December 31st, 2010 / January 2nd, 2011
"Heavy Losses in 2010"
2010 was not exactly a red letter year unless you were Lebron James,
Taylor Swift, or a Chilean miner. True, President Obama's stimulus package
slowed the rate of layoffs considerably, but unemployment still hovered at or
above 10% all year long. Then, Republicans in Congress added insult to injury
by opposing an extension of unemployment benefits. Speaking of politics,
Democrats were blamed for a recession that was caused by the GOP, yet it was
the Dems who lost 60 seats in an off-year election. Meanwhile, millions of
people lost their homes due to ballooning mortgage payments and unpaid
medical bills. And, overseas we continued to sustain casualties in one war as
we tried to extricate ourselves from another. Media types like myself will
argue that these kinds of losses could have all been prevented with better
leadership, foresight, and oversight. But 2010 was also marked by the kinds
of losses that no one could have prevented, including the deaths of many
well known celebrities. I was privileged to have interviewed some of them.
On April 10, Dixie Carter passed away after a battle with endometrial
cancer. She was only 70 years old. Dixie, who was born in Tennessee, never lost
her Southern charm, even when she descended upon Hollywood where she
starred in a number of television programs including Evening Shade, Family Law,
and, of course, Designing Women. I first met Dixie on November 2, 2000.
That night I was the producer and moderator for a program titled, "Women in
Drama", which was presented in the Leonard Goldenson Theatre at the Academy
of Television Arts & Sciences in North Hollywood. I had invited Dixie and
a host of other stars and producers to join me in a discussion of the state
of prime time television. At the time Dixie was co-starring with Kathleen
Quinlan in my friend Paul Haggis' series "Family Law". Quinlan, Haggis, Tyne
Daly, Amy Brenneman, Sela Ward, Annie Potts and others comprised the
panel, but Dixie was the crowd favorite. And though her fans were legion, Dixie
was genuinely unaffected by fame. In fact, she thanked me profusely for
including her in an event to celebrate television drama when she had been
primarily known for her comedic turns. Dixie regaled us with poignant stories
of her childhood, including how she was taught that being allowed to read a
book was a privilege, and that, even in a man's world, girls could grow up
to be anything they chose. Dixie chose to be an actress, and we're all the
better for it.
On June 3, Rue McClanahan died of a stroke. She was 76. Rue rose to
stardom by supporting Bea Arthur in "Maude", then later co-starred with Arthur,
and Betty White in the fan favorite "The Golden Girls". Rue was a funny,
feisty gal who pulled no punches. I interviewed her when she was on tour to
promote her new book "My First Five Husbands". She talked candidly about how
she had battled and survived breast cancer. She also offered insightful
analysis of why, for the most part, women in Hollywood earn less money than
their male counterparts. At one point she observed that both men and women
will flock to see a film starring a male lead, but such is not always the
case with a female lead. "The women love George Clooney" she said at one
point. "Maybe they won't if he ever gets married", I surmised. That's when Rue
unofficially outed Clooney, saying, "He'll never get married". "How do you
know?" I asked. Said Rue with a wicked laugh, "Because I know George. He's
precious". So was Rue.
On July 31, the legendary music producer Mitch Miller passed away at the
age of 99. He died quietly at Lennox Hill hospital in Manhattan after a
short, but undisclosed illness. In the 1950's and '60s, Miller was head of
artists for Columbia Records, nurturing the talents of performers like Tony
Bennett, Johnny Mathis, and others, and discovering stars such as Aretha
Franklin. His NBC TV series "Sing A Long with Mitch" allowed viewers to join in
the fun by following an on-screen "bouncing ball", which let us know what
words to sing, and when. I interviewed Miller in Richmond Virginia back in
1979 when he visited my daily talk show. I always featured a variety of
topics and guests, and I recall that Mitch hung around for the entire program
so that he could participate in a discussion for the segment which followed
his. I enjoyed his company that day, and he was all too happy to autograph
a 45rpm record I had of his gang performing "The Yellow Rose of Texas".
Miller had a tremendous impact on the music industry, and on me. I'm still
whistling that damned Yellow Rose song thirty years later.
TV Producer and novelist Stephen J. Cannell died on September 30 due to
complications from melanoma. He was 69. Cannell was one of Hollywood's most
prolific producers of prime time dramas, including "The A Team" "The Rockford
Files", and "Baretta". He was always generous with his time whenever I
called to get background information for my "TV Creators" books, and he loved
to talk about television. But Stephen stopped producing hour dramas when the FCC
allowed mega media mergers, condoned network vertical integration, lifted
a cap on ownership of broadcast properties, and repealed FinSyn. The latter
sin, which cleared the way for networks to own and syndicate their own
programs, virtually put independent production companies like Cannell's out of
business. That's when he turned his energies to writing crime novels (16
in all) and doing some occasional acting, including cameos on "Castle",
appearing as himself. Stephen loved the television business but hated the
business of television. I know exactly how he felt.
