Paul Newman: I remember watching Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting with my Dad when I was quite young. I love his crazy blue eyes and the fact that he was married to Joanne Woodward for like 60 years. What a great, rare, Hollywood romance! The Verdict is also one of my favorite movies he's been in. I am also a huge fan of some of his salad dressings and marinades. "I can eat fifty eggs". 
Heath Ledger: I first saw him in The Patriot and thought he was really good. Then I saw A Knight's Tale, and thought the movie was lame, but he was pretty good. Then I saw The Brother's Grimm and absolutely loved him and Matt Damon. Then I saw Brokeback Mountain and was totally blown away. I think his portrayal of Ennis in Brokeback was some of the best acting I've ever seen. Then I saw Dark Knight, and was even more blown away. I don't know what else to say. I want to compare his death to James Dean or something, but I think Heath was a better actor. Maybe the comparison is because they both died so young. I'll just end it by saying I think Heath could have had one of those really long Hollywood careers like Newman.
Harvey Korman: What can I say? I grew up with Harvey Korman. I am lucky enough to have grown up with The Carol Burnett Show and got to see first hand the genious of Harvey Korman. Thank you Mom and Dad for being fans of that show and letting your kids watch it too. I will never forget him and Tim Conway making each other laugh on that show. Watching the Carol Burnett Show are some of my favorite childhood memories, and Harvey Korman is such a huge part of that time. 
Richard Wright: The original keyboard player of Pink Floyd. Dark Side of the Moon would not exist without him. I remember being like 11 or 12 and seeing his name on my brother Dave's albums, and really hoping he was like a cousin of ours or something. Roger Waters has described him as the backbone of Pink Floyd, so thank you Richard Wright. Pink Floyd wouldn't be who they are without you, and I wouldn't be who I am without Pink Floyd.
George Carlin: Genious. Absolute genious. George Carlin is the funniest standup comedian I've ever heard. In fact, I dislike most standup comedy because it just doesn't compare to Carlin. Over the years I've collected old Carlin LP's. When Cam and I were driving to Vegas once, Cam bought a couple Carlin casettes at that truckstop in Beaver to listen to. I love George Carlin! His comedy is timeless, the stuff he did in the 70's is just as funny now as it ever was. The stuff he did up until he died was as good as it ever was! He is the most serious, funniest man that ever lived!
David Foster Wallace: This is still a hard one for me. I did an entire post on this blog about his death. I think I titled it "Infinite Loss". I am so thankful I was introduced to his writing, because it really changed the way I read. I owe a lot to him and am so thankful he became a part of my life. I will always miss you DFW. You have a place in my heart along with John Lennon, and anyone who knows me knows what that means. 
Tim Russert: Yes, out of everyone who died last year, this is the one I miss the most. It was a toss up between him and David Foster Wallace, but I realized Tim Russert is the one I'm the most upset about. I have watched his show "Meet The Press" every Sunday morning for the last 12 years or so. I like to keep up on current events and Tim Russert's Meet the Press has always been the most fair and balanced news/interview shows there is. He actually lets his guest's speak unlike Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity who will actually turn off the microphone when their guest is saying something they disagree with. He was a true journalist who treated everyone the same no matter what side they were on. I found out Tim Russert died while I was driving home from work. I was listening to NPR and they did a whole segment on him, and his sudden death. I cried the whole way home. Sunday mornings were not going to be the same without him. It was a few months before the election, and I relied so much on his show on having the best information on the candidates. Cam and our friend Andy were at our house when I got home that day. They could both tell I had been crying and they asked what was wrong. I told them "Tim Russert died!" They could both sympothise with me; Andy watched the show most Sunday's himself, and Cam knew I woke up extra early on Sunday's to watch Russert's show.
It was nice that my Tom Brokaw took over Tim Russert's place until the end of the year. For those of you that don't know, I LOVE Tom Brokaw! He is the person that if you were to ask me "what living celebrity would you have dinner with?", my answer would be Tom Brokaw.
And the TV show that reminded me of all this was Jon Stewart's Daily Show. He had David Gregory, the new host of "Meet the Press" as his first guest of 2009. I'm not sure what to think of Mr. Gregory. I hope he has the integrity that Tim Russert had. I doubt it, no one has that kind of integrity.
5 comments:
This is a great post. I enjoyed it, but was sorry about how many people you care about seemed to kick the bucket this year. I wasn't aware of Richard Wright or Harvey Korman I don't think. I definitely have memories of the Carol Burnett Show as a kid.
I don't think too many people died this year that had too much of an impact on me. I was sad to hear of Bernie Mac, his show was pretty lame, but that was one funny dude. I sorry about Gordon B. Hinckly too, he was an AMAZING humanitarian in addition to everything else.
I'm glad you liked it! I was going to do some "honorable mentions" at the end of the post, but it was late and I was tired. So I'll do them here in the comments.
Suzanne Pleshette-loved her on the Bob Newhart Show, and I loved the fact she was married to Tom Poston.
Isaac Hayes-Chef is one of my favorite characters on Southpark. He almost made the list.
Paul Benedict-He was Bentley on The Jeffersons, he was also that weird painter guy on Sesame Street and he was great in Waiting for Guffman.
Those are my honorable mention people. People that entertained me, but not enough to make the list.
Good post, Sue. Heath Ledger and DFW probably were the worst for me. Even though (this will sound really weird). I never saw one of Heath Ledger's films until after he died. Seriously, I didn't even know who he was really. But now that I've seen Broke Back (genious, genious, genious); Knight's Tale (Lame sauce movie, even though he was pretty good in it); and Dark Knight (brilliant); I really am so sad that he is gone. And DFW, well. I think I've said enough about that already. I just finished I.J. I only cried once!
Good post Sue. This is the first time I have visited your blog. I don't know if it will take my comment or not...we'll see. Harvey Korman and Tim Conway were the best. The way they couldn't keep a straight face during the bits was really funny. Reminds me now of "Life of Brian" and the centurions in the "Biggus Dickus" scene. All time classic funny! Not having seen brokeback mountain, I never thought Heath Ledger was much of an actor ( The patriot was fine) until the Dark Knight movie. He will roll over the compettion at the Oscars.
Thanks Dad! The Mr. Wiggins skits were so funny, Korman would try to hide the fact that he was laughing so hard. And yes, the "Biggus Dickus" scene in Life of Brian is so funny. On Christmas day it snowed so much that our satellite got covered and we lost our signal. We decided we wanted to watch something funny, so we put in Life of Brian. Classic! "He had a wife you know....."
Heath probably will win the Oscar. He deserves it.
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