Saturday, December 29, 2007

THE HAT SQUAD 2007 (#2300)

For this final post of 2007, which happens to be #2300, I'd like to pay respects one last time to those people who have enriched and expanded the concept of Toobworld with their contributions in the fields of acting, writing, directing, etc.

I will admit to a certain bias to the order in which some of them are listed......

ACTORS
Charles Lane
Yvonne DeCarlo
Tom Poston
Dabbs Greer
Charles Nelson Reilly
Dick Wilson
Brett Somers
Roscoe Lee Browne
Calvert DeForest
Ron Carey
Kitty Carlysle
Barry Nelson
Steve Ryan
Miyoshi Umeki
Marcel Marceau
Jane Wyman
Robert Goulet
George Grizzard
Joey Bishop

Deborah Kerr
Alice Ghostley
John Inman
Ian Richardson
John P. Ryan
William Hutt
Tige Andrews
Floyd Red Crow Westerman
Darlene Conley
Betty Hutton
Barbara McNair
Laraine Day
Mala Powers
Calvin Lockhart
Lois Maxwell
Michel Serrault

Sigrid Valdis
Richard Jeni
Ronnie Burns
Michael Evans

Carol Bruce
Gordon Scott
Kerwin Mathews
James Callahan
Tony DeSantis
Gretchen Wyler
Shirl Conway
Anne Pitoniak
Edward Mallory
Gareth Hunt
Walker Edmiston
Mike Reid
Ronald Magill
Jeanne Bates

Lonny Chapman
Robert Symonds
Bart Burns
Nicholas Worth

PERSONALITIES
Don Herbert
Tom Snyder
Merv Griffin
Anna Nicole Smith
Chef Tell
Joel Siegel
Phil Rizzutto
Stanley Myron Handelman
Tammy Faye Bakker Messner
Jerry Falwell
Rex Humbard
Hal Fishman
Charmaine Dragun
Bernard Manning
Magnus Magnusson
Claudia Cohen
Yolanda King
Evel Knievel

SINGERS & MUSICIANS
Luciano Pavarotti
Beverly Sills
Don Ho
Gian Carlo Menotti
Tommy Newsom
Theresa Brewer
Frankie Laine
Ray Evans

Ike Turner

WRITERS
Mel Tolkin
Sidney Sheldon
Bob Carroll Jr.
Norman Mailer
Kurt Vonnegut
Ira Levin
David Halberstam

DIRECTORS & PRODUCERS, ETC.
Verity Lambert
Delbert Mann
Roger King
Jack Kuney
Stan Daniels
Ed Friendly
Iwao Takamoto
Bob Clark
Ingmar Bergman
Carlo Ponti
Richard Franklin
Freddie Fields

OTHERS
Leona Helmsley
Wally Schirra
Paul W. Tibbets, Jr.
(I've added these people because they either appeared as themselves on Television or had their lives enacted in Toobworld.)

This list is by no means complete. For that, you'd have to look through the 2007 deaths listed in the IMDb.com's browsable sections.

But these are the ones of note whose passing caught the attention of Toobworld Central.

As Red Skelton would say, "May God Bless......"

BCnU.....
Toby OB

3 comments:

Terence Towles Canote said...

It is hard to believe just how many artists (actors, writers, singers, dancers, and so on) died this year. In fact, just going by how many eulogies I wrote in my blog, I think November may have seen the deaths of more artists than any other month since June 2004 (when I started my blog).

To absent friends.

Toby O'B said...

To absent friends.....

I used to go all out with individual Hat Squad salutes to even the most minor character actor in this blog, but it became overwhelming. Something that would be inevitable as Time marched on.

And it was depressing as hell. Put me into very black moods.

I still do an occasional one for someone who really should get the recognition - Miyoshi Umeki, Charles Lane come to mind - but based on this year's list alone I never would have had the time for anything else had I done up the full Hat Squad for them all!

Life goes on....

Terence Towles Canote said...

It does get daunting writing eulogies for all the pop culture figures who pass on. That's why I set up the rule that they had to have some impact on me personally. That is why I eulogised Miyoshi Umeki, but not Luciano Pavarotti. Even then, I find myself writing far too many eulogies.