Harry Morgan

I'm at the age when a lot of the performers I've adored are in their '70s and '80s and '90s and it's reasonable to expect they won't be around for much longer. Some of those losses hit harder than others. When James MacArthur died -- one of my crushes -- the chance he'd ever appear in the Hawaii Five-O remake died with him. And it was hard when Robert Culp -- of I Spy and The Greatest American Hero fame -- died. These were actors I grew up adoring.

Harry Morgan has just died. So many people know him as Col. Potter from "M*A*S*H," and I loved him on that show, but he was never one of my crushes. He was simply an actor I have long enjoyed and admired. And by the time he was cast in "M*A*S*H," I'd already seen him on plenty of TV shows. And not just "Dragnet." The first thing I remember seeing him in was "December Bride," a sitcom from the second half of the '50s that led to a short spinoff, "Pete and Gladys" in the first years of the 1960s. Just going through the cast lists of these shows brings back so many memories. TV history in the making. So I can honestly say that Harry Morgan made me laugh for most of my life. Rest in peace, Mr. Morgan. And thank you for all those laughs as well as a few tears.

Feeling: tired

~~~o0o~~~