Thursday, July 11, 2024

Cleaning out the Inbox: Non-Sports Passings

      This is an especially sad tribute edition, devoted to the non-sports world.

Goodbye to Joe Flaherty at the age of 82.

Flaherty was part of the SCTV ensemble cast from 1976-84 as both a writer and a performer, creating classic characters such as station owner Guy Caballero, talk show host Sammy Maudlin, news anchor Floyd Robertson, late-night horror star Count Floyd, and many others.

Flaherty worked steadily after SCTV, including the co-starring role with John Candy in "Going Berserk", portraying the father "Harold Weir" in the one-year run of 1999's "Freaks and Geeks", and as "Donald The Heckler" in "Happy Gilmore" who heckles the title character at the direction of "Shooter McGavin".

Goodbye to Dabney Coleman at the age of 92.

Often cast as the heel in "9 to 5". "Tootsie", and "War Games" to name a few, Coleman was a versatile actor who was equally adept in comedy and dramatic roles.

Coleman played the lead "Bill Bittinger" in "Buffalo Bill" the 1983-84 series that would receive my vote for the best comedy that never got a break from the network (I wrote about Buffalo Bill here) and was canceled well before it should have been.

Coleman was nominated for a Golden Globe for Buffalo Bill and won one in 1987 for his other series leading role "The Slap Maxwell Story", a role in which Coleman won an Emmy.

Goodbye to M. Emmett Walsh at the age of 88.

A longtime character actor, Walsh is credited with acting in over 220 films and television programs.

Walsh's memorable roles were as the assassin attempting to kill Steve Martin in "The Jerk", sportswriter Dickie Dunn in "Slap Shot". the head of the booster club in "Best of Times, the diving coach in "Back to School", and the voice of  Earl Stutz in the animated film "The Iron Giant".

Goodbye to Alice Stewart at the age of 58.

Stewart started her career as a weekend anchor for a Little Rock, Arkansas television station before transitioning to politics. She was part of five different campaigns attempting to win the Republican Presidential nomination, all of whom fell short in the attempt.

Stewart joined CNN as a conservative commentator in 2016 and served in that role with the network until her passing.

Goodbye to Bill Anders at the age of 90.

The lunar module pilot on Apollo 8 was part of a mission without a lunar module but still was part of the three-man crew that circled the moon on Christmas 1968.

Anders is the person who took the famous photo "Earthrise" on the Apollo 8 mission, which has been named as one of the one hundred most important photos of the twentieth century.

Anders worked for NASA after the mission but never flew into space again, was the U.S. ambassador to Norway for a year, and became a multi-millionaire for his work as the CEO of General Dynamics. 

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