October is usually given over to the Spooky when it comes to the monthly induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame. (And because the theme is suited for it, I sometimes hold off on posting until Halloween. Like this year.)
Famous monsters have made it into the Hall during October – Frankenstein’s Creatures, the “embraced bloodline” of Dracula, even the Tribbles. But human monsters have also gained access because they not only met the criteria for membership, but it was too tempting to let slide when Halloween season rolled around. Hitler unfortunately was a natural. Lee Harvey Oswald. Q of the Q Continuum. Frank Barone.
Originally for this month, I was going to play fast and loose with the candidate, choosing to induct a horror movie from Earth Prime which has a televersion in Earth Prime-Time with plenty of references in TV shows.
It would not have been unprecedented; back in December of 2023, “It’s A Wonderful Life” entered the TVXOHOF. (Granted, TV series are more likely to be inducted with a higher number of references.)
But that movie will have to be shelved because recent events sadly gave us a candidate who is/are perfect for a membership ceremony in October….
As you can see, it was the death of Robert Redford on September 16, 2025 which led me to consider this option. But it was not the first time I dealt with the topic of Death’s portrayal in the greater Multiverse of Toobworld. And being an adherent to the Church of Lazy Boy Saints, I decided to give them a rerun, to serve as the induction speech.
Both of these blog posts ran in May of 2006….
On a recent episode of 'Medium', Allison's dreams were haunted by the visitations of Death himself, armed with a dry wit rather than a scythe and dressed to the nines in a tuxedo instead of the usual black hooded robes.
In fact, had she been a resident of Seattle rather than Phoenix, she might have noticed his resemblance to a certain radio talk show host/psychiatrist.
Death has appeared on a lot of TV shows in a variety of forms. Had it been an appearance by Satan or one of the alt. dimensional aliens who passed themselves off as the Greek gods, or an appearance by God Almighty, the splainin for their change in appearance would be easy. Each of them has the power to alter their appearance whenever they see fit.
God once appeared as the very character He was visiting in his coma, explaining that Wayne Fiscus was made in His image after all. ('St. Elswhere')
But when it comes to Death, it's not that he's altering his image with each appearance in a TV show. If he could, don't you think he'd always look like a matinee idol? ('The Twilight Zone' - "Nothing In The Dark")
Each time he shows up, it's a different "Death", because it's not the “man”, it's the occupation. Death is nothing more than a job title. (Officially, it's "Angel of Death"). It's something for them to put down on their tax forms each year.
Although some of them are addressed as "Mr. Death" ('General Electric Theater' - "The Rider On The Pale Horse"), many of them have actual names. Andrew was often teamed up with the angels Monica and Tess for their missions on Earth ('Touched By An Angel'), while Michael was spotted down on 'Fantasy Island' working in cahoots with the Gallifreyan Time Lord known as Rourke ("The Angels' Triangle/Natchez Bound"). And that "matinee idol" who posed as a wounded policeman to gain access to Wanda Dunn's hovel used the name of Harold Beldon ('The Twilight Zone' - "Nothing In The Dark").
Over in the Tooniverse, however, Death could be the same guy no matter what show he appears on, from 'Family Guy' to 'The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'.
Death for the Tooniverse is also a traditionalist. Most of the time, he wears the standard issue hooded black robe and wields the regulation scythe, as he was portrayed in the Broadway production of 'Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol'. While he's on the clock as the Grim Reaper, he wears that hood pulled forward so that his face can't be seen. But when he's kicking back with his young friends Billy and Mandy, Death has no trouble with allowing his grim visage to be seen.
As to the changes in his voice, that can be attributed to role-playing on his part. After a while, harvesting souls and snuffing out lives gets to be kind of a hum-drum civil service occupation; not unlike being a mailman I should think. So Death livens it up a bit by assuming different personalities.
Or it could be that he's just wacked. If you had a Mother like Death's, maybe you'd be driven crazy too. ('Family Guy' - "Death Lives")
Back on Earth Prime-Time, we have seen a lot of the employees in the Death Industry. Some of them obviously got hired because of who they know... or knew, considering the hazards of being acquainted with Death.
I'm not sure if they have any sort of SATs that they have to take in order to apply for the job of Death, but they should at least be given psychiatric evaluations before they take up the profession.
There was one Death who was suicidal, until he was talked out of doing his job by an idealistic doctor. Once that doctor realized the downside of a world in which Death no longer operated, it took all of his persuasive skills to convince Death to get back in the game... only to learn too late that his name had been next on Death's list. That's why he found Death "hanging" around the hospital where he worked. ('The Twilight Zone' - "One Night At Mercy")
Some of them may even have been actual Toobworld characters in other shows who had passed on to find something else to do in the afterlife.
This could have been the case with former photojournalist Dennis "Animal" Price, who used to work for the Los Angeles Tribune ('Lou Grant'). Perhaps after his career faltered at the newspaper, "Animal" explored his interest in the Dark Arts.
