Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime, has passed away

Thank you for the memories, Mr. Cullen.  You were one of the best voices of my childhood.

Til all are one!

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It seems everyone is paying tribute to Tim Curry...

The magnificent Tim Curry passed away two days ago.  The tributes have poured in, from his legions of fans that he made across more than five decades.  So many things that I could say about Curry.  I think my favorite performance of his was when he played Pennywise in the 1990 television adaptation of Stephen King's It.  Nobody could pull off that kind of malevolence like Curry did in that movie.

Well, there is something I'd like to offer up as a token, a gesture of appreciation to Tim Curry and his work.  I went looking for it and sure enough, YouTube has it.  This is from the Eighties television movie The Worst Witch.  It features Curry as the Grand Wizard.  There is no thing that I could say that would adequately prepare you for what you are about to behold.  This is... the single most INSANE music video in the history of anything.  It is positively bonkers!  It would have been wild as all get out on its own but having it be Tim Curry singing and performing in this well... that just makes it all the more bizarre.

Here it is.  The music video from The Worst Witch.  You have been warned.

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Rest in peace Dolly Parton

A truly amazing woman.  She began with nothing but her family's love and the gifts that God blessed her with.

She then became one of the most beloved people in the history of American entertainment.  I don't think anyone ever had a bad word about her.

Dolly Parton was, and forever will be, a legend.

See you in Heaven, Miss Parton.  Thank you for sharing not just your talents with us, but also your heart and soul.

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Marcia Lucas - film editor extraordinaire - has passed away

The very sad news came in the past few days that Marcia Lucas, the incredibly talented film editor who made her mark with the original Star Wars and many other movies, has passed away at the age of 80.

From what I've heard over the years, Marcia came into the production of Star Wars after her then-husband George Lucas had shown a cut of the movie to his friends.  The near unanimous verdict (Steven Spielberg was the only one in the room who said he liked it) was that George had a disaster on his hands.  That first cut was a narrative nightmare.

And then Marcia swooped in and said that she would fix it.

And she did.

Among other things she made it so that Princess Leia was much more action-oriented than she had been first perceived to be.  That was a huge thing that made a tremendous impact not only on the film but on the expansive saga that Star Wars came to be.  And then there was the final assault on the Death Star.  Marcia had 40,000-some feet of footage to whittle down and assemble into a cinematic dogfight as good as any ever put on film.  It took two months of work.  The result was a battle that became one of the most epic from any movie ever.

Marcia Lucas also worked on American Graffiti and Taxi Driver.  She would contribute to The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, which was her final film credit.

Movie editing is a true art.  It is the fine chiseling that produces a David from a rough block of stone.  It has become one of the most enjoyable aspects of making a film that I have experienced in my own cinematographic pursuits.  I've come to discover that I'm having the most fun when I'm behind the camera, and that includes post-production when I'm getting to look at all that footage we've shot and then deciding what fits best in what will become the final product.  It's hard work.  It can be heart-wrenching at times, when you're having to decide what to keep and what to cut especially when your cast and crew have been giving nothing less than their best effort.  The temptation is to want to include a little bit of everything that you've shot... and unfortunately that just isn't feasible.

I can't begin to imagine the task that Marcia Lucas had set before her.  But I also can't help but think that despite it all, in her own way she was having fun too.  Marcia believed in Star Wars when few others did.  She knew it was worth sharing with others and she knew it was going to be a success.

She was right.

Think I'll watch that first Star Wars movie this afternoon again, in her memory.

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Chuck Norris is gone

 

Part of me is tempted to declare that this is as fine a time as any for a Chuck Norris fact.  The man himself loved those jokes, even if he was really quite humble about it.  Norris chuckled at how powerful people claimed he was.  But in truth he knew that the real power in his life was his faith in God.

Death didn't get Chuck Norris.  Heaven just needed Chuck Norris to teach the angels how to roundhouse kick.

(That's the very best I can come up with.)

