Milestone Moments: All The Celebrity Vitals

[roamyn]

http://Jim Donovan, beloved Cleveland broadcaster and Voice of the Browns, dies https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2024/10/jim-donovan-beloved-voice-of-the-browns-dies.html

RIP to a great guy and a fervent supporter of our team.

[Notabug]

21 minutes ago, roamyn said:

http://Jim Donovan, beloved Cleveland broadcaster and Voice of the Browns, dies https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2024/10/jim-donovan-beloved-voice-of-the-browns-dies.html

RIP to a great guy and a fervent supporter of our team.

Had the privilege of meeting him in real life a couple times.  A lovely man, kind and generous and absolutely devoted to his wife and daughter.

[MissAlmond]

 

Edited October 28 by MissAlmond

[BetterButter]

David Harris, The Warriors and NYPD Blue Actor, Dead at 75

[voiceover]

Chiefs fan here.  Would like to think the Brownies beat their division rival today to honor Jim Donovan, who was definitely calling that game from the Announcers’ Booth in the Sky.

Edited October 28 by voiceover

[Ohiopirate02]

9 hours ago, voiceover said:

Chiefs fan here.  Would like to think the Brownies beat their division rival today to honor Jim Donovan, who was definitely calling that game from the Announcers’ Booth in the Sky.

There was some divine intervention going on in the last 2 minutes between the dropped interception, Lamar's Hail Mary going wide left, and the Browns defense not committing a penalty in the final drive. 

[shapeshifter]

Patti McGee, Skateboarding’s First Female Champion, Dies at 79 (NYTimes)
“She was on the cover of Life magazine and performed for Johnny Carson. She was, her daughter said, ‘a badass and a goody two-shoes at the same time.’”

Gift link to article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/sports/patti-mcgee-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Vk4.e3jz.fnnp3ZnBYqPo&smid=url-share

[Crashcourse]

14 hours ago, BetterButter said:

David Harris, The Warriors and NYPD Blue Actor, Dead at 75

I watch The Warriors every time it shows up on my tv. 

RIP, Mr. Harris

[BetterButter]

Paul Morrissey, Cult Director, Andy Warhol Collaborator, Dies at 86

[Palimelon]

Novelist and poet Paul Bailey dies at 87.

The twice Booker-shortlisted writer Paul Bailey died on Sunday aged 87, his agent has confirmed. He was best known for his novels At the Jerusalem, Peter Smart’s Confessions, and Gabriel’s Lament.

As well as fiction, Bailey published poetry and nonfiction, including his 1990 memoir An Immaculate Mistake, about growing up gay in a family who believed he was “not natural”, and a 2001 biography of three gay entertainers from the 20th century, Three Queer Lives.

Bailey’s most recently published work was his second poetry collection, Joie de vivre, which came out in 2022.

[BetterButter]

Teri Garr, Star of ‘Young Frankenstein’ and ‘Tootsie,’ Dies at 79

[Spartan Girl]

She was a riot in Tootsie and Young Frankenstein.

I know she had MS and was in bad shape for a long time. At least she doesn’t have to suffer anymore.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Teri Garr was such a delight. She was flawlessly cast as Phoebe's birth mom on Friends, a hoot in Young Frankenstein, and I wish she had won Best Supporting Actress over Jessica Lange in Tootsie (yeah, I said it!).

[Anela]

On 10/26/2024 at 2:28 PM, roamyn said:

http://Jim Donovan, beloved Cleveland broadcaster and Voice of the Browns, dies https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2024/10/jim-donovan-beloved-voice-of-the-browns-dies.html

RIP to a great guy and a fervent supporter of our team.

I'm not even a sports fan, but I liked him. 

24 minutes ago, BetterButter said:

Teri Garr, Star of ‘Young Frankenstein’ and ‘Tootsie,’ Dies at 79

Oh, I loved her. RIP. 

