Pretty cool...and thorough

The Cast Of 'Harry Potter' Then And Now

Oh

Actor Jack Klugman dies in Los Angeles

Jack Klugman, the prolific, craggy-faced character actor and regular guy who was loved by millions as the messy one in TV's The Odd Couple and the crime-fighting coroner in Quincy, M.E., died Monday, a son said. He was 90.

Klugman, who lost his voice to throat cancer in the 1980s and trained himself to speak again, died with his wife at his side.

"He had a great life and he enjoyed every moment of it and he would encourage others to do the same," son Adam Klugman said.

Jack Klugman apparently died suddenly, and family members were not sure of the exact cause.

I really enjoyed Jack Klugman in both "The Odd Couple" and "Quincy, M.E.", mainly because he brought his characters to life and made me care about them.

May his soul be bound up in the bond of life.

Most bizarre news story of the week

Porn actor suspected of murder jumps off cliff, dies after daylong standoff with police

Only in Los Angeles would a porn actor kill a colleague at a social gathering for the studio with a prop Samurai sword, wound another, hold off police (with sword still in his possession) most of the day, then jump off a cliff when a 'less lethal weapon' was used to subdue him, whatever that means. He apparently started the whole thing because he'd been fired and was asked to leave his lodgings, which were being provided by the studio. This is definitely the case of someone who snapped big time, although he'd had previous weapons violations, so perhaps not unpredictably. I am sorry that he's dead (and that his colleague is as well, of course), but it just underscores how odd things can be in both the film industry and the Hollywood area. I think making money off of fantasy can sometimes draw you away from the real world, or at least the world the rest of us live in.

I knew his health was failing

but it's hard to believe that Paul Newman is dead at age 83 of cancer. When people think of Hollywood actors, they tend to think of tabloid scandals and bad behaviour by the self-absorbed. But Paul Newman was married to his widow for 50 years, lived away from the glitter of Hollywood in Connecticut, and was a wonderful philanthropist whose line of salad dressings and other food products generated millions for charity. Oh, and he was a great actor, too. :)

He was very vibrant and had a zest for life (he raced cars into his seventies) and I suspect had a lot of charisma and definitely had a lot of class. Most people would be lucky to be remembered so fondly.