The world without Chuck Norris... just doesn't seem possible.  He was a force of nature on two legs (one was named "Law" and the other was named "Order", that's one of my favorite "facts" about him).  An action legend, a loving family man, and also some will remember that he was an excellent op-ed writer (he had a column for awhile at World Net Daily).  Chuck Norris could do seemingly anything.

Almost anything.

Goodbye brother Chuck.  Until we meet someday.

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Earl Burton, the world's greatest weatherman, has passed away

Okay, maybe I'm more than a little biased.  But as long as I am on God's green earth I will never believe that there was ever a meteorologist who was as accurate and honest and entertaining as Earl Burton.

Earl Burton was born in Reidsville, North Carolina in 1940.  Two things happened in his young life that wound up spinning him into someone legendary: his love of broadcasting, and the volumes of weather records that he began keeping as a teenager.  Eventually he came to be an announcer on WREV AM-1220 out of Reidsville.

His flair for radio and his vast knowledge of local meteorology collided one fateful afternoon when Earl was about to relay a forecast from the National Weather Service to his listeners.  He was set to read the report calling for rain when he stopped, paused for a moment, and told the audience "Folks, I think that's wrong!  I think we are going to see snow!"

It indeed snowed.  Earl Burton was right on the money and the professional meteorologists were wrong.

From that point on, Earl was the person to get the weather forecast from if you were in the Reidsville/Eden/greater Rockingham County area.  And he had a style all his own when he was giving his prognostication.  With that velvety voice perfect for radio, what would take most weather people three or four minutes to share with the audience, Earl would turn that into a seemingly half-hour long masters thesis on atmosphere, humidity, pressure systems and how they were going to meet over the area.  And I would say that he was 95% accurate most of the time.  Earl had a way of explaining it all, making something as complicated as weather into something that everyone could grasp and appreciate.

I can't talk about Earl Burton without mentioning how beloved he was by the school children.

So many winter days there were when there were rumors of snow coming in.  I think every kid in the county would be tuned into 1220 AM and what Earl had to say.  It would sometimes take him ten to fifteen minutes to get to the point but if the situation aligned well enough we would hear Earl say the magic words: "this is just the right conditions... for snow!"  When he said that, you could pretty much forget about going to school the next day.  It simply wasn't going to happen.  Earl Burton had said it, we believed it, and fifteen hours later we saw it with our own eyes.

Earl Burton was among the finest personalities in the field of radio.  And later on he complemented that with also being the weatherman for Reidsville's WAEU Channel 14 television station.  His forecasts on TV were a tad more in keeping with that medium's scheduling but they were no less effective, and for many people it was their very first time putting a face to the voice.

What makes small towns so special are their larger-than-usual percentages of personalities.  The people who give a place their true character.  Reidsville is fortunate (maybe) to have had many such people over the years.  Few of them had as much virtue and qualities as Earl Burton.  And to this day, whenever I see a weather forecast calling for snow in an area I happen to be in, I find myself wondering "What would Earl say?"

Earl Burton passed away on February 25th, 2026.  He leaves behind a grateful town and generations of school children who hung on his every word on so many winter afternoons.

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The object lesson of Jesse Jackson

 

Jesse Jackson passed away today at the age of 84.

I'm not the kind of person who speaks ill of the recently deceased.  That's something that I learned during my upbringing in rural North Carolina.

But in the case of Jesse Jackson, I am going to make an exception.  Because I believe that there is much to be learned from his life and the choices he made.

Jesse Jackson had been a very good man.  A great man even.  He preached a terrific message to young black people, encouraging them to rise above their circumstances and make something better for themselves.  Jackson was also - I was shocked to discover - VERY vehemently pro-life and spoke often about the evil of abortion.

The original brand Jesse Jackson was a real leader.  Someone who had earned respect from many, many people.

But then Jackson ran for President in the 1984 election.

