actor Darren McGavin has died

http://www.darrenmcgavin.net/ ^ | February 25, 2006

[lunarbicep]

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Darren McGavin at approximately 7:10 A.M. Pacific time today, Saturday 25, 2006. Darren was just three months short of his 84th birthday. While we suspect none of us can imagine a world without the beloved, feisty little red-head, it is time to reflect, give thanks for his life and hold in reverence his memory. Darren is gone, but in many respects he will always be with us: as Carl Kolchak, fighting authority and battling monsters; the grumpy Old Man sending curses over Lake Michigan; as David Ross, the outsider, Grey Holden, captain of the Enterprise, the irascible detective Mike Hammer or any number of memorable guest star appearances, most notably as Joe Bascome on GUNSMOKE and as the washed-up old actor from "Distant Signals."

Please take a moment in your sadness to reflect upon all the ways Darren touched your lives, say a prayer and raise a glass to toast a career which spanned over fifty years and affected us all in ways too numerous to count.

[Guenevere]

Dennis Weaver

[Richard Kimball]

Thanks for the info. Shepherd was never able to get a big budget movie made. Even "A Christmas Story" was very low-budget. The "Wizard of Oz" theme was obviously because they found some Wizard of Oz costumes. The Santa Clause elves were wearing jester costumes, and when Ralphie imagined his mother and teacher laughing at him, saying "you'll shoot your eye out!" the teacher was wearing the Wizard of Oz witch costume and his mother was wearing one of the jester costumes. The movies worked, though. Brilliantly.

McGavin was the only actor that ever made the father likeable. I think that was because he changed the character, making him more blustery and taking out the drinking. The father in the book was funny, but in the other movies, he came off as the kind of guy you see getting busted on cops.

[stand4somethin]

zzzzzzzzzzz

[Richard Kimball]

Ken Curtis played "Festus". Dennis Weaver played "Chester". Jackie Coogan played "Fester." All gone, all cool actors.

[Nihil Obstat]

You are right, McGavin was perfect for that role. You could tell he enjoyed the story. This was another great Jean Shepherd tv movie. I wish these were still shown.

The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski (1983)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0202596/

[Guenevere]

You are so right!

My how the memory dims....Chester!

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Anyone remember Don Knotts in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken?

They even used Bom Ami!

[archy]

The Crimean War, I believe. It's a variation of "three on a match," which was supposedly unlucky because it gave snipers time to focus on and shoot English soldiers.

My squaddie pals of the British Army of the Rhine claimed it was a Boer War holdover, and the shooting ability of their adversaries in that fight were certainly no joke. But they and I held our discussion long after both conflicts were long over and the participants unable to tell. My bet is it likely dates back before machine-rolled cigarettes, and very likely, to a time when the sniper's projectiles were arrows or crossbow bolts.

[archy]

MAN! Kolchak was the best damned show, no matter how cheesy it looks now. It was DIFFERENT, and really made an impression on me as a kid. Richard Matheson who wrote the two TV movies is a genius, and those two movies still hold up today.

And just this week I had to sell my Kolchak DVDs for quick cash. :( (Good thing I copied them.)

When I received a fairly prestigious journalism award for my coverage of the Desert Shield/Storm/Sabre efforts in the sandbox in 1991, I gave a very few words of thanks, and noted that when I was going through journalism school and immediately afterward, all the kiddies wanted to be like Woodward and Bernstein, as portrayed by Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford. But not me, I told 'em: I wanted to be a Carl Kolchak or a *Flash* Casey.

Most of 'em knew who the first one was, fewer were aware that the same actor had portrayed the Boston Express photog who was the second.

This nut THINKS he's a vampire...



We all have rats, sir. You should see the one I work for.

[archy]

Kolchak?

Kolchak!

[buck61]

It just wouldn't be Christmas at our house without the
Christmas Story. I have three children in their thirty's and one of them has a 13 yr. old and he looks forward to the Christmas Story as much as the grown ups. You will put your eye out kid, Fra gil le, must be from France.

[johnny7]

I got a kick out of the way he dressed... kind'a like a carnival-hawker. The hat was perfect.

[Charles Martel]

"We all have rats, sir. You should see the one I work for."

I can just see Simon Oakland giving Darren a bear hug at the Pearly Gates.

[archy]

"We all have rats, sir. You should see the one I work for."

I can just see Simon Oakland giving Darren a bear hug at the Pearly Gates.

Spatzie observes that it IS a theological statement, when you stop and think about it....