Robert Osborne, who displayed an encyclopedic knowledge — and love — of film history as the primary host of Turner Classic Movies, died Monday morning at age 84, said his partner of 20 years, theater director and producer David Staller.
Osborne died of natural causes in his sleep at home in New York City, Staller said.
"It's difficult to imagine a planet without him," Staller said. "He made the choice to call it a day, and he wants everyone to know that he'll see them at the after party."
Lucille Ball plays herself as the vice-president of Desilu Productions, who is busy readying her workshop of young performers for their musical revue.
Although he has never been on 'Saturday Night Live', he has been impersonated by Darrell Hammond on April 15, 2006 during the "Movie Archives" sketch and most recently by Jason Sudeikis five times, which all were during the "The Essentials" sketch.
Osborne died of natural causes in his sleep at home in New York City, Staller said.
"It's difficult to imagine a planet without him," Staller said. "He made the choice to call it a day, and he wants everyone to know that he'll see them at the after party."
I was sorry to hear of the passing of Osborne; he was a welcoming guide as he ushered me into the world of some movie which I wasn't so sure I wanted to see in the first place. And he usually proved right.
But I thought that just being THE host for Turner Classic Movies and a guest on a few talk shows wasn't going to make him eligible for the TVXOHOF. And had that been all there was, so it goes.
Knowing that he had once been an actor, I figured I should at least look through his page at the IMDb and see if there was anything for me to work with. And his affable personality and identification with an entire network proved to make him a great addition to a couple of shows in which he got to lampoon his fictional televersion.
It all began back in 1959....
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse- The Desilu Revue (1959)
... Himself (as Bob Osborne)
I've only found one video clip from this archaic special, featuring a song and dance routine by Carole Cook and another member of the company. If he's in the background of this number, I couldn't tell ya.......
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
- Turner Classic Birdman (2005)
- Turner Classic Birdman (2005)
Turner Classic Movies' Robert Osborne introduces a recently "discovered" episode of the "classic" "Birdman" series. In this very special Birdman, a pre-law school Harvey encounters a number of his future courtroom adversaries who try to kill him.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Even though this was from the Cartoon Network, Mr. Osborne's feet are firmly planted on Tele-Terra Firma......
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
- Kimmy's in a Love Triangle! (2015)
- Kimmy's in a Love Triangle! (2015)
"Daddy's Boy" is a rightly-maligned movie from the forties that got a few mentions in this series and at the end of this particular episode we got to see why it was so hated. And Mr. Osborne is there to put it all in perspective.
Robert Osborne even showed up a few times in Skitlandia, but as per the usual dictates of that TV dimension, he was played by somebody else.
From the 'Saturday Night Live' Wiki:
Good night and may God bless, Mr. Osborne. Thank you for bringing the Cineverse into Toobworld......
No comments:
Post a Comment