What happened to Jesse Jackson is almost Shakespearean.  The man sold his soul to the Democratic Party in order to acquire more power and influence.  He abandoned his principles and the messages he had so eloquently spoken to people needing wisdom.  Jackson left all of that behind and instead became someone who embraced an ideology that stood against everything that made this a wonderful country for all of us.

The Jesse Jackson who had stood with giants in the civil rights movement - he was at Martin Luther King's side when he died - had gone away.  And in his place was someone altogether different.  Shallow.  Manipulative.  The furthest thing from a true statesman.

That Jesse Jackson - the "race hustler" - became responsible for engendering more racial division than most any other person in modern American history.  Jackson paved the way for others who exploited race and division: people like Al Sharpton and Barack Obama, and now the proponents of "critical race theory" and pushers of "diversity, equity, and inclusion" that drive wedges between us instead of bringing us together in a common American experience.

Yes, Jesse Jackson had been a good man.  But for more than forty years he had been someone else.  All because of selling out himself for a bigger seat at the table.

There is a great lesson to be learned from the example of Jesse Jackson.  All who would pursue power would do well to study his life.  To learn from the great mistake that he made.  They should be made to contemplate the true price of chasing after temporal affluence.  That is a grievous error that many have made, even in our more recent history.

Tonight I will try to bear in mind the good man that Jesse Jackson had once been.  Not the ruined soul who caused so much damage to our culture.  And who but God knows, maybe Jackson repented of some things before he passed.

I hope he did.

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What clip to honor Robert Duvall's memory with?

Robert Duvall, one of my all time most favorite actors, passed away two days ago.  The news broke about it yesterday and ever since I've been struggling to come up with the best way for me to pay tribute to him.  The man did so much.  It's very hard to pick the movies and roles he had that I like the most.  I absolutely loved his portrayal of Augustus McRae in the epic television miniseries Lonesome Dove.  There were his appearances in The Godfather and Apocalypse Now.  I could say something about The Apostle: a film he not only starred in but directed and financed (no company believed in it enough to front the money, but it wound up winning a slew of awards).  There was his Academy Award winning role in Tender Mercies.  His very first film appearance in To Kill a Mockingbird where he played Boo Radley... the man was a force of nature on and off the screen!

I decided that in his memory I'm going to share one of my favorite clips of Duvall.  This is from the movie Secondhand Lions, which came out in 2003.  A very delightful film also starring Michael Caine.  Here is Robert Duvall as Hub McCann, laying it down on some young punks:

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Rest in peace Scott Adams

 

The very sad news is breaking this morning that Scott Adams, the brilliant cartoonist who drew the comic strip Dilbert for several decades, as passed away at age 68 following a battle with cancer.

I very much admired Adams.  His intellect was formidable: maybe too much for some people to comprehend, given how the past few years went.  But I think most of us readily understood where he was coming from.  He was absolutely one of the most - if not THE most - brilliant thinkers to be a part of modern pop culture.

Several of his Dilbert books are in my personal library.  Indeed, for a long time his strip was one of the very first things I opened the newspaper to.  So many of Adams's cartoons that I could say that I love.  But this one in particular is near and dear to my heart.  From May 12, 2013.  Click to enlarge:

Until we meet someday, Mr. Adams.  Thank you for sharing your mind and your talents with us.

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Jerry Bledsoe, one of my favorite authors, has passed away

The sad news is coming out of Asheboro, North Carolina this evening that Jerry Bledsoe, the prolific author who among other things hit the bestseller list with his true-crime book Bitter Blood, has passed away at the age of 84.

In my formative years, Bledsoe's columns for the News & Record out of Greensboro were must-reading.  It seemed that there wasn't a subject that he couldn't write about and make it a rollickin' good respite from one's typical daily life.  He was a gifted humorist who brought with him fresh insight into practically everything he wrote about.

But Bledsoe's biggest claim to fame had nothing to do with humor.