Finally he attained the ranking of First Warlock and served in that capacity in the New England town of Harmony, until his untimely death ('Passions'). But then, less than a year later, he returned to Harmony in his new guise as Death.
No sense in wasting good talent.
Some of these members of the Death Squad are able to cross over into other TV dimensions. One of the most imposing employees in the Death program - six foot five and with a rumbling voice that could have found a home in the Hammer films - used to work over in France ('Les Redoutables') at the dawn of the new Millennium.
However, nearly a quarter of a century before, he was plying his trade in the alternate TV dimension dedicated to comedy sketches. There, he visited a young girl to comfort her after he came to claim her dog Tippy. And he promised to visit her again on her sixteenth birthday...... ('Saturday Night Live')
Another Death who was visiting from a universe created from Man's Imagination crossed over from the Operatic Universe. He was probably summoned to Toobworld by the daemonic powers and musical stylings of Mr. Sweet ('Buffy The Vampire Slayer' - "Once More With Feeling").
As noted above, Death does not always act alone. Obviously he oftentimes uses others to actually carry out the Deed - it can be so messy, after all, - but he sometimes also has assistants for the grunt work. Usually for the clerical stuff; lots of filing, that sort of thing.
Occasionally, Death recruits from the very ranks of those he was sent to ferry over to the Other Side. There was one woman who actively sought out Death and he was so taken by her enthusiasm, he allowed her to accompany him on his rounds ('The Twilight Zone' - "Rendezvous In A Dark Place").
And that brings up another point. I'm sorry if I sounded sexist in what I've already written, usually addressing Death as "he"; when in fact, there are several employees in the program who are females. (I'm not sure, considering they are only assuming the human form, if I can actually call them men and women.)
Female Deaths have been known to work the Chicago area ('Chicago Hope' - "Cold Hearts"), Llanview, Pennsylvania, ('One Life To Live'), and a remote plateau in South America where dinosaurs still roam ('The Lost World' - "End Game").
Death can be found anywhere, from the mundane to the fabulous. From the mean streets of New York City ('The Twilight Zone' - "One For The Angels") and the hills of San Francisco ('Charmed' - "Styx Feet Under" & "Apocalypse, Not." [Two different Deaths worked that beat.])
And in the City of Angels ('Six Feet Under' - "In The Game") to the fabled empire of China ('Shirley Temple's Storybook' - "The Nightingale") to the palaces of Atlantis ("The Emperor Of Atlantis") and the hallways of crypt-like "Gormenghast".
Death is not Earth-bound, as any red-shirt on 'Star Trek' could tell you that. Death has found his way to the farthest reaches of outer space ('Red Dwarf' - "Only The Good....")
Where will he show up next? So long as there are TV shows like '24' and 'Lost' and 'ER', Death will always be around. But so far as a physical manifestation, who's to say? 'Supernatural' is a possibility for next season; even 'Smallville'.
O'Bservation:
Death finally did show up in 'Supernatural'.
Personally, I'd start watching 'American Idol' if Death could be involved in the elimination rounds.
"Seacrest Out" indeed!
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
"Abra Cadabra,
The guy's a cadaver."
David Addison
'Moonlighting'
And here was the other blog post from May of 2006:
Thanks to the IMDb.com, here's a list of the actors who have portrayed the Spectre of Death in Toobworld. (This includes alternate dimensions such as Earth Prime Time Toon, the Tooniverse, and Sketchworld aka Earth Not Ready For Prime Time.)
O’Bservation:
Sketchworld is known as Skitlandia now.
Also in this list are Death's assistants (who would probably go on to become full-fledged Angels of Death themselves), as well as family members and even one of Death's pets.
O’Bservation:
This is probably not a complete list as I used only the terms "Death" and "Grim Reaper" to find these characters. And I couldn’t find pictures for all of them. Still, it’s a nice collection to show that the Concept of Death as a TV character(s) belongs in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.
. . . "Twilight Zone, The" (2002) {One Night at Mercy (#1.2)}
. . . "Passions" (1999) {(#1.1141 & 1.1142)}
Sebastian Bach
. . . "Strange Frequency" (2001) {Don't Fear the Reaper (#1.12)}
. . . "Big Wolf on Campus" (1999) {Clip Show: The Kiss of Death (#2.22)}
. . . "Big Wolf on Campus" (1999) {Don't Fear the Reaper (#1.21)}
Gary Bullock
. . . "Sisters" (1991) {Angel of Death (#5.17)}
Corey Burton
. . . "Toonsylvania" (1998)
. . . "Red Dwarf" (1988) {Only the Good... (#8.8)}
. . . "Family Guy" (1999) {Death Lives (#3.6)}
. . . "Family Guy" (1999) {Family Guy Viewer Mail #1 (#3.21)}
. . . "Family Guy" (1999) {I Take Thee, Quagmire (#4.21)}
. . . "Family Guy" (1999) {Mr. Saturday Knight (#3.9)}
. . . "Family Guy" (1999) {The Perfect Castaway (#4.12)}
. . . "Family Guy" (1999) {Wasted Talent (#2.20)}
2] Tom Kenny
. . . "Family Guy" (1999) {Brian: Portrait of a Dog (#1.7)}
3] Norm MacDonald
. . . "Family Guy" (1999) {Death Is a Bitch (#2.6)}
O'Bservation:
They are in alphabetical order, not by order of appearance.
