THREE FOR THE HAT SQUAD

Three more actors have passed away, each of whom contributed to the pantheon of TV characters.

STEVEN GILBORN

As a character actor, he was best known as the father of Ellen Barnes (Ellen DeGeneres' character) on 'Ellen' and as Mr. Collins the teacher on 'The Wonder Years'. 'The Practice', 'Columbo', 'Get Real', 'Picket Fences', and 'L.A. Law' also saw him play one particular character each for at least four episodes.

After Benedict the Sixteen became the Pontiff, it was my "wish-craft" that hoped Gilborn would be tapped to play the Pope in any show that needed the presence of his Holiness. But the chance never came.... I guess it wasn't as popular an idea to incorporate him into a storyline as it had been for John Paul II.

HARRY ENDO
Harry Endo played forensics specialist Che Fong on 'Hawaii Five-0', and although he was not the first to take on the role, he played it the longest and therefore should be considered the actual Che Fong.

Danny Kamekona played the role for a short while before Endo, and he also played Henry, the chauffeur for Amos Burke when 'Burke's Law' returned in the early 1990's. Leon Lontoc originated the role of Henry in the 1960's, and there never was any splainin as to why a different actor was suddenly playing the same role. So either Captain Burke preferred to only hire Asians named Henry to drive his Rolls Royce, or the second Henry might have been following in his father's footsteps, taking over his job as chauffeur after Henry the First passed away.

Or we could go the outrageous Toobworld route - whoever Danny Kamekona really was on both shows, he was a quantum leaper from the future who stepped in as Henry the chauffeur and then as Che Fong. But anybody who dealt with him would see the glamour of the original person.

Harry Endo was 87 when he died

DON GALLOWAY

Don Galloway was 71. In Toobworld he's best known for the role of Sgt. Ed Brown, the right-hand man for Chief Robert T. 'Ironside'. Sgt. Ed Brown serveD as the lynchpin between 'Ironside' and 'The Bold Ones: The New Doctors': in a two-part episode that crossed over from one show to the other, Ed was shot and could have ended up paralyzed if it was not for the medical skills of the doctors at the Craig Institute.

It's always been a supposition by Toobworld Central that Sgt. Ed Brown was the long-estranged son of a mechanic, also named Ed Brown, who ran his own garage in the inner city of Los Angeles ('Chico And The Man'). I don't think the parents of Sgt. Brown ever showed up on 'Ironside'; in fact, I don't think Ed ever mentioned them. But I could be wrong on that.
And Ed Brown the mechanic never mentioned having a son. So it could be that they had a horrible falling out, so bad that they treated each other as not even existing. It's just a theory and still could be proven wrong.

"Good night, and may God bless...."
- Red Skelton

BCnU....
Toby O'B