In the summer of 1988 came the publication of Bitter Blood.  It remains one of the most disturbing true-crime books ever written.  Bledsoe's book attempted the impossible (something he admitted in its final pages): trying to make sense of the Fritz Klenner/Susie Sharp murders that transpired in Kentucky and then North Carolina between 1984 and 1985.  It was an event that defied all sense and it absolutely rocked the communities they transpired in.  Especially Reidsville, North Carolina, where I'm originally from.  Bitter Blood was what it seemed everyone in my hometown was reading: it was pretty much locally known simply as "the book".  Bledsoe wrote that.  And it was a magnificent performance.

I was able to meet Jerry Bledsoe a number of times.  He was someone who always appreciated his readers and he seemed pretty humble about the success he had enjoyed.  He loved his craft and he was thoroughly dedicated to practicing it and he was always seeking to refine that, as any true artist aspires to do.  Bledsoe was in every way a remarkable man, and I thought he more than deserved noting his life.

Thought and prayers to his family and friends.

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Regarding Rob Reiner: Not cool, Mister President

By now everyone knows what happened yesterday.  Actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner, and his wife Michele, were found stabbed to death in their mansion in California.  It seems that it was none other than Reiner's son who was the murderer.

It was a horrific thing by any measure.  And today President Donald Trump, who had long been a target of Reiner's ire, released a statement about the deaths of the couple.  I won't post it all here, Lord knows it's all over the place tonight.  But to put it short: Trump blamed Reiner's "Trump Derangement Syndrome" for causing his murder.

Rob Reiner and Donald Trump (photo credit: MSNBC)

The more I think about what President Trump said about Rob Reiner, the more it disgusts me.  I understand that Reiner hated Trump's guts but that's no excuse whatsoever for what the sitting President of the United States said.  Trump should have taken the high ground.  I'm thinking of what happened when Prince passed away.  "Weird Al" Yankovic paid him a very beautiful tribute, even though Prince had long dissed Weird Al at every turn.  Some things are much bigger than what are really very petty disagreements in the grander scheme of things.  Trump had a great opportunity to be a good man, the better man even, in this.  And he pissed it away with his childish immature statement.

Now, in large part I've been a supporter of Trump.  He is doing things that have been needed accomplishing for a very long time, like addressing the issue of America's porous border.  Nobody will ever spot me wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat, I usually don't go for fads like that.  But I've liked him.

But this, what Trump posted earlier today?  Not cool.  Not cool at all.  It was crass, classless, and completely without redeeming value.

I didn't care for Reiner's politics either.  But he was a fellow human being, and what happened to him and his wife is an absolute tragedy.  I am willing to look past his beliefs and his weaknesses and appreciate the gifts he shared with the world.

Tonight I am going to watch Misery, probably my favorite Rob Reiner movie, in his memory.  I'll honor him if the President won't.

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"God must have needed a photographer, and He got the very best with Tim."

That was one of the very first thoughts that came to mind this morning.

My heart felt like it broke into a hundred pieces yesterday afternoon, upon hearing of the passing of my very good friend Tim Talley.

Tim was many things to many people.  I suppose the first aspect that comes to the minds of lots of folks is that he was an amazing photographer.  For more than forty years Tim made his mark not just in Reidsville and Rockingham County, but throughout the Piedmont region.  Tim was blessed with an incredible vision and sense of composition.  The man worked with light the way that the finest sculptors work with clay.  Tim came up with seemingly countless ways of staging photos and he would go to whatever lengths it took to pull them off.  He also had a way of bringing out the best of his subjects.  Everyone was beautiful in his eye and he knew how to capture and convey that with his camera.  Tim had ways of pulling off the almost impossible... like when he coaxed my dachshund Tammy into sitting still when we did a photo shoot with him in 2017.  I had told him that if he could do that then he was a better man than me... and lo and behold he did it!

If nothing else then the many thousands of portraits that he made, hanging in family living rooms throughout the region, attests to his talent.

Those who knew him best, though, will remember him for so much else.

