Which TV star or producer/creator's death had hit you hardest? (1 Viewer)

[DisneySwan1990]

Mine was Aaron Spelling (2006), Mister Rogers (2003), and last year James Gandolfini. R.I.P to all of them legends. :'( What were yours?

 

[Ron1973]

Buddy Ebsen hit me hard. I've always loved The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones both so that made him my favorite actor.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

First name that sprung to my mind was Johnny Carson.

 

[jimmyjet]

michael landon

 

[Ron1973]

The second one that hit me pretty hard oddly enough was Dean Martin. I never was a big movie watcher but I've always liked his music (listening to some of his Reprise stuff right now) and it sorta hit me when he passed away.

 

[Dave Lawrence]

Probably the toughest for me was Larry Hagman's death in 2012. I've always loved his 2 biggest hits, I Dream of Jeannie and Dallas, which showed his versatility since he successfully played 2 very different characters in those shows. He was clearly enjoying getting to play JR again in the last years of his life, and continued working until the very end, even while he was sick. Also, I once got to meet him very briefly years ago - one of those cool moments in life you never forget.

Another one that I found especially sad was Carroll O'Connor's death in 2001. Similar to Hagman, O'Connor's 2 biggest successes (both of which I love) showed his range as an actor, going from All in the Family's bigoted Archie Bunker to In the Heat of the Night's Chief Gillespie, a character who became involved in a very sweet interracial relationship over the course of the series. I found the actor's death especially sad because even though he continued to work in his final years, the stresses of life after his son's drug-related death (grief, going after the drug supplier, actually being sued by that supplier and having to deal with a defamation trial) seemed to be what ultimately wore him down and prevented him from enjoying his later years.

 

[Roy Wall]

Buddy Ebsen hit me hard. I've always loved The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones both so that made him my favorite actor.

Don't know if you own Have Gun Will Travel or know someone who does...but there's an episode entitled "El Paso Stage" where Ebsen plays a psychotic US marshal. Ebsen is outstanding. It's on the season 4 vol 2 set....well worth a watch.

 

[Susan Nunes_329977]

I don't think anybody who was famous and died has hit me hard, at least not in recent years.

Going back a long time ago, I'd say Jack Benny and Rod Serling caused me to feel some real sadness when they died.

If I were looking at entertainers/athletes, two who come to mind are Elvis and Secretariat, the latter especially because of a personal story involved.

 

[Ron1973]

Don't know if you own Have Gun Will Travel or know someone who does...but there's an episode entitled "El Paso Stage" where Ebsen plays a psychotic US marshal. Ebsen is outstanding. It's on the season 4 vol 2 set....well worth a watch.

Anything Buddy played in was good right up until the last. I still get tickled at his cameo in the movie version of The Beverly Hillbillies as Barnaby Jones.....

 

[David Weicker]

Fred Astaire.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Going way back, probably John Belushi.

 

[Gary OS]

The first one is easy, because it was the first star I remember hearing about dying and at the same time it was someone I really liked a lot: Bud Abbott. I was only 9 years old when he passed away, but I had been watching Abbott & Costello films for a few years at the time and loving them so much. When I found out he died (someone in school told me) I was crushed.

In later years I think the deaths of Don Knotts and Andy Griffith have hit me hard, for obvious reasons.


Gary "many actors and actresses I'm fond of have passed away in the last 10 or so years" O.

 

[Jack P]

The only time I have ever viewed the passing of someone in the entertainment industry in the context of a sense of loss over what still wasn't able to be done, was when John Colicos of "Battlestar Galactica" died. That and the death of Lloyd Bridges ("Commander Cain") drove home the painful fact that my favorite show of my childhood wasn't going to get the reunion/revival it deserved to have with the original cast. Lorne Greene's passing was something that could be weathered, but when the other two strong links for a possible reunion were gone that was harder to take.

I was taken aback when Steve Allen passed away in 2000 since he was still leading an active life in contrast to Paar and Carson.

 

[Hasslein]

DeForest Kelly... all hopes of another (true) Star Trek film passed with him.

 

[Rick Thompson]

David Janssen, mainly because he died young (at 49), at least in part from too much alcohol in his lifestyle.

 

[cwilli]

Walt Disney's death hit me pretty hard because I knew that the Disney Empire would never be the same. And I was right because it never really had the same integrity it had when he was alive. It made a big difference when he personally hosted those shows on Sunday Nights.

 

[mrz7]

Last year the two stars that totally had an effect on me when they died were James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano of "The Sopranos") and Jean Stapleton (Edith Bunker from "All In The Family"). I think they had such an effect on me cause they played their t.v. characters so extremely well.....I felt like I lost a family member / close friend. But what is nice about having DVD's/Blu-rays of tv shows....you get to visit these stars from time to time and appreciate them more and more for wonderful work they achieved in their life.

 

[Tina_H_V]

I would answer this question by naming two actors who died within a month of each other: James Gandolfini and Dennis Farina. I enjoyed the works of each of these fine actors and all of what they worked for to get to where they ultimately ended up with the renown they earned in and for their respective careers. I was shocked and saddened when Mr. Gandolfini left us as he did last summer. Then, I was also sadly taken aback when Mr. Farina died, particularly as I had seen him on all those Xfinity commercials as late as the weekend right before his death.

 

[Roy Wall]

Anything Buddy played in was good right up until the last. I still get tickled at his cameo in the movie version of The Beverly Hillbillies as Barnaby Jones.....

I'm certainly not disputing that...Ebsen is top notch. What I meant to say is...the Ebsen character of Elmo Crane is all Buddy but a far removed departure from Jed, Barnaby or George Russel. The first time I saw that episode...I was blown away simply for that reason.....I can't stop raving about Buddy and that episode in my favorite episode lists.

 

[Ron1973]

I'm certainly not disputing that...Ebsen is top notch. What I meant to say is...the Ebsen character of Elmo Crane is all Buddy but a far removed departure from Jed, Barnaby or George Russel. The first time I saw that episode...I was blown away simply for that reason.....I can't stop raving about Buddy and that episode in my favorite episode lists.

I'm going to have to see where Encore Western is right now on their showing of HGWT and make sure I record that episode.