Cleaning out the Inbox-Passings

 We continue to work our way through the list of recent passings and we move to the non-sports world to continue to catch up for a while.

Goodbye to Ronnie Spector at the age of 78.

Spector came to prominence in 1963 as the lead singer of the Ronettes, who placed nine songs in the Billboard Top 100 and five in the top forty between 1963 and 1966.

The Ronettes (and Spector) are most often remembered for their hit "Be My Baby", which reached number two in 1963 and has been used in many films since its release.

Spector made a comeback in the 80s with a cameo singing her line from "Be my Baby" in Eddie Money's smash hit "Take Me Home Tonight", including one memorable night on Late Night with David Letterman where Spector clearly stole the show from Money.

Goodbye to Michael Nesmith at the age of 78.

Nesmith, one of the four Monkees of television and musical fame, was well-known for more than just his stint in the made-for-television band.

Nesmith was a multi-millionaire for a non-Monkee related reason (his mother invented liquid paper), won multiple millions from PBS over home video rights to some projects that included Ken Burns's "The Civil War". had a chance to run MTV which he turned down because he was running his own production company that started a music video show before MTV in "Pop Clips", won a Grammy award for video of the year, and was a successful songwriter before the Monkees as it was Nesmith that penned the Linda Ronstadt classic "Different Drum".

All of that AND The Monkees!

As a Monkees fan (Yet not fanatic), Nesmith and Micky Dolenz were my favorites watching as a preschooler (The Monkees TV series were in syndication by then), and I think that I liked his knit cap!

I found Nesmith so interesting that I am cutting some of this short to have material for a future Forgotten Superstars post.

Goodbye to Ron Franklin at the age of 79.

Franklin worked for ESPN from 1987 to 2011 as one of their top play-by-play voices for their college football and basketball games and was ESPN's announcer for their top game of the week on Saturday nights until being fired in 2011 for comments made off the air to Jeanine Edwards and a 2005 on air incident with comments to Holly Rowe.

Franklin never returned to sports television and while his comments in a work environment weren't going to be tolerated in this era but I did miss his solid and to the point work in the booth.

Goodbye to Peter Scolari at the age of 66

Scolari had a long resume on Broadway and in Hollywood but is most remembered for his role as yuppie lawyer Michael Harris on the 80s version of "Newhart" and for the two year run of "Bosom Buddies" with co-star Tom Hanks as two men living in an all-women complex forced to dress as women for the lower rent.

Scolari would work several times with Hanks in cameo roles, would win an Emmy for his guest spot on HBO's "Girls" in 2016, and would have a small recurring role in "Gotham" as well as taking over for Rick Moranis as the star in the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" franchise.

Goodbye to Lisa Brown at the age of 67.

Brown, a longtime soap opera actress, was best known for her roles on "As the World Turns" and as "Nola Reardon" on the "Guiding Light".

Brown served as an acting coach in recent years both in soaps and out but I'll always remember her as "Nola" as my late Aunt Edna was a passionate viewer of Guiding Light and had the habit of calling the show by the name of the character that seemed to be the most important to her at the time.

Brown's run on the show from 1980-85 was at the same time as my middle school and high school years and Edna would more often than not refer to the show as "time for Nola" or I have get whatever done so that I can see "Nola".

Lots of good memories...

Cleaning out the inbox: Non-Sports Passings

The inbox list of recent passings sadly picked up its pace this weekend and there is suddenly enough for a non-sports only version as well.

Goodbye to Ric Ocasek at the age of 75, when he was found in his home from natural causes.
Ocasek was the lead singer and the "face" of The Cars, who were the first new wave group to hit it big in mainstream music.
Ocasek, who was older than I really thought he was, used many small things in his music that was more of a nod to 60s pop than one would think from a new wave band.
The Cars first hit "Just what I needed" the charts in 1978 and my favorite Cars song was always first.
The Cars changed their sound a bit in the '80s and they were one of the first bands to adapt to the importance of music video at the time, with Ocasek's sunglass-wearing visage often seen on MTV.
I always liked the earlier Cars than the more pop-oriented later style, but it was that version that was often on the radio in my high school years and of course, the influence of MTV made them even more of an "80s" band looking back than they arguably were.
The Cars were finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, which was well overdue (Don't get me started on that process and who gets in and out!)
Ocasek transitioned to a producing role for many bands after the Cars breakup in 1988, including Weezer and their classic "Blue Album".