Tim was a devoted husband to his wife Donna, and a father to his son Brandon.  He absolutely adored Brandon's wife and their three daughters. When Tim finally retired some years ago, it was always with it borne in mind that he and Donna were going to move to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania so he could be closer to Brandon and his family.

And once Tim got situated in Lancaster County, he very quickly made friends among the people there, especially his Amish neighbors.  I think Tim might have been the one photographer they trusted enough with his getting an occasional picture of them (but not for widespread publication, those were meant for his friends and family).  Not long after relocating there, Tim became the driver of a tour bus, and he became much beloved for his knowledge, his sense of humor, and just the fact that he was a southerner driving visitors around "Amish Country".

Tim's good cheer and friendliness were absolutely contagious.  His smile lit up everything... and every one... who came into his proximity.  I don't think Tim ever met a stranger.  And in that regard, he certainly became a role model for my own place in this world.

Tim had principles.  He stood resolute upon them.  I think it's safe to say that there were some people who didn't agree with those.  But there was too much respect for Tim than to think any less of him for those.  With Tim, you knew where he was positioned.  And that had to be admired by all who knew him or knew of him.

Tim devoted his life to serving God, in whatever capacity that might be.  God gave him a talent and Tim was determined to make the most of it.  He truly was a brother in Christ who cared for all who came into his life, for however long or brief it might have been.

I think that most of all, though, what especially rends my heart right now, is that I have lost a true friend.

I had my photo taken by Tim several times.  I also knew him from the Boy Scouts.  He and I were adult leaders in Reidsville's Troop 797.  In fact, that's where I first laid eyes on him, after seeing his work displayed around the area for years already.  Once, a month or so before I graduated from high school, Tim and me and several other Scouts and Scouters made a long drive to camp in the North Carolina mountains for a weekend and to hike part of the Appalachian Trail.  Tim made sure to bring a camera along to snap photos.  He took to mountain hiking the way a fish takes to water.  The troop also went camping a few times at Tim's place outside of Reidsville.

We were already friends.  When Facebook came along that gave us more opportunity to keep in touch on a regular basis.  Tim often shared some of his latest handiwork, and he was ever eager to demonstrate to his readers how he worked his trade.  I learned a lot about photography from Tim and his informal academy.  I believe a lot of people did, too.

Well, I could say so much, much more.  All that I really know since yesterday afternoon is that the world has lost a tremendously talented man, a family has lost a husband and a father and a grandfather, two communities hundreds of miles apart have lost a respected citizen, and I have lost a wonderful friend.

Until we meet again, Tim.  Thank you for being you. And I thank God that He let you be in our lives, for however brief a season it seemed.

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One of the most amazing people who I have ever known has left us

 

A short while ago I got the word from her daughter that Nell Rose, one of the most enthused and energetic and especially dynamic people who I have ever had the great pleasure of knowing, passed away yesterday.

Nell was the embodiment of model leadership.  She would see things that could have been better and she threw herself into it, no questions asked.  This was especially noted in her myriad of activities involving education.  She spearheaded a number of initiatives when she and her family moved to Charlotte.  And then some years later when they moved back to the Reidsville area, she brought that same vision to bear.  The woman was nigh unstoppable.

I knew Nell from a variety of situations.  The first time we met, it was during our high school swim team's weekly meets.  Her two daughters were on the team and Nell often came to cheer not only her own girls on, but she was behind all of us.  Her beautiful beaming smile never failed to encourage and inspire us ever forward.

Nell was one of the first members of the consolidated school board after all the systems in Rockingham County merged.  And that led to further contact with Nell as I got involved in the county's education affairs.  She and I had many conversations about a variety of subjects, and I always went away feeling that much more wise and enlightened.

And then there was Theatre Guild of Rockingham County.  Nell served on the board of that.  And she came to most of our performances.  It was a special feeling, knowing that she was in the audience as we put on our production.  I think we made sure to put a little extra heart into the act when Nell was in the house.

