Some Folks We Lost in 2012 (July - Dec)

CELESTE HOLM

ANDY WILLIAMS

Now that our 2013 edition of IT CAME FROM DALLAS is done, to the immense enjoyment of everyone who was involved and those who came out to see it on Februrary 26 (and thanks to you all!), finally got time to finish our select salute to those folks in TV, Film, Music and Entertainment we lost in the second half of 2012 (July through December).  A bit late, perhaps, but never too late to give'em their props, especially those who were ignored during the Memoriam segment of the Oscar telecast (and no, it's not a complete list either.  A quick bow to Marvin Hamlisch, Sherman Hensley, Turhan Bey, Sylvia Kristel, Russell Means, Susan Tyrell, Gerry Anderson...)

1, ANDY GRIFFITH (7/3,  age 86)

From North Carolina, Griffith was a very popular hick-shtick standup comic on mid-50s television when he was cast in Elia Kazan's A FACE IN THE CROWD in 1957.   Those who only know him from his two main series The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68) and the even longer-running Matlock (86-95) might be surprised at how impressive he was in his first and best film, a still-timely satire of television politics.    Instead, he became a TV icon, and went back to movies briefly in his final years (WAITRESS and PLAYING THE GAME).  Also in NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS, ONIONHEAD, HEARTS OF THE WEST, SPY HARD.   Bye, Sheriff Andy.   "Now what it was, was football!"

2. ERNEST BORGNINE (7/8, age 95)

Great and much-liked character actor who made his film debut in 1951 and was still going strong in his '90s.   Just some of the films of which he was a cast member: FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (wherein he receives the cinema's first karate chop), JOHNNY GUITAR, THE VIKINGS (as Kirk Douglas' father--they were the same age), THE DIRTY DOZEN, THE WILD BUNCH, THE BLACK HOLE, RED, and MARTY, which landed Borgnine the 1956 Best Actor Oscar.  The WWII veteran ignored his agent's advice and starred in a sitcom, McHale's Navy (1962-66), a huge hit.  He came to Dallas to shoot Wes Craven's DEADLY HARVEST in 1980 and again for Texas Frightmare Weekend in 2012, just 2 months before his death.  One of Ernie's five wives was Ethel Merman -- for 32 days in 1964.

3. CELESTE HOLM (7/15, age 95)
And like Borgnine,  she also kept working up to the end.  Fine character actress who starred in "Oklahoma" on Broadway, made her film debut in 1946, and won an Oscar for her second film, GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT ('47).  Nominated again for COME TO THE STABLE and ALL ABOUT EVE ('50), and should have been for CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR that same year.  A regular on Promised Land ('96-'99); her numerous other TV roles included The Fairy Godmother in the 1965 Cinderella.   

4. LUPE ONTIVEROS (7/26, age 69)
From El Paso, a former social worker who switched careers in mid-life and became a very successful actress, although she probably played more maids than anyone else.  Famous for THE GOONIES (1985), SELENA (as Selena's killer fan club president), AS GOOD AS IT GETS, and as Eva Longoria's mother-in-law on Desperate Housewives.

5. GORE VIDAL (7/31, age 86)

Novelist, playwright, screenwriter, actor, political pundit, gay activist, Vidal was related by blood or marriage to Al Gore and Jackie Onassis, among others.  He cowrote the screenplay to BEN-HUR (1959) without credit (he sued to get it back, unsuccessfully), as well as CALIGULA (1980), also without credit (he sued to have it removed).   As an actor, he appeared in BOB ROBERTS, GATTACA and WITH HONORS, among others. Most famous play, "The Best Man", was filmed in '64 and revived last year.

6. PHYLLIS DILLER (8/20, age 95)
Pioneering female stand-up comic who made her first of countless TV appearances in 1955.  One of her early joke writers was Joan Rivers.   Diller made several bad comedies with Bob Hope and others, but her film debut was a serious role in a classic film, SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS ('61).   She was even a regular on the daytime soap Bold & The Beautiful ('99 - '04).   She also did a lot of voice work, including for the Dallas-based Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.   When I took a tour of Branson, MO in 1999, the guide made a point of telling us that Diller was denied a club license there because "she wanted to paint the air blue."

7. MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN (9/3, age 54)
"Big Mike" was a former bouncer and bodyguard to Notorious B.I.G. - when Biggy was murdered on someone else's watch, he decided to switch to acting.  His ARMEGGEDDON costar Bruce Willis recommended him to Frank Darabont for the role of John Coffey (note the initials) for Darabont's THE GREEN MILE;  the result was a touching performance that earned Duncan a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.  Also in THE WHOLE NINE YARDS, PLANET OF THE APES, THE SCORPION KING, DAREDEVIL, many more.  Died two months after a heart attack.

8. ANDY WILLIAMS (9/25, age 84)
Squeaky clean but highly successful singer and King of Branson, who just about invented the TV Christmas special and bad Christmas sweaters.  He started as a singing group with his brothers in the '40s and sang backup to Bing Crosby's recording of "Swingin' On a Star".   Although he only tried feature film acting once (I'D RATHER BE RICH, 1964), his hits "Most Wonderful Time", "Moon River", etc.,  have been used in movies for decades.  For years he claimed that at age 14 he dubbed Lauren Bacall's singing in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1942), but that has been disputed by others.

9.  LARRY HAGMAN (11/23, age 81)
Born in Fort Worth and died in Dallas, Hagman was the son of Mary Martin (TV's "Peter Pan").   He made his TV debut in 1957, and his film debut in 1964, giving an excellent performance in FAIL SAFE.   The next year he played his first memorable TV character, Major Nelson, in I Dream of Jeannie ('65-'70).    Then came J.R. Ewing, the most recognized TV character in the world: 356 episodes of Dallas ('78 - '91), 5 episodes of Knots Landing, two Dallas TV movies, and 17 episodes of the sequel series which is still going on.  If that's not a record, it's close.  In between he was memorable in NIXON, PRIMARY COLORS, HARRY AND TONTO...and few remember his cameo in SUPERMAN (1978 - try and find him).  

10.  CHARLES DURNING, JACK KLUGMAN (12/24)
Two great character actors died on Christmas Eve, and both had Texas connections.  Durning, age 89, made his debut in 1965 and was Oscar-nominated as "The Governor" in THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS ('82, written by Larry L. King, who also died in 2012).  Also nominated for TO BE OR NOT TO BE the next year, and well remembered for THE STING, TOOTSIE, O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU?, and the Burt Reynolds sitcom Evening Shade (90-94).  Klugman, age 90, made his film debut in an obscure 1952 western called GRUBSTAKE, the first film directed by Dallas legend Larry Buchanan (lost, but I'm on the trail).  More famous as a TV star, in The Odd Couple ('70-'75) and Quincey ('76-'83), but also outstanding in 12 ANGRY MEN ('57) and DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES ('62).

--by Gordon K. Smith