Edited October 29 by Anela

[Spartan Girl]

7 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Teri Garr was such a delight. She was flawlessly cast as Phoebe's birth mom on Friends, a hoot in Young Frankenstein, and I wish she had won Best Supporting Actress over Jessica Lange in Tootsie (yeah, I said it!).

Oh yes, I probably relate more to Sandy than I’d like to admit.

[Browncoat]

"Roll, roll, roll in ze hay!"

RIP Inga.  You were the best!

[kittykat]

RIP Teri Garr.  As mentioned Young Frankenstein was a classic. She was perfect casting as Phoebe's mom in Friends.  I just wished they had used her more.

Does this mean all the YF main cast members are gone? Just checked IMDb, yeah! 😥

[Wiendish Fitch]

Re: Tootsie

"I don't take this kind of shit from friends, only LOVERS!!!!"

Come the hell on, Academy, she deserved the statuette for that line alone!

[roseha]

Very sorry to hear about Teri Garr, although she had been public about her illness for some time.  Yes she was hilarious in Young Frankenstein.  She seemed to be everywhere, from being a dancer in Shindig I think it was to a  bemused modern day young woman in a time traveling episode of Star Trek.

[Irlandesa]

She had some great appearances on David Letterman as well.  I think she was one of his faves.

[ProudMary]

I'm sad to hear of Teri Garr's passing. Recently, I was flipping through channels and landed on Mr. Mom, where she was great, as always. And let's not forget that she was perfectly cast as Phoebe's birth mother on Friends. 

[AgathaC]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Teri Garr was such a delight. She was flawlessly cast as Phoebe's birth mom on Friends, a hoot in Young Frankenstein, and I wish she had won Best Supporting Actress over Jessica Lange in Tootsie (yeah, I said it!).

I’m at your table on that one. Nothing against Jessica Lange, but Teri Garr was perfection in her role.

She was also absolutely spot-on as Phoebe’s mom and I loved her in my many childhood rewatches of Mr. Mom.

I remember on my 12th birthday, my dad gave me a tape (yes, tape) of Young Frankenstein because he felt I was old enough to be introduced to Mel Brooks. It was eye-opening, a rite of passage and a way of bonding with my dad. I will forever love everyone associated with that movie.

RIP

[Bastet]

I love that the Variety obituary quoted from her A.V. Club interview (but the link is bad; here's a good one).  I despise the film Mr. Mom, and have issues with Tootsie, but thoroughly enjoy her performance in both, so was interested in her take on them:
 

Quote

Mr. Mom (1983)—”Caroline”

Teri Garr: I was in love with Michael Keaton. He was very funny. And it seemed like the people that made that movie didn’t know anything about life. They hadn’t been in a supermarket in, like, 10 years. So it was amazing that we came out with anything at all. I shouldn’t say that, God! [Director] Stan Dragoti might read this. But anyway, it was cute. It turned out well.

AVC: Mr. Mom is yet another role where your character is described as “long-suffering.” Why do you think you’ve always been called upon to play that type?

TG: Oh God. Because I’m a long-suffering doormat in my own life, I guess. That’s why I was always cast as that. And because they only write those parts for women. If there’s ever a woman who’s smart, funny, or witty, people are afraid of that, so they don’t write that. They only write parts for women where they let everything be steamrolled over them, where they let people wipe their feet all over them. Those are the kind of parts I play, and the kind of parts that there are for me in this world. In this life.

AVC: Yet Mr. Mom was one of those early-’80s films that was all about “redefining gender roles.”

TG: I know, and the same thing with Tootsie. It was about a man doing a woman’s work, so they see it’s really not that easy. Women are not taken seriously.

AVC: When they pitched Mr. Mom to you, did they play up the “message” angle, that you’d be playing a character who’s redefining gender roles?

TG: No! They just told me it was about a guy who does the work that a woman does, because it’s so easy. And I went, “Oh, yeah. Ha ha.” It’s so easy. All the women I know who stay home and take care of their kids, they go, “Oh yeah, this is easy.” Hmm.