Wow.  So much I could say about this fine lady.  She was the kind of person who really did make this world a much better place for her being here.  There is, was and ever will be only one Nell Rose.  God broke the mold when He designed her.

Here is Nell's extensive obituary on the Citty Funeral Home site.

Thoughts and prayers going up and out for her loved ones.

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Johnny Robertson has died

The word arrived a short while ago that Johnny Robertson, who there has been no small amount of contention with at times over the years, passed away earlier today.

Life is too short than to spend any more moments than necessary in bitterness.   We aren't guaranteed tomorrow.  We have to make the most of what we have, because there is no knowing when it will be taken away.

That being said, I will ask that his family and friends be kept in our thoughts and prayers.

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Hulk Hogan has passed away

A big piece of my childhood has gone.

Thank you Terry Bollea, known forever to American history as Hulk Hogan.  You brought a lot of joy and pleasure into our lives.

There is a chapter of the book I've written, that focuses on the Eighties.  As I say about the year 1984, any twelve months that kicked off with Hulk Hogan defeating the Iron Sheik for the WWF championship was bound to be on fire.

Hulkamania, now and forever.

EDIT: it has been a sad day, but Hogan's fans are remembering the many good times we had watching "the Hulkster" as he entertained us both inside the ring and out.

I think Hogan would be laughing hard at this article from The Babylon Bee, one of my favorite websites.

Hulk Hogan Makes Surprise Entrance To Challenge Jacob To Wrestling Match

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In memory of Malcolm-Jamal Warner

The very sad news broke today that Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the extremely talented actor and director and producer whose greatest role Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show kept us uproariously laughing, has passed away at age 54.

It was hard to name a favorite character from that series, but Theo was definitely up there on my list.  Maybe because he was the only son of Cliff and Claire.  A lot of the comedy was his to bear because of that and he did it magnificently!

When I think of all the Theo-centric episodes of The Cosby Show, there is one stands out above the rest, and I believe that a lot of other people are going to say that this is funniest the character had.  Here in Warner's memory is a clip from the first season episode where Theo buys a "Gordon Gartrayal" shirt.  The interaction between Theo and his parents is hilarious!

Thoughts and prayers going out for his family.

EDIT: Wow, there's a part 2 from that episode that's been uploaded!  Here it is, Theo in the shirt that Denise made for him:

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Kenneth Colley, who played Admiral Piett AKA the luckiest guy in the Empire, has passed away

The sad news is coming out today that Kenneth Colley, the British actor who portrayed Admiral Firmus Piett across two Star Wars films, has passed away at the age of 87.

Colley had enjoyed having many roles in his six decades as an actor.  He did some work with Monty Python (that's him playing Jesus in the opening of Life of Brian) and he appeared in Clint Eastwood's 1982 sci-fi Cold War thriller Firefox.  Colley was also among the amazing cast of the sweeping television epic War and Remembrance.

But it is his portrayal of Captain... and then Admiral... Piett that is most remembered in the annals of pop culture.

Piett first appeared in 1980's Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back as the captain of Executor, Darth Vader's flagship Super Star Destroyer.  Following the deployment of thousands of probe droids across the galaxy, Piett was monitoring their progress when a droid in the Hoth system picked up signs of habitation.  Admiral Ozzel was quick to brush it off, though Vader took interest and was convinced that this was the Rebel base that the Empire was looking for.  Vader ordered the fleet to set course for Hoth, as Ozzel gave Piett a spiteful glare.  Piett merely stood in quiet confidence, content to have done his job to the best of his ability.

I think that Darth Vader appreciated that.  Vader appreciated Piett as a man.  I have to wonder if Vader had wanted Piett to be higher up in the chain of command all along.  It would explain Vader's disdain for Ozzel.  When Ozzel messed up by coming out of hyperspace too close to Hoth, Vader was all too eager to express his displeasure.  Vader immediately tapped Piett to take Ozzel's place: "You are in command now, Admiral Piett."  Piett expressed his thanks and immediately gestured for Ozzel's corpse be taken off the bridge.  And then toward the end of the film, when standing there after Vader had lost the Millennium Falcon, Piett awaited his lord's next action, certainly that he now would be punished.  Instead Vader walked away, and no doubt Piett breathed an inward sigh of relief.

