Goodbye to David Schramm at the age of 73.
Schramm had been working in theatre in recent years but will be remembered most for his portrayal of Roy Biggins, the slimy and grouchy owner of Aeromass Airlines on the NBC sitcom Wings in the 1990s.
Biggins and Aeromass always topped the Hackett brothers in success on Nantucket, but Biggins usually came out on the short end on things that didn't involve business.
Biggins was an angry character that was capable of the occasional surprise such as one episode where Schramm dances with Tony Shaloub in a stunning dance for a big man, showing amazingly light feet and dancing technique.
Wings was a very funny show that often didn't receive the kudos that it deserved- David Schramm was a big part of the quality of the program.
Goodbye to Adam Schlesinger at the age of 52.
Schlesinger won Emmy and Grammy awards for various singing and songwriting projects but saw his most commercial success in 2003 when the group that he co-founded Fountains of Wayne broke through with "Stacy's Mom", which is very well-remembered but only reached a high of 21 on the American charts.
Fountains of Wayne's album that included "Stacy's Mom"- "Welcome Interstate Managers" is one of my favorite albums of the last 20 years or so and Fountains of Wayne are far more of a gem to listen to than only their top hit.
Schlesinger also wrote the title song and others in the 1997 film "That Thing You Do", which was a Tom Hanks project that followed a one-hit-wonder group set in Erie, Pennsylvania in the 1960s.
Goodbye to Lyle Waggoner at the age of 84.
Waggoner was one of the 1970s busiest actors in Hollywood as a long-time cast member of the Carol Burnett Show and Wonder Woman as "Steve Trevor" as well as appearing on many game shows along with anthology programs such as Love Boat and Fantasy Island.
Waggoner was most often used in the "hunk" role on these programs as the stereotypical swaggering male of the era but wasn't as dim as his characters often were as I remember him doing quite well on game shows and seemed like a pretty quick-witted guy.
Waggoner might have been remembered differently had his career broken in one direction as it was Waggoner that finished second to Adam West for the lead role in Batman.
The battle with West was so close that Waggoner actually did a screen test in the Batcave in full costume in order for the people making the decision to see both actors on set and in regalia before giving the nod to West.
Goodbye to Al Worden at the age of 88.
Worden was the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 15's 1971 flight to the Moon and was part of the "great stamp fiasco" in which the crew brought a few hundred commemorative covers along on the mission.
Upon return, they sold some of these and despite past astronauts taking items on their missions, NASA decided to draw a line in the sand and none of the three would ever fly for the agency again.
Worden would later lose a bid for Congress from Florida and write his memoirs.
Goodbye to Bobbie Battista at the age of 67.
Battista was the main anchor for Headline News for years (later on the CNN flagship) along with Lynne Russell and during the 80s and 90s in Atlanta, if there was breaking news one of those two would be on the air.
Battista also was a host of "Talk Back Live", which was a live studio show with an audience that would be allowed to ask questions to the guests.
Talk Back Live wasn't really memorable to me other than the hilarious parody that Vince Cellini did on "Calling All Sports". which I wish that YouTube had available!
Well, that catches us up on recent passings and hopefully, folks will stay healthy so we don't have to do another one of these soon.
However, there is one more inbox to work on before some other posts can start so stay tuned for those!
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