Gower Champion (Mr. Death)
. . . "General Electric Theater" (1953) {The Rider on the Pale Horse (#5.7)}
Gary Collins (Michael, the Angel of Death)
. . . "Fantasy Island" (1978) {The Angel's Triangle/Natchez Bound (#6.4)}
. . . "Step by Step" (1991) {Never on Sunday (#3.3)}
Neil Dickson
. . . "Iron Man" (1994) {The Grim Reaper Wears a Teflon Coat (#1.5)}
. . . "Touched By An Angel" (1995 - 2002)
. . . "Promised Land" (1996 - 1998)
. . . "Grim & Evil" (2001)
. . . "Mighty Boosh, The" (2004) {Bollo (#1.3)}
. . . "Storyteller, The" (1988) {The Soldier and Death (#1.1)}
The enemies of Death are Luck and Hope.
Not true by the way.
I'm good friends with both.”
Kelsey Grammer
. . . "Medium" {Death Takes A Policy (#2.22)}
. . . "Twilight Zone, The" {One for the Angels (#1.2)}
Erik Hell
. . . Blodsbröllop (1965)
Brian Huskey
. . . "Upright Citizens Brigade" (1998) {Hospital (#3.3)}
. . . "Darkwing Duck" (1991) {Dead Duck (#1.47)}
. . . "Six Feet Under" (2001) {In the Game (#2.1)}
Patrick Kilpatrick
. . . "Charmed" (1998) {Apocalypse, Not (#2.21)}
Igor Kolva
. . . Johanka z Arku (2003)
. . . "Redoutables, Les" (2001)
. . . Saturday Night Live
. . . Wyrd Sisters (1997)
. . . "Red Dwarf" (1988) {Gunmen of the Apocalypse (#6.3)}
. . . "NBC Opera Theater" {The Labyrinth, 1963}
. . . "Shirley Temple's Storybook" (1958) {The Nightingale (#1.3)}
Alexander Malta
. . . Emperor of Atlantis, The (1977)
. . . "Benson" (1979) {The Stranger (#7.4)}
. . . Death and the Maiden (2003)
Patrick McCartney
. . . "Upright Citizens Brigade" (1998) {Hospital (#3.3)}
. . . "Twilight Zone, The" (1985) {Rendezvous in a Dark Place (#3.26)}
Spike Milligan
. . . "Gormenghast" (2000)
Erik Mørk
. . . Sanct Hansaften-spil (1979)
Kendo Nagasaki
. . . "Send in the Girls" (1978) {The Wild Bunch}
Martin Novotny
. . . "New Addams Family, The" (1998) {Pilot (#1.1)}
. . . "Faerie Tale Theatre" (1982) {The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers (#3.7)}
Gunnar Randin
. . . Förlorade sonen, Den (1964)
. . . "The Twilight Zone" (1962) (Nothing In The Dark)
. . . Hogfather (2006)
. . . "Tales from the Crypt" (1989) {The Assassin (#6.8)}
Paul Scheer
. . . "Upright Citizens Brigade" (1998) {Hospital (#3.3)}
. . . "Saturday Night Live" (1975) {(#1.23)}
. . . "Nutt House, The" (1989) {Suites, Lies and Videotape (#1.6)}
Andrew Secunda
. . . "Upright Citizens Brigade" (1998) {Hospital (#3.3)}
Corey Sevier
. . . And Then There Was One (1994)
Jonny Spanish
. . . "Upright Citizens Brigade" (1998) {Hospital (#3.3)}
. . "Charmed" (1998) {Styx Feet Under (#7.5)}
. . . "Charmed" (1998) {Vaya Con Leos (#8.10)}
. . . "Charmed" (1998) {Death Takes a Halliwell (#3.16)}
. . . "It's a Living" (1985) {A Very Special It's a Living (#4.19)}
. . . Labyrinth, The (1962)
Birger Åsander
. . . Fan ger ett anbud (1963)
THE LADIES' AUXILIARY
Mary Kay Adams
. . . "One Life to Live" (1992)
Sofia Andersson
. . . Ingen som jag (1999)
. . . "Lost World, The" (1999) {The End Game (#3.12)}
. . . "Family Guy" (1999) {Death Lives (#3.6)}
. . . "Xena: Warrior Princess" (1995) {Death in Chains (#1.9)}
Dot Jones
. . . "Chicago Hope" (1994) {Cold Hearts (#6.17)}
DEATH’S PET
. . . "Family Guy" (1999) {Mr. Saturday Knight (#3.9)}
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
"Death, is good. Death is
necessary.
And with a little bit of planning,
Death can even be a win, win.
I honestly marvel at
how passionately some people resist it."
The Angel of Death
'Medium'
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