Tag Archives: Broadway

Eddie Mekka, ‘Laverne & Shirley’s’ Carmine, Dies @ 69

Just 69 years old, Eddie Mekka — most famous as Laverne & Shirley's resident belter Carmina The Big Ragu Ragusa — died at his Newhall, California, home on November 27. I met Mekka about 10 years ago at an autograph show (Image by Matthew Rettenmund) No cause was given. A friend announced, "R.I.P. Big Ragu: It…
Read more

Stephen Sondheim, Broadway’s Biggest Legend, Dies @ 91

Stephen Sondheim, whose work resonated with generations of American theatergoers, died Friday unexpectedly at 91. What a dear man, and what a ferocious talent. (GIF via GIPHY) https://twitter.com/BarbraStreisand/status/1464364472399761413?s=20 He had celebrated Thanksgiving the day before with friends, and less than two weeks prior ventured from Connecticut to NYC to check out new productions of his…
Read more

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…
Read more

More Than Lily Munster: Celebrating Yvonne De Carlo

Trodding the boards in Follies (Image via Playbill) In honor of the great Yvonne De Carlo's birth anniversary (she would be turning 99 — five months younger than Betty White is), check out these videos, which illuminate some of the breadth of her talent beyond her charming and iconic performance as Lily on The Munsters. First…
Read more

TV Icon Ed Asner Dies @ 91

Ed Asner, a TV icon for his performances on Mary Tyler Moore and Lou Grant, died Sunday at his home Sunday. He was 91. Didn't we all? (GIF via GIPHY) His family announced his death on Twitter, writing, "We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning peacefully. Words cannot express the…
Read more

Patricia Hitchcock, ‘Strangers on a Train’ Star, Dies @ 93

Patricia Hitchcock, whose performance as a bespectacled Barbara in the film classic Strangers on a Train included participation in an iconic scene, has died at 93. Ms. Hitchcock through the years (Images via headshots) THR reports she died at her Thousand Oaks, California, home on Monday. The daughter of Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)…
Read more

Jane Withers, ’30s Child Star & Josephine the Plumber, Dies @ 95

Jane Withers, an actress known as a foil for Shirley Temple as a child actress, as a star of the movie classic Giant, and as larger-than-life Josephine the Plumber on a long-running series of TV spots, has died at 95. At the peak of her fame (Image via 20th Century Fox) Withers died Saturday evening,…
Read more