Goodbye to Eddie Money at the age of 70 from esophageal cancer.
Money had several hits from his first album in 1977 through the late 80s with several of those hitting the top ten.
Money was one of those performers that settled into a certain style, never deviated from that style which has its positives and negatives from and as a result, most of his hits sounded very similar to each other.
Money's hard-driving, "regular guy" style was never going to make him a favorite among rock critics, but the fact that his songs were from the same genre' did this for him- if you liked Eddie Money, you were probably of the opinion that his entire catalog was great and he never dropped off in quality.
If you didn't, you more than likely think everything he did was subpar and there was likely large numbers of fans and haters, with few in between.
Me? I'd say I'm a fan, but not a fanatical one.
My pick as my favorite? Let's go with "Take Me Home Tonight", mainly because of the presence of Ronnie Spector.


Goodbye to Valerie Harper at the age of 80 from brain cancer.
Harper, who starred in two of her own shows "Rhoda" and "Valerie", both of which had successful runs, but is best remembered as "Rhoda Morgenstern", the upstairs neighbor from"Mary Richards" on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
The Rhoda character was spun off into her own show and ran for five seasons on CBS and Harper playing that character won a Best Actress and three Best Supporting Actress (on the MTM show) Emmy awards.
Harper's role in MTM (a longtime TRS favorite and I'm getting ready to watch the entire show as it was a birthday present from my ladies here at home) was a key one in establishing such a classic that made so many supporting actors successful enough to have their own series as the lead ( Ed Asner, Ted Knight, and Gavin Macleod all would star in their own shows along with Harper after MTM).
Rhoda was a huge hit for its first two seasons with the pilot episode holding a record that it holds alone to this day as the only premier episode to finish as the number one Nielsen rated show for the week ever and the wedding episode in 1974 was the second highest-rated episode of the 70s second only to the finale of Roots in 1977.
Rhoda would drop badly in its final three seasons when in season three, Rhoda split with her husband and "Joe" would state that he only married her due to her pressuring him.
The show's ratings would never recover from that decision.
I wasn't a big fan of Rhoda, but I did like Harper's return to television in NBC's Valerie, which was more of a family comedy but was built around Harper and her three children (including a young Jason Bateman) with a mostly absent airline pilot father.
Harper would wind up losing the show when she would enter a dispute over per episode earnings and eventual syndication wages after season two and she was written out of the show after a car accident.
Harper would never have her own show again, although she would do occasional guest roles on network shows and would work on Broadway.

Goodbye to Jack Perkins at the age of 85.
Perkins spent 25 years with NBC News as a reporter and commentator and was involved with live coverage of the JFK assassination for NBC.
Perkins is likely better known as the affable host of A&E's Biography series from 1994-99 with his long and often rambling introductions and conclusions.
It sure seemed like Perkins was with Biography for longer, but reading about the show, the Perkins run was during a time that Biography was making five new episodes for each week, which makes sense with why there seemed to be so many episodes with Perkins as the host.

Goodbye to Franco Columbu at the age of 78 from drowning.
Columbu won the Mr.Olympia competition in bodybuilding twice and was a long-time friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger from the pair's days in bodybuilding.
Columbu also acted in a few of Arnold's films and was known as the strongest bodybuilder of his time.
I remember Columbu best from the inaugural World's Strongest Man contest, where he finished fifth of eight overall in 1977, but dislocated his knee during the refrigerator race.
The injury would keep Columbu out of action for three years and the organizers of WSM would pay Columbu one million (a huge amount in 1977) as compensation for the injury.


Sadly, we have enough for a list of recent sports passings that can be posted later this week.
Back with the Browns Monday night visit to New York as they attempt to bounce back vs the Jets.