Goodbye to Peggy Lipton at the age of 72.
Cancer took the life of the former Mod Squad (Which I watched as a little kid) and Twin Peaks (which I have never seen an episode) star, for whom a case can be made for her being the most beautiful television star of her time.
Lipton was also a singer during the run of the Mod Squad with a few songs that made the top 100 in other countries and concentrated for over a decade on raising a family (including Parks and Recreation star Rashida Jones) and with the exception of a Mod Squad TV movie, did not act.
Twin Peaks brought her return to the spotlight, but to my family (other than myself), Lipton might be best remembered for her appearance on the NBC comedy Wings where she portrayed Ms. Jenkins the teacher that both Hackett brothers had crushes on in high school.
Goodbye to Larry "Flash" Jenkins at the age of 63 from a heart attack
Jenkins, who spent most of the last thirty years as a jack of all trades in the film/television industry as a director, producer and screenwriter as well as an actor, will be remembered by most as one of the two valets that take Cameron's dad's car for the joyride in Ferris Bueller's Day off and as "Gummy", a police information in Fletch.
I'll remember him best as wise-cracking Wardell Stone in the final (and unreleased on DVD grr...) season of the White Shadow, which was a show that I rarely missed in its three-season run on CBS.
Goodbye to Jim Fowler at the age of 89.
Fowler, who was a zoologist, was best known for his position as co-host and host for Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom from 1963 to 1988.
Fowler was the co-host with Marlin Perkins for the first 22 years of the program and then the host for the final three years after Perkins' retirement (and death one year later).
Fowler was best remembered for being the person that actually was in the field with the animals with danger around him (he was attacked on more than a few occasions), while Perkins dispassionately spoke on the air.
Fowler has said that much of that appeared different than it actually happened and that Perkins was usually right there when the animals were involved with the voice-over sound work coming far later in the studio.
And with a late note as this was already finished-
Goodbye to Doris Day at the age of 97.
Day was the wholesome star of so many films from the late 40s through the '60s as well as being a recording star during the same era.
So many of those films were staples of the late night movies that were shown after hours in the three network/five channel days of my youth and of course, I've seen a lot of them from that time.
Day also starred in the Doris Day Show, which I remember from being a really little kid that ran from 1968-1973.
The show is best remembered for some of the most bizarre changes in format in television history as Day shifted from being a single mother with two children living on a farm with her father in law in seasons one, continued to live on the farm, but commuted to San Francisco to work as a secretary in season two, moved her and her children into the city for season three and suddenly becomes a swinging woman of the times for the final two seasons as a reporter with the kids nowhere to be found and never mentioned again!
Day never wanted to do the show but was signed for it by her husband Martin Melcher without her knowledge because behind the scenes, Melcher and the family attorney had driven Day into near bankruptcy (again without her knowledge) and they needed the money from a television series to replenish the coffers.
Day discovers not only is she near bankruptcy, but she also finds this out after Melcher dies of a heart attack!
So, for those of you scoring at home, Day loses her husband, finds out she has almost no money and is committed to starring in a television series all at once!
Another Day note is that after the Doris Day show had ended and two resulting specials after the end of the series (that had also been signed for without her knowledge), she would never act again, although she did make a few appearances as herself on occasion.
Day was the original choice for the brilliant Albert Brooks film "Mother" (If you have never seen this you need to) but decided not to return from retirement with the role being played by Debbie Reynolds, who was terrific in the role.
Look for the sports passing post later this week.
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