Recent Posts by Matthew Rettenmund

Happy 88th to Pat Crowley!

Today, Pat Crowley — a too-often-overlooked TV mom — turns 88! Pat was Joan Nash on the confection Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1965-1967), which definitely felt like it ushered The Brady Bunch into existence. Based on a best-selling book, it was a lovely sitcom about an English professor, his newspaper columnist wife, their four…
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Jane Powell, ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’ Star, Dies @ 92

Jane Powell, a leading lady of the '40s and '50s — and later an indefatigable star of musicals on the road — died Thursday, September 16, at the Wilton, Connecticut, home she once shared with her child actor-turned-publicist husband Dickie Moore (1925-2015). Cute as a button! (Image via MGM) ExtraTV reports the 92-year-old actress died…
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I’m With Yma — A Blast from the Past

I fell hard for Yma Sumac — born on this day 99 years ago — when I went off to college in cosmopolitan Chicago, where I was able to browse LEGIT used record stores near my Hyde Park dorm. I saw her 1950 Voice of the Xtabay album and was enchanted. I bought it and…
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Art Metrano, Comic & ‘Police Academy’ Star, Dies @ 84

Art Metrano, a comic actor who made his mark in two Police Academy movies, died Wednesday at his home in Aventura, Florida, at 84. Metrano in his Police Academy drag (Image via Warner Bros.) His son Harry Metrano's Instagram post made the sad announcement: "Yesterday I lost my best friend, my mentor, my dad. He was…
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No, Betty White Isn’t the Last Surviving ‘MTM’ Veteran …

Cute snap of MTM co-workers Ted Knight & Ed Asner taken during the show's 1970-1977 run. The original main cast members of Mary Tyler Moore (1970-1977) have all died, but as many on social media argue, Betty White, who hits age 100 in January, should count as a main cast member, if not an original…
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Jean-Paul Belmondo, Icon of the French New Wave, Dies @ 88

Jean-Paul Belmondo, the French film icon closely associated with the New Wave genre of the early '60s, and who went on to become one of his country's most bankable action stars, died Monday, September 6, at his Paris home. An indelible image from Breathless (GIF via GIPHY) He was 88. Belmondo, born April 9, 1933,…
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‘Today’s’ Willard Scott, 1st Ronald McDonald, Dies @ 87

Willard Scott did not make it to the front of the Smucker's jar. Famous for announcing the birthdays of centenarians using the sponsor's jelly jars on Today from 1980-2015, Scott died at 87 Saturday. https://youtu.be/PzlTcJGDrEA His death was announced by his friend and successor, Al Roker, on Instagram. Roker wrote: "We lost a beloved member…
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