This is odd. The actor who played Ham Salad, Bob Knickerbocker, died at age 44 on July 15, 1986. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0460751/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm His ex-wife, Jane Dornacker, (whom he divorced in 1978) died at age 39 on October 22, 1986: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0233870/?ref_=nmbio_sp_1
I have no idea what Knickerbocker died from, but everyone in New York in the 1980s would know what happened to Dornacker:
On October 22, 1986 Jane Dornacker was killed while doing a traffic report on WNBC-AM in New York City. Much to the horror and dismay of radio host Joey Reynolds and the millions of WNBC-AM listeners who heard the terrified voice of Jane Dornacker screaming “Hit the water! Hit the water! Hit the water!” as the helicopter from which she and pilot Bill Pate were reporting, fell from the sky and crashed into the Hudson River. A very shaken Joey Reynolds searched for the right words to say in the tense moments after the transmission breaks off. She died on arrival to Saint Vincent’s Hospital. Jane Dornacker was 39 years old.
They died a few months apart and left a 16 year old daughter behind. What a shame.
Well aren’t we a “Debbie Downer” on this thread.
Yes, I remember that horrible accident in NYC.