Jessica Walter has slipped the bonds of our existence and gone on to be amazing in another dimension.
We're stunned and heartbroken at this news.
RIP to a queen.
Jessica Walter has slipped the bonds of our existence and gone on to be amazing in another dimension.
We're stunned and heartbroken at this news.
RIP to a queen.
Actor Christopher Plummer has passed at the age of 91.
Look, it's hard to get through Plummer's filmography, because he's been working for decades upon decades, and has been in so many memorable films - and I think he's amazing in the recent Knives Out.
But I also credit him with making me realize actors could be many things. In 1987 or 1988, when I saw the comedic reboot of Dragnet on VHS, I remember snapping to "that... that's Christopher Plummer" as we were watching the movie. I mean, I only knew him from Sound of Music and as a "serious" actor. Seeing him in something so goofy, and what they were doing to leverage his gravitas, was kind of fascinating to me as a kid. Anyway - it taught me a little something about actors and their range, and their desire to be more than one thing. I won't say at age 12 or 13 that I stretched the idea beyond that - but over the years, watching him appear in film and after film, pulling off whatever was in front of him, was amazing.
Of course, I didn't know at the time, either, he had entered this phase of his career and was just as likely to appear in serious drama as, say, Starcrash. (He's actually very good in Star Trek VI).
But, man, what a life. He'll be missed.
The woman was an absolute delight and in too many movies that I liked for me to name all of them.
Glad she was with us so long, and was on our screens for so long.
Actress and model Julie Strain has passed. As Strain had been ill for some time, false reports of her passing circulated last year, but it seems to now be true.
If you don't know who she is - she was a B-movie actor who also modeled. At 6'1", she was very popular as the subject of fantasy and sci-fi artists, and was a con fixture not so long ago. She was married to Kevin Eastman for a spell (yes, that Kevin Eastman) and was the model for the lead in Heavy Metal 2000.
best to Ms. Strain's family and friends.
Actor and bodybuilder David Prowse has passed at the age of 85.
Prowse is most famous for his role as Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, providing the frame upon which the intimidating Vader outfit was built. And, of course, performing physical actions - that's him trying to get Luke to join him on Bespin.
We also know Prowse from a few other appearances, including Vampire Circus and A Clockwork Orange.
Like Mayhew, Daniels and Baker - Prowse was still able to receive recognition for his work despite never having his face revealed. He embraced his role as Vader during filming as well as the decades since.
I am very sorry he has passed - he provided some of my earliest and fondest memories of modern mythologies.
While I was a Wheel Watcher and had an odd affinity for "Sale of the Century", Jeopardy! was clearly the thinking-person's gameshow - because it was one of the last surviving quiz shows on TV. And, it was hosted by the thinking-person's gameshow host. Trebek ran a tight ship - foolishness was not creeping into the world of Jeopardy!. Demographic-pleasing plebes were not going to find their way onto the contestant's stand - he needed people who could answer a medley of trivia questions, and not lose their cool.
Trebek grounded the show with a cool, dry, breeziness that was polite, maybe a tad formal, and was unimpressed with credentials even when touting those of his guests. He was far more impressed if you made a run on the board. And, his giddiness (which amounted to a small smile at the best of times) shown through during returning champions weeks where he could count on a battle royale instead of watching middle school librarians fall by the wayside early in the game.
Most game show hosts you kind of just shrug at - goofy entertainers with a gift for hucksterism. But Trebek outsurvived almost all of them (Sajak is still doing his thing, along with Vanna). And he did it with a certain poise and sincerity about the show that gave gravitas to 30 minutes daily of people being asked random-ass questions for money. That could have been dumb, y'all.
Jeopardy! existed before Trebek, and it will exist after Trebek. But it will not be the same without him. Nor will the television landscape as I've known it my entire life. And, yes, I will be quietly very judgey of whomever tries to fill Trebek's podium.
Here's to a well deserved rest and may he never have to hear a response in the form of a question ever again.
Rigg was a cult favorite in the U.S. and a bonafide star in the U.K., and would have been well remembered just from her work on the UK whack-a-doodle adventure show The Avengers as Emma Peel - which laid the foundation for about 10,000 imitators and arguably indirectly to the most popular iterations of Black Widow in the Marvel Universe. She also has the most solid of Bond-girl credits as Traci, the woman who Bond would marry in On her Majesty's Secret Service (and a favorite of the PodCast). Most recently she'd been on Game of Thrones (which I didn't watch, but I know she's a fan favorite).
She, of course, did so much more and was just one of those actors it seems everyone could agree upon.