Piett showed up again in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.  He must have been doing something right because by that point in the story he had survived being admiral aboard the Executor for a year.  Admiral Piett had been ordered by Emperor Palpatine to move the fleet around the Death Star to the far side of the Endor moon, where it waited to ambush the incoming Rebel forces.  In the massive space battle that followed a Rebel A-wing veered out of control and slammed into Executor's bridge.  Piett and the rest of the command staff were killed, and Executor was sent smashing into the second Death Star's  surface.

Piett has been called one of the most important of the many background characters in the Star Wars saga.  Kenneth Colley certainly brought dignity and gravitas to the role.  It was one of those nuances that gave Star Wars its rich and deep presence in our culture.  It also endeared himself tremendously with fans, who Colley always came across as being very appreciative of.  I had the honor of meeting him a couple of times, at Star Wars Celebration II and then III a few years later.  The first time we met, I told him that it must be quite something to be known as "the luckiest guy in the Empire".  Colley said that he heard that quite a bit actually!

He played an honorable and decent bad guy, and you had to respect a character like Piett.  Colley really was the only person who could have pulled that off as magnificently as he did.

I think that in his memory I'll plop in my Blu-Ray of The Empire Strikes Back for background sound as I work this afternoon.  Which includes this classic scene of Darth Vader "promoting" Piett to admiral:

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In memory of Gene Hackman

The sad news came out this morning that Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead in their home in New Mexico.  An investigation as to what happened is underway.

My first exposure to Hackman was his portrayal of Lex Luthor in 1978's Superman: The Movie.  I've seen most of his films.  My favorite film of his was the 1992 western Unforgiven: he played the evil sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett and it earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

A few years ago I watched The French Connection - the winner of the 1972 Academy Award for Best Picture among many other prizes - for the first time.  All I knew about it going in was that it starred Hackman and that it was about drug smuggling.  If anybody had told me beforehand that I was going to be screaming my lungs out while watching it, I would not have believed it.  But that is indeed what happened.  The scene where Hackman's Popeye Doyle (which snagged him his first Oscar win) commandeers a car and goes off in pursuit of a train is one of the most terrifying spectacles committed to film that I've ever beheld.  It's just CRAZY.  It might be the best chase scene in the history of American cinematography.

So I thought that to honor the memory of Gene Hackman, I would share that scene.  A fine actor at his very finest.

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Rest in peace David Lynch

He passed away today at the age of 78.

The impact that this man had on the cinema arts can not be emphasized nearly enough.  Everything he did, be it surreal or more traditional storytelling, he made his own.  David Lynch showed us more than most what the camera was capable of doing when guided by a mind willing to step away from the safe path.  He saw the guardrails and crashed through anyway.

I first came upon Lynch's work when I was a high school sophomore.  I had seen the promos for Twin Peaks and they intrigued me terribly.  So I did something I rarely did and still rarely do: I watched its two-hour television premiere.  Twin Peaks sucked me in hard and never let go.  And it was the gateway drug for more of Lynch's unique vision.

Admittedly, I will never be able to confess ever "getting" Eraserhead.  But that's okay.  Somehow, I think Lynch wouldn't mind.

David Lynch was also a fellow Eagle Scout.

Thoughts and prayers going up and out for his family. 

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Rest in peace James Earl Jones

 

I got to meet him, briefly, in 2003.  Amazing man, with an intellect as formidable as his voice if not more so.

Ninety-three is a good run.  And he definitely made his mark.

Who else could make saying the alphabet so dramatic?

Godspeed Mr. Jones.  Thank you for sharing your gifts with us for so long.

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