better at memorizing his lines. The Montreal native, who passed away June 22 at 92, was raised in Hawaii before studying acting in New York. He had only one starring role on television. That was when he was paired with Ronnie Schell
“Canada’s Country Gentleman,” as he was known for decades on CBC, Tommy Hunter pased away peacefully July 2 in the city where he was born, London Ontario. He was 89. Hunter was a friendly face on Canadian television for decades. The tall singer/musician first entered living rooms while still in his teen years on Country
When I was living in LA in the mid-’80s I got to know a technical co-ordinator/assistant director named Rick Beren who worked on Cheers. Young and not above camping out on a contruction site to save a dime, he and his girlfriend lived on his boss’s very modern-looking house in the heart of Beverly Hills
At one time jokingly self-billed as “The World’s Slowest-rising Comedian,” Ronnie Schell is rising no more. The actor/comedian passed away Friday in Los Angeles. He was 94. A native of northern California, Schell played semi-pro baseball and then served four years in the U.S. Air Force. He first caught the showbiz bug at iconic Bay-area
