Yearly Archives: 2022

Estelle Harris, Mrs. Costanza & Mrs. Potato Head, Dies @ 93

Estelle Harris, Mrs. Costanza & Mrs. Potato Head, Dies @ 93
Estelle Harris, Mrs. Costanza on Seinfeld, has died at 93. The mother of all mothers (Image via NBC) ExtraTV reports she died in Palm Desert, California, of natural causes. She was with her son, Glen Harris, who said, "Her kindness, passion, sensitivity, humor, empathy and love were practically unrivaled, and she will be terribly missed…
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Barrie Youngfellow of ‘It’s a Living’ Dies @ 75

Barrie Youngfellow of ‘It’s a Living’ Dies @ 75
From L-R: Youngfellow (bottom) with her It's a Living castmates, on Three's Company with John Ritter & in The Scarlett O'Hara Wars (Images via ABC) One of my favorite-ever TV theme songs has to be the one for It's a Living/Making a Living — it's so ebullient, so Broadway. "Life's not the French Riviera!" it shouts,…
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Debbie Reynolds: A 90th Birthday Remembrance

Debbie Reynolds: A 90th Birthday Remembrance
Today, April 1, marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of Debbie Reynolds. Debbie at Cinecon in '12 (Image by Matthew Rettenmund) I first encountered her at her Cafe Carlyle show in NYC in 2009. She was just great! And she guess my partner and I were gay, inviting me to "touch my one good…
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Oscars In Memoriam Snubs & Flubs 2022

Oscars In Memoriam Snubs & Flubs 2022
It was not the most controversial thing that happened at the 94th Oscars, but as usual, the In Memoriam segment had its fair share of detractors. Anne Rice was a writer, but some of her works were made into very famous films. (Image via selfie) First, there seems to be a cultural divide over whether…
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Scoey Mitchell, Comic Trailblazer, Dies @ 92

Scoey Mitchell, Comic Trailblazer, Dies @ 92
Years ago, I started to write an oral history of Tattletales, a game show I believe bridged the gap between average game shows and reality TV. One of the survivors of that show was Scoey Mitchell, who also appeared on Match Game. I was heartened that he was still living. Guessing his wife's answer on…
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‘Better Than Cats’: Where That Came From

‘Better Than Cats’: Where That Came From
If you sarcastically go around saying of new, terrible Broadway shows, "I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats," there are (probably) a couple of reasons for that. Lee Wilkof, Ellen Greene & Hy Anzell in the original Little Shop of Horrors (Image via handout) But one reason you say it is not because…
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William Hurt, Oscar Winner, Dies @ 71

William Hurt, Oscar Winner, Dies @ 71
William Hurt, an Oscar winner who was one of the most successful leading men of the '80s, has died at 71. Kiss, before dying (Image via Island Alive) His death, reportedly from natural causes, comes about three years after he confirmed he had terminal prostate cancer that had spread. Will, the actor's son, said in a…
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