Tootsie (1982)—”Sandy Lester”

TG: I just saw that again recently. I hadn’t seen it in twentysomething years. And it’s the same thing! Pretty, nice girls being taken advantage of by slimy men. They put a man in a dress, and he’s supposed to know what it feels like to be a woman. But of course he doesn’t. I think what Dustin [Hoffman] says is, “I realize now how important it is for a woman to be pretty. And I wasn’t pretty.” God! That’s all you realized? Jesus Christ. Oh well. Don’t quote me. Actually, quote me.

AVC: You play this very neurotic character who’s full of self-loathing, who’s desperate for attention, yet somehow, she’s sweet and likeable. Was all that indicated in the script, or was that something you brought to the role?

TG: I think that’s something that I was or am. Likeable? I guess, yeah. But neurotic, yes. It was right at that time in history when feminism was rearing its ugly head, so I read all these books like The Second Sex, and that’s where I got that line, “I know I’m responsible for my own orgasm.” [Laughs.] I read that sentence and I thought, “What does that mean?” I didn’t even know. I thought that [Sandy] was caught between trying to have a career and trying to be a sexual woman, and it just doesn’t work. At least it didn’t in that movie, because it was made by sexist men. I can say that now, because Sydney [Pollack] isn’t with us anymore. [Laughs.] But he was a fine director.

AVC: But you thought he was sexist?

TG: Oh, yeah! I think so. He just wanted the beautiful, blond, cute, shiksa girls to be nice and shut the fuck up! [Laughs.] God, I’m bad. But that’s what he wanted. And that’s what the world wants, I think. I’m bitter. Bitter!

AVC: You and Jessica Lange were both nominated for the Oscar on Tootsie, and she won. Was there any bitterness between the two of you?

TG: No, she’s actually a nice girl. She’s got her own problems, being married to that playwright. [Lange is not married to playwright Sam Shepard, but they’ve lived together since the ’80s and have two children together. —ed.] Anyway, no. Well, okay… I thought both of us shouldn’t have been nominated as “supporting,” because she was the lead woman in that movie. So that wasn’t fair. But it wasn’t her fault that it wasn’t fair.

AVC: Do you think you would have won if she’d been nominated as a lead?

TG: I don’t know. I probably should have. [Laughs.] How dare I say that! You know, I had just done One From The Heart, where I was the lead woman, and I thought, “Why should I do this second-banana role when I’m a lead woman?” And Sydney [Pollack] talked me into it. He said, “We’re going to make it funny. It’s gonna be really good, and we’re gonna take any ideas you have.” So I started writing stuff about her right away—about Sandy Lester—and he let me do it. And I loved that. Dustin had beaten him into submission, so he’d say, “If you have an idea, tell Sydney.” So I said, “Put the camera over there, and I’m going to rush out of the bathroom and say, ‘What’s the matter with you people? I’ve been in there for a half an hour screaming! Doesn’t anybody care?'” That was a good part in the movie, right? And I made that up.

 

[voiceover]

A thank-you again to Teri, who was comic perfection in everything she touched.

After that angry rant at Dustin Hoffman’s Michael in Tootsie (“I read the Second Sex!  I’m responsible for my own orgasm!”), when he asked if they were still friends, she gave the perfect return volley:

”No, we are not friends. I don't take this shit from friends. Only from lovers.”

<standing to applaud>

Darlin Teri!  You’re without pain now.  Be at peace.

[MissAlmond]

 

Edited Wednesday at 11:10 PM by MissAlmond

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 hours ago, BetterButter said:

Teri Garr, Star of ‘Young Frankenstein’ and ‘Tootsie,’ Dies at 79

😭

[Annber03]

3 hours ago, AgathaC said:

She was also absolutely spot-on as Phoebe’s mom and I loved her in my many childhood rewatches of Mr. Mom.

I have lost count of how many times I've seen Mr. Mom, thanks to my mom - she loves that movie. That AV Club article (thanks for posting it, @Bastet - love her honest opinions on everything, what a great read) also mentions the movie After Hours, and my mom likes that one, too. 

