Goodbye to Raquel Welch at the age of 82.
Welch wound up being remembered more as a sex symbol than her actual acting, which I've always thought was a shame because while she wasn't an elite-level thespian, she was far from wooden and deserved better than most of the dreadful films in that she starred.
Welch didn't have many classic films but a pre-school R.S. was smitten with the actress (showing even then that your author had wonderful taste) and I remember her pillow and poster available in the back of the first comic books that I recall reading.
An early memory involved me wanting to see Welch's roller derby film "Kansas City Bomber" in 1972 at the age of four.
Now I knew nothing of roller derby or anything one or anything else about the film (it was rated PG for the record) but I wanted to see Raquel Welch and I remember my aunt and uncle taking me to the long-defunct Hager Drive-In to see that film, which I likely haven't seen since it's occasional "late show" viewings when I still lived at home.
It's a good memory involving people that I don't see often anymore and whenever I would see Raquel Welch mentioned or seen on television, it was Kansas City Bomber that I thought about and that trip to the drive-in.
Goodbye to Stella Stevens at the age of 84.
The mother of actor Andrew Stevens, Stella Stevens appeared in many roles in television and film with notable roles in "Girls Girls Girls" with Elvis Presley, the original "Nutty Professor" with Jerry Lewis, the "Courtship of Eddie's Father" with Glenn Ford, with Dean Martin in "The Silencers", and the original "Poseidon Adventure" with numerous big-name stars.
Stevens transitioned to television in the 1970s and became a regular guest star on just about any hour-long drama that you could think of from the time as well as a staple of the three networks' made-for-television movies.
Goodbye to Lance Kerwin at the age of 62.
The seventies child star was featured in made-for-television films but most notably was the star of James at 15/16, which was broadcast by NBC for one season in 1977-78.
James featured Kerwin as the title character, tackling some controversial subjects of the day, and usually would have James as a Walter Mitty-like character with daydreams that has trouble fitting into his new school after a family move from Portland to Boston.
Despite critical acclaim, the series was canceled after one season and while Kerwin would work steadily for the next few years, Kerwin would never star in a series again, although he did have a key role in a CBS mini-series based on the Stephen King novel Salem's Lot, and his work seriously declined by the middle-eighties.
Goodbye to Mark Russell at the age of 90.
Russell, known for his political satire set to music, was a staple of PBS from 1975-2004 with usually six specials a year that poked fun at the political news of the day as who I would say was the parody successor to Tom Lehrer.
Russell also made appearances on the NBC program "Real People" in the early eighties, the six episodes of the CBS variety show "The Starland Vocal Band Show" ( I didn't even know that!), and would make an annual appearance on "Meet the Press" on the Sunday before Labor Day.
However, my favorite Mark Russell moment wasn't even a Mark Russell appearance.
A TRS favorite sitcom "NewsRadio" had an episode where Phil Hartman as "Bill McNeal" spent the day impersonating Russell around the office, including in an elevator!
Hartman was asked in the episode if he was impersonating Russell and he responded "I don't think I'm familiar with that name"!
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