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~~~

Endings

Last day of my mini vacation and I spent it cleaning the apartment. And I made pancakes. The stormtroopers helped. My pancakes were somewhat bigger. ;)

I heard they released the Academy Award nominees, but I don't care about that. I haven't cared since the Oscar show in the early-'80s when I got annoyed that not only did the nominee (I can't even remember what it was now) I wanted to win not win, but the winner was what I thought the weakest contender in that category, and I threw the book I was reading across the room. Fortunately, I didn't throw it at the TV. And I decided right then that award shows and entertainment awards aren't good for my blood pressure, so I quit right then and there. I shut the TV and finished reading my book. Life went on. They're just movies.

The news that Heath Ledger was found dead was a shock. I'm not going to comment on the how or the why until the ME's report is released. But sad as it is that there won't be any more brilliant performances by this talented actor, I'm sad for his little girl. She'll never really know her father. I really haven't lost anything of real value. He wasn't part of my life. But he had many loved ones and my heart goes out to them. As it does to anyone who loses someone dear.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
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Saturday

I ranted about Michael Gorman's Library Journal article here on Occasional Blog. His article has been the topic of much discussion in the blogosphere and as a librarian, I felt the need to add my two cents.

Spent the day catching up with some stuff, but never as much as I start out planning to get to. Did watch tapes from last night's JAG, Third Watch, and for the first time, Numb3rs. I liked Numb3rs a lot, but hadn't bothered with it before because there's just too much on I like on Fridays, mainly the SciFi Channel's lineup of the 2 Stargates and Battlestar Galactica (and it was nice seeing Callum Keith Rennie on it again; he'd done the mini-series). But my favorite actor, Keith Szarabajka, was on Numb3rs last night, so I had to see it. He played the train wrecker on the show and is best known for playing Mickey Kostmayer on The Equalizer and more recently, Holtz on Angel. I'd heard his voice on the previews (it's very distinctive) and knew I couldn't miss it. He's not the best looking actor or the most popular. He isn't all that well known. But when someone gets under your skin, well.... There's just something about him. First time I saw him was in a movie starring Alan Arkin called "Simon." That was back around 1980. He had a small part in the beginning as Arkin's lab assistant, but he got under my skin from that first moment I saw him.

I did get to briefly meet Alan Arkin during the filming of "Simon" at Columbia U, where I was in library school. I got his autograph, which was cool, because I've been a fan of his since I was a kid and had seen "The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!" Many years later, I got to see Keith S. on stage, a few times (among his other stage roles, he played BD in "Doonesbury: the Musical," but I didn't get to meet him til a few years later), and got to speak with him and get his autograph, too.