The lovely Barbara Billingsley passed away on October 16 at her home in
Santa Monica. She had been in poor health for several years, and died at age
94 of polymyalgia. She is most famous for having played June Cleaver, the
compassionate and immaculately dressed mother on "Leave it to Beaver". But
Barbara had been a successful model and actress long before she raised
Wally and the Beav. She was blessed with four sons, two in real life, and two
on TV. In fact, I observed first hand that Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow were
as close to her as any biological sons could have been. I had invited
Barbara to participate in "A Mother's Day Salute to TV Moms" which was to be held
at the Academy in May of 2008, but she was hospitalized at the last minute
and had to drop out of our event. The other TV Moms (Marion Ross, Diahann
Carroll, Bonnie Franklin, Meredith Baxter,and others) all signed a
commemorative poster which Tony delivered to Barbara the next day. My wife Pam and
I also visited her at the hospital, and found her to be in great spirits.
After that, I made it a point to call Barbara every year on her birthday,
and I have continued to stay in touch with Jerry and Tony since her passing.
Both guys loved her very much. She was a Mom to a lot of us boys growing
up in the 1950's and early 1960's, and she will be missed.
So will Tom Bosley, star of "Happy Days", who died just three days after
Barbara. Tom had battled lung cancer for awhile, but lost his life from a
staph infection. Tom was best known as the patriarch of the Cunningham clan
on television, but he was also a highly regarded stage actor, and a Tony
award winner for his portrayal of Fiorello LaGuardia. Tom was scheduled to
participate in my "Father's Day Salute to TV Dads" event last June, which
also featured Dick Van Dyke, Bryan Cranston, Jon Cryer, Michael Gross, Patrick
Duffy, Bill Paxton and others. But when I arrived at the Sheraton
Universal hotel two days prior, my wife Pam spotted Tom sitting alone in the lobby.
"Tom what are you doing here?, I asked. Tom then told me he had been
filming some pick-up scenes at Universal when his wife Pat became ill, and had
to be taken to the hospital. He was about to leave and go join her when we
ran into him. He stayed by her side until she recovered, but he missed our
event. Fortunately, I had Marion Ross and Erin Moran join the festivities to
honor Tom in absentia. Tom and I continued to correspond via email, but my
last message was never returned. That was about the time Tom's health took
a turn for the worse, and he died shortly thereafter. Erin Moran told me
that no matter what kind of day Tom was having, he always made a point of
asking his young, nervous co-star how she was doing. He made Erin feel
comfortable. He made us all feel that way.
They say that celebrity deaths come in threes, and such was the case for a
very sad October. Barbara Billingsley had passed away on the 16th, Bosley
on the19th, and two weeks later, Hawaii Five O star James MacArthur died.
he was 72. I only communicated briefly with James, and that was just a few
weeks before his passing. I called him to see if he could help me fill in
the blanks about his Mom's support of the arts back in the early 1980's. I
needed the information for a book I am writing about famous people I had
interviewed, including James' mother, the legendary stage and film actress
Helen Hayes. In 1996 MacArthur (who his mom called Jamie), was cast by none
other than Stephen Cannell to reprise his role as Danny Williams in a TV pilot
for a new Hawaii Five O series. MacArthur was now Governor of the state,
but he didn't have enough clout to order a pick up, and the pilot never
aired. At the very least, CBS should have created some cameos for MacArthur
in the new remake, but new is in, and old is out, or so I'm told.
MacArthur's absence from the new series would have served as a proper homage to the
old show. Our loss.
Finally, there was the passing of my Dad and my English Foxhound Wendall
who died just a few weeks apart this summer. Dad wasn't a Hollywood
celebrity and Wendall never won the Westminster dog show, but they were the most
supportive buddies a guy could ever have on two OR four legs. I miss them
both terribly, and wish they were still around. Speaking of which, I suppose
that one should never wish away time, but I'm sure glad that 2010 is coming
to a close. Between the losses we all sustained which could have been
prevented, and those that couldn't, this year really sucked. Still, despite
difficult times, we can be thankful for what little bounty we have, and cherish
the wonderful memories of people who meant so much to us. In other words,
let's be positive and optimistic, sort of like those Chilean miners as they
waited to be brought up to safety. I know I'm still in a hole, but I can
begin to see daylight.
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