Friday, June 24, 2005

Paul Winchell, 82




Ventriloquists always kind of spooked me out...maybe it was because of that creepy Anthony Hopkins flick "Magic" that I saw as a kid. But if I was into them this guy would be my all time favorite. The name may not be familiar but his voice was. Back in the early 80's kids would either be mesmorized by the Transformers or the Smurfs...it was like some sort of evil religion that took over the youth of America. I was a Smurf-aholic. I had the stickers, the backpack, the lunch box, millions of 1-1/2" high figurines!!! I was crazy about the smurfs - they were smurf-tacular. Back then I was secretly jealous of Smurfette, she didn't belong, she came in late in the game, she was created by Gargamel as a way to infiltrate the Smurf village. THEN she got all pretty because she became 'good' (bleech) and all the boys wanted her. There's more I could rant about but that would delve deep into my neurosis and be horribly off the subject.
We didn't know Paul Winchell but we did know his voice. On the Smurfs he was the voice of Gargamel & Baby Smurf (he needed a voice?), as well as other characters such as Dick Dastardly, Winnie the Pooh's own Tigger, and countless others.

Thanks for keeping me entertained on Saturdays.

For more about Paul Winchell check out this web site

RIP
December 21, 1922 - June 24, 2005

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Thursday, June 16, 2005

Lane Smith, 69


Lane Smith was one of those actors that you knew but you just didn't know why or where from. You know, one of those "Hey, it's that guy" actors.
But, for me, he was memorable as the tough farm father trying to accept the wheez into his family in "Son-In-Law", the attorney in "My Cousin Vinny" and (because I'm a geek) Perry White on the Superman series "Lois & Clark". I scanned through his IMDB page to find out that he was in more movies then I recall.

1984's "Red Dawn" as the city's mayor and father of one of the Wolverines. As a corrupt congressman in Eddie Murphy's "The Distinguished Gentleman". He also had many guest spots on 'The Practice' and other television series. He started his career on stage not getting in film work until 1970 at the age of 34.

Mr Smith passed away this past Monday after suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 69 years old.

April 26, 1936 - June 16, 2005

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