The first star I met at the first Television Critics Association press tour I ever attended was Angela Lansbury. In 1984, the stage, screen and television star, who passed away Tuesday in Los Angeles at 96, was promoting a new CBS series called Murder. She Wrote. I was a raw rookie from TV Guide Canada
He was the tall one with the touque, the Monkee not to monkey with. Michael Nesmith’s passing Friday at 78 is another dagger to the heart of TV and music fans who grew up in the ’60s, ’70s. Even into the ’80s when the Texas native became better known for pioneering music video compilations, producing
In the mid-’60s, Dawn Wells played girl-next-door Mary Ann on Gilligan’s Island. For the young actress, it turned out to be much longer than a three hour or even a three season cruise. Wells died Wednesday from complications from COVID-19. She was 82. The former Miss Nevada was still in her twenties when the series
You know you’re getting old when you find yourself writing obits about the child stars of your youth. Ken Osmond, one of television’s most memorable weasels through six seasons of Leave it to Beaver, died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 76. At 14, the Glendale, Calif., native attended an open audition for the part
Ken Kercheval was one of two actors — the other being Larry Hagman — who starred on the entire run of the TV hit of the ’80s, Dallas (1978 – 1991). The Indiana native played Cliff Barnes, the not-so-nice guy who always seemed to get outfoxed at the last minute by the prime time soap’s
Sometimes when a famous TV personality dies, I get asked to talk about the person on the radio. I got a message from a producer today asking if I would speak about Leonard Nimoy. Star Trek‘s original Spock passed away Friday at 83. Since the interview was for Arlene Bynon I quickly said yes. We chat every Monday
“I vowed that I’m going to live to 2013,” Ernest Borgnine told critics gathered at a Hallmark TCA session five years ago. “After that, I don’t give a damn.” Borgnine, who passed away Sunday at 95, missed his target by about six months. He wowed critics five years ago when he appeared at press tour to
The late, great Hollywood photographer Gene Trindl shot a lot of TV Guide covers–over 200 in total. The shoot that kept on giving, he once told me, was the day he spent with The Monkees.Trindl got a call in 1966 to photograph the four young stars of the NBC comedy. Think Beatles, he was told.