She had a hell of a resume, for sure. So sad to hear of her passing. 

 

[Bastet]

3 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

That AV Club article (thanks for posting it, @Bastet - love her honest opinions on everything, what a great read)

Any actor you (the general you) like, you should check to see if the A.V. Club has done one of those "Random Roles" interviews with them.  The actors don't know in advance what roles are going to be asked about, and they're generally tickled when the interviewer does a deep dive for projects most people have forgotten all about.  It's fun to read what memories sprang to mind when asked about each of the roles.

[Annber03]

1 minute ago, Bastet said:

Any actor you (the general you) like, you should check to see if the A.V. Club has done one of those "Random Roles" interviews with them.  The actors don't know in advance what roles are going to be asked about, and they're generally tickled when the interviewer does a deep dive for projects most people have forgotten all about.  It's fun to read what memories sprang to mind when asked about each of the roles.

I've come across a couple of those, but yeah, I'll definitely have to do a deep dive and see who all they've interviewed throughotu the history of that column. I imagine there's quite a few good reads in there :D. 

[Fool to cry]

Before becoming an actress she was a background dancer in a number of Elvis movies like Viva Las Vegas:

and also one of the dancers in the legendary TAMI show(1964) featuring big musical acts like the Beach Boys, James Brown, the Rolling Stones and The Supremes:

One of her first acting roles was on the original Star Trek in the episode "Assignment: Earth" a backdoor pilot for a potential spinoff about the enigmatic alien agent Gary Seven. She played Seven's innocent secretary Roberta Lincoln. I remember first seeing that rerun when I was younger and going "Is that Teri Garr?"

[voiceover]

Now all the cast of Young Frankenstein are gone.  I had to come back and post what I just found on X:

[Soapy Goddess]

Teri Garr was also in many variety show comedy sketches. I specifically remember her in the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.

[ElleryAnne]

6 hours ago, voiceover said:

Now all the cast of Young Frankenstein are gone.  I had to come back and post what I just found on X:

Peter Boyle should be named there, too.

[Ohiopirate02]

1 hour ago, ElleryAnne said:

Peter Boyle should be named there, too.

Definitely. I have a soft spot for Peter after hearing about how he would push back against Patricia Heaton's (incorrect) interpretation of the Catholic faith on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond.

[bluegirl147]

5 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Definitely. I have a soft spot for Peter after hearing about how he would push back against Patricia Heaton's (incorrect) interpretation of the Catholic faith on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Good for him.  Clearly she didn't listen but at least he tried.

[MissAlmond]

From Mel Brooks:

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 01:00 PM by MissAlmond

[Notabug]

3 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Definitely. I have a soft spot for Peter after hearing about how he would push back against Patricia Heaton's (incorrect) interpretation of the Catholic faith on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Peter Boyle was best man at John Lennon's wedding to Yoko Ono.  What's not to love?

Boyle's wife was an artist and friend of Yoko's, BTW.

[stonehaven]

Teri Garr will always be John Denver's wife in Oh God!  Loved that movie and I can't fathom anyone else in that role. She always spoke highly of John Denver when asked. Mad respect and love. 

[Fool to cry]

Teri Garr was the only good thing in The Sting 2.

Edited Thursday at 06:38 PM by Fool to cry

[andromeda331]

Teri Garr was so funny. RIP.

[Palimelon]

Pop Culture Artist Extraordinaire, Greg Hildebrandt, Dies At 85.

The artist behind Star Wars, Lord Of The Rings, Marvel Masterpieces, and so much more, has died at 85.

Chances are, if you are a fan of the pop culture he worked on, you have seen his work at some point.

Edited Friday at 06:15 PM by Palimelon

[Vermicious Knid]

Aw man. The Hildebrant brothers painted their artwork together until Tim's death. I saw Greg at a talk sponsored by the local library 10 or so years ago. Nice guy. He was asked about his studio and natural lighting and explained he worked in the basement where he could perfectly control the light and natural light was the worst for an artist. I don't know why that stuck in my mind. 

