As we end the year we look back and remember those we lost. Award show tribute segments are always disappointing, incomplete, and half the time the honorees aren't even full screen.
TCM put together their piece and it's truly beautiful. I also suspect it's fairly complete. Take five minutes to remember those in the entertainment industry who brought so much joy and enrichment to our lives.
RIP all of these wonderful people.
Somehow I missed Norman Lloyd’s death. How? I’ve been paying close watch for over 65 years and I slipped for one moment.
ReplyDeleteDidn’t miss Norm Macdonald, the one person here I knew. Still saddened.
What a list.
Very beautiful tribute. Tawny Kitaen could have been included. https://mvbarer.blogspot.com/2021/05/tawny-kitaen-it-girl-of-80s.html
ReplyDeleteI've seen it. Boy, what a brutal year. Too many too soon.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I find it amazing that TCM does such a wonderful, respectful job with these but the Oscars and Emmy’s “In Memoriam” are so awful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, that was a nice trip down memory lane. So many beloved names.
ReplyDeletePS: Shouldn't they wait until Jan 1 to produce this?
This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing this Ken.
ReplyDeleteSeeing Norman Lloyd included in the remembrance reminded me of the CHEERS/ST.ElSEWHERE crossover episode. I was about to ask a question about that when I decided to check the archive to see if you had addressed that before. And you have. But the archive search yielded stuff beyond references to that episode. I was pleased to be able to read again your tribute to Grant Tinker.
ReplyDeleteTCM always does a fine job with their year end In Memorial. I was pleased that they resisted the temptation to place Gavin Macloud, Ed Asner and Cloris Leachman close together.
The lesson to be learned is not to die on Dec 30 or 31 or you will be left out of the TCM tribute
ReplyDeleteA very nice tribute. On the lighter side, this reminds me of last year's Golden Globes Awards, when Ricky Gervais said he wouldn't allow an In Memorium segment because the list of deceased celebrities wasn't diverse enough. He said maybe next year...
ReplyDeleteI worked with seven of them.
ReplyDeleteRespectful and tasteful. I liked how some of the entertainers were shown in settings not usually associated them, reflecting their range as performers. Gavin MacLeod and Norm Mcdonald, for example.
ReplyDeleteAs I noted before, the MTM stable in particular lost so many in 2021: MacLeod, Cloris Leachman, Ed Asner, Allan Burns, Jay Sandrich, Norman Lloyd, Frank Bonner, Peter Scolari. Most of these folks were well-advanced in age and had enjoyed decades-long careers. Still sad, though.
Last FQ for 2021:
ReplyDeleteI personally find the ensemble characters of MASH to be the greatest characters in television history. Every single one of the actors embodied those roles beautifully. How did you go about writing for them and do you have a favorite?
Despite all the comings and goings through the years, including two simultaneous cast changes in 1975, "M*A*S*H" can still boast one of the finest ensembles in television history--both the cast there at the beginning in 1972, and the cast that wrapped up the show in 1983. (Only Alan Alda and Loretta Swit appeared in the first and last episodes.)
DeleteIncidentally, New Year's Eve marks the anniversaries of the deaths of Wayne Rogers (in 2015) and William Christopher (in 2016).
It's appropriate to remember these days that the last line Rogers ever spoke on "M*A*S*H" was, "Radar, put a mask on!" It came in the scene when a stunned Gary Burghoff enters the O.R. to inform the staff of Col. Blake's death.
Very sad, yet celebratory and well done.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful films and filmmakers —fabulous faces, performers and performances — any and every thought and emotion in a glance. Norm MacDonald so young, Lois De Banzie or Jackie Mason, wistful or resigned with a a quick shrug. We’ve known them our whole lives. How is it possible that they grew older and passed on?
ReplyDeleteSuggestions:
• TCM should never use bridging music with sung lyrics — these tributes should not be about lyrics and singers — they distract from the people and films being memorialized.
• Likewise, in these films, TCM should only employ pre-existing silent/sound film clips and stills — the newly-shot footage is, again, always a distraction, more about showcasing the tribute filmmakers and TCM than about honoring the people and films being memorialized.
• TCM shouldn’t complete and air a yearly tribute until a new year begins — these films should not be about capturing TCM peak holiday viewership
• TCM should expand the number of those honored by listing other names in some form of “end credits.”
To get a better idea of how very many film or TV folks go unmentioned, pick your way through this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2021
Unfortunately, the left out my friend Chick Vennera star of the Milagro Beanfield Wars, Yanks and TGIF. Sad.
ReplyDeleteWatching that video this song kept sadly playing in my head:
ReplyDeleteI wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.
I was pleased and surprized that Michael Nesmith was included since his major of entertainment was music.
ReplyDeleteWonderful tribute!
ReplyDeleteI heard that Norman Lloyd was physically active for most of his life. He injured himself playing tennis in his 100's, he fell forward. He asked the doctor what could have happened. The doctor replied, "YOU'RE PLAYING TENNIS AND YOU'RE 100 YEARS OLD!"
On a more serious note, he felt that Orson Welles wasted his talents by going into movies and would have been better served by the theater.
On an OOPS! note, I didn't know Lynn Stalmaster was a man!
"Too soon" never made sense to me. You die, when you die. Yes, life expectancy keeps getting longer. It's about biology. Science. Environment.
ReplyDeleteI bet there are a lot of "too young" deaths going on right now - yes????????
For the people who didn't like the TCM version, Ken's friend Mark Evanier shared this: ME TV did a short TV version. Having the logo "bug" on it seems cheesy to me, but...
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/OY6bXRoXDzI
How lovely. I think it was beautifully done. So much creativity gone in 2021.
ReplyDeleteI was pleased to see that TCM included the awesome William "Big Bill" Smith in their footage.
ReplyDeleteLeighton: “Yes, life expectancy keeps getting longer...””
ReplyDeleteMaybe, but even before the GOP Covid lies and their anti-mask/mandates policies — with 820K+ dead folks unlikely to get their own year-end tributes — the USA has fallen far behind much of the world in the lengths of our lives ... and bodies.
For this, our wealthy and both parties are much to blame but have little to say.
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/life-expectancy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_human_height_by_country
A useful site for searching “notable” Covid deaths by profession, country, age, and date:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_due_to_COVID-19
I don't know how many people were on this list but I am pretty sure I am lucky if I know half of them.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware that Cara Williams had died. She, Peter Mark Richman (who died early this year, but I didn't see him in this tribute), and Nehemiah Persoff (still living at 102) appeared together on ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS once. She became a Facebook friend of mine & even wished me a happy birthday at least once.
ReplyDeleteBlogger Bob Paris said...
ReplyDeleteThe lesson to be learned is not to die on Dec 30 or 31 or you will be left out of the TCM tribute
12/30/2021 8:23 AM
Betty White, who died Dec. 31 at age 99, was perhaps the greatest comic tactician in the history of television.