• December 27, 2012

End of the year, and the "in memoriam" tributes are out all over the place -- from TCM's reel, which highlights movie and TV folks both well-known and osbscure (Phyllis Diller and Phyllis Thaxter),  to Me TV's promo for upcoming programming featuring recently departed TV legends (up-to-date enough to include noted character actor Jack Klugman, who died on Monday). We liked the last line of Klugman's New York Timesobit, which explains that he got cast in his iconic role on the TV show "The Odd Couple" because he played opposite Ethel Merman in Broadway's "Gypsy." As producer Garry Marshall explained to Klugman:  "I saw you with Ethel Merman, and she was singing to you and spitting all over you.... And you never showed it. That’s a good actor that doesn’t show the spit."