Really obscure fact; they wrote a fantasy novel.

[BetterButter]

R.I.P. Alan Rachins, from L.A. Law and Dharma & Greg

[Bastet]

I'd seen him in an episode of The Golden Girls, but Dharma & Greg was my introduction to him as a series regular.  The title characters were good, but it was the four actors playing the parents that made the show for me.

[EtheltoTillie]

Here’s a birthday acknowledgment:  is that allowed?   I’m just tickled about Lee Grant, who turned 99 on Halloween. Also she was interviewed on TCM by Ben Mankiewicz to accompany a movie airing the next day. 

[tearknee]

I've rather have Lou Grant ;)

 

Ah, Asner. Nick-at-Nite of my childhood.

[Blergh]

5 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Here’s a birthday acknowledgment:  is that allowed?   I’m just tickled about Lee Grant, who turned 99 on Halloween. Also she was interviewed on TCM by Ben Mankiewicz to accompany a movie airing the next day. 

@EtheltoTillie

Are you sure of that birthyear? IIRC, Miss Grant has been VERY guarded and non-committal  about her actual age to the degree that virtually every online source has said that she could be anywhere from her late 90's to even past the century mark! I mention this not to in any way put her down but out of some sympathy because she sadly got blacklisted   for a dozen years during her salad days in the movies, television and theater in the 1950's due to her having been married to her then-husband Arnold Manoff (1914-1965).

However, it should be mentioned that Miss Grant won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Shampoo (1975) and directed the documentary Down and Out in America (1986) which won the Best Documentary Oscar- making Miss Grant the ONLY Oscar-winning performer who ALSO directed an Oscar-winning documentary.

BTW, she is the mother of the now-retired performer Dinah Manoff (born 1956) who shined as the troubled teen Conrad's even more troubled friend in Ordinary People (1980) but might be better known to younger audiences as the rather obnoxious elder daughter Carol in the sitcom Empty Nest (1988-1995) [although it needs to be said that as per her performing colleagues and interviews, Miss Manoff appears to be a nice person offstage].

 

[EtheltoTillie]

Just now, Blergh said:

@EtheltoTillie

Are you sure of that birthyear? IIRC, Miss Grant has been VERY guarded and non-committal  about her actual age to the degree that virtually every online source has said that she could be anywhere from her late 90's to even past the century mark! I mention this not to in any way put her down but out of some sympathy because she sadly got blacklisted   for a dozen years during her salad days in the movies, television and theater in the 1950's due to her having been married to her then-husband Arnold Manoff (1914-1965).

However, it should be mentioned that Miss Grant won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Shampoo (1975) and directed the documentary Down and Out in America (1986) which won the Best Documentary Oscar- making Miss Grant the ONLY Oscar-winning performer who ALSO directed an Oscar-winning documentary.

BTW, she is the mother of the now-retired performer Dinah Manoff (born 1956) who shined as the troubled teen Conrad's even more troubled friend in Ordinary People (1980) but might be better known to younger audiences as the rather obnoxious elder daughter Carol in the sitcom Empty Nest (1988-1995) [although it needs to be said that as per her performing colleagues and interviews, Miss Manoff appears to be a nice person offstage].

 

I was going to use an asterisk LOL.  I realize that her age info is all over the place.  She discussed those Oscars in the TCM interview.  I wrote more about this on the TCM thread.

[Blergh]

4 hours ago, tearknee said:

I've rather have Lou Grant ;)

 

Ah, Asner. Nick-at-Nite of my childhood.

I can't pinpoint it right now but I'm sure the late Mr. Asner and Miss Grant likely did cross paths  in their respective decades-long performing careers(and their POV's were somewhat similar).

[EtheltoTillie]

3 minutes ago, Blergh said:

I can't pinpoint it right now but I'm sure the late Mr. Asner and Miss Grant likely did cross paths  in their respective decades-long performing careers(and their POV's were somewhat similar).

Must be because of the shared last name LOL.