2020 has been a hard one, and one area we overlook is celerity death’s. We’re at the end of June and I decided this would be a good time to pause and acknowledge some celebrity passing’s we’ve had the last few months. Of course this is usually something you do at the end of a year, but we’ve lost some real talent already this year and I wanted to finally discuss them.
These are ten names that each deserved big tributes. I couldn’t figure out what to do for each of them seperately, you’ll understand why as we go, so we’ll cover them here. These names are in no specific order. And yes there are more out there who sadly passed, for today let’s focus on these ten.
Kenny Rogers
You know what, let’s get this expression out of the way as it applies to all of them. This one hurts. Rogers was impossible not to love with his great songs and warm personality. I still watch one of his Christmas specials from ages ago every single year. Man will that be hard to watch this year. Whether he was singing with Dolly Parton or The Muppets, everyone loves the Gambler.
Brian Dennehy
My introcution to this legend was the movie Cocoon in the 80’s. That’s one of those 80’s movie people forget, but I remember it. And Denehy was awesome in it. Of course he did ton of movies, vert often as the villain. Despite the amazing movies he was in, including First Blood and Presumed Innocent, it was his role as Finch’s father that I will always remembe the best.
Kirk Douglas
This guy was awesome. He was one of the most manly actors ever, in fact for awhile that was his reputation. It was like he was so awesome even a stroke couldn’t kill him! Of course he was Spartacus, but I remember him from Tough Guys. Yeah this isn’t the best movie yet but it was the final one he did with friend Burt Lancaster.
Kobe Bryant
I’m hardly a Basketball fan, and certainly not of the Los Angelaes Lakers but I figured this nae had to mentioned. Bryant was a legend and one name even I recognized.
Little Richard
Again, if you knew him you loved him. There was no in between. He’s considered he founder of Rock n Roll and it is simply impossible not to love his music. Aside from that, he had such an infectious personaliy. He appeared in Drew Carey, Fresh Prince, Blossom, Cheers, and of course one of the most memorable episodes of Full House. Just watch that episode my friends, you’ll see why it was impossible not to love this guy.
Joel Schumacher
This was a damn good director, and famously a nice enough guy. Yeah I know him best for Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, neither of which are films you’d find him bragging about. He also wrote and directed The Phantomn of the Opera in 2004, unortuantley. He did do some really great work from The Lost Boys to St Elmo’s Fire to Falling Down to The Client. The cool thing was his variety, he did work in several genre’s and did it well.
Buck Henry
If you watch vintage SNL you know this guy. During the first five years of the show he appeared at least a dozen times. He was funny and appeared in a bunch of things. He directed and produced. But his biggest claim to fame is being a screenwriter for a little movie called “The Graduate”. Not to mention co-creating and writing for the TV show Get Smart.
Fred Willard
There are a lot of character actors out there who appeared in everything at least once. And you recognize them, but not enough to really care who they are. Fred Willard was an exception. His dry sarcastic tone was so hilarious, you had to learn his name. Whether he was appeating in Friends for two minutes, or Everybody Loves Raymond a recurring character this was an actor who made each role larger than it was intended to be. Take the Friends episode I mentioned, it’s a two minute scene with Ross as the woner of a zoo and yet that two minute scene may be the best part of the episode. Mad About You, Roseanne, Lois & Clark, Just Shoot Me, countless late night TV spots, and movies like Best in Show. I could be here all day. One of his starring roles was in Space Force, a short lived show which has been reivived by Netflix.
Carl Reiner
You can see that this list has no order, as Carl Reiner just passed away. Reiner was another celebrity who you liked. There was altneraive. We all know he created the Dick Van Dyke Show and that iconic character Alan Brady. He also poppped up in TV and movies from Mad Mad World to Oceans 11, sometimes in productions that made no sense (Rocky and Bullwinkle?) but he still made the best of it. Sometimes “legend” is used when it isn’t really deserved. It’s deserved here, Reiner was a true legend. My favorute appeatance is when he revived the charactr of Alam Brady for an epidode of “Mad About You”.
Jerry Stiller
I’m not gonna lie, I had absolutely no idea who he was until he popped up on Seinfeld. Yeah that’s embarassing I know. Truth is he was a comedy legend, appearing with his wife Ann Meara on variety shows. And then had a great career guest starring in everything from Murder She Wrote to LA LAW. But most people think of Frank Costanza when they think of him, and the way Stiller owned that character makes it ok. He made a true assh*** likable, don’t ask me how. And I loved him on King of Queens pretty much for the same reason. Arthur Spooner had a softer heart but was still angry and lived in his own world for the most part. He did infuriating and nonsensical things but damn it if we didn’t love every second of his antics.
All of these celebritis have one thing in common for me. I may not have known the full body of their work very well, but it felt like I did because of how huge their talent was. 2020 has been a rough year
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