An Old Friend Departs
Posted: May 1st, 2007, 8:49 pm
Hey Guys;
Just found this byte on MSN.com:
'Newhart' Actor Tom Poston Dies at 85
May 1, 4:24 PM EST
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Tom Poston, the tall, pasty-faced comic who found fame and fortune playing a clueless everyman on such hit television shows as "Newhart" and "Mork and Mindy," has died. He was 85.
Poston, who was married to Suzanne Pleshette of "The Bob Newhart Show," died Monday night at home after a brief illness, a family representative, Tanner Gibson, said Tuesday. The nature of his illness was not disclosed.
Poston's run as a comic bumbler began in the mid-1950s with "The Steve Allen Show" after Allen plucked the character actor from the Broadway stage to join an ensemble of eccentrics he would conduct "man in the street" interviews with.
Don Knotts was the shaky Mr. Morrison, Louis Nye was the suave, overconfident Gordon Hathaway and Poston's character was so unnerved by the television cameras that he couldn't remember who he was. He won an Emmy playing "The Man Who Can't Remember His Name."
But when Allen moved the show from New York to Los Angeles in 1959, Poston stayed behind.
"Hollywood's not for me right now; I'm a Broadway cat," he told a reporter at the time.
When he did finally move west, he quickly began appearing in variety shows, sitcoms and films.
His movie credits included "Cold Turkey," "The Happy Hooker," "Rabbit Test" and, more recently, "Christmas With the Kranks," "Beethoven's 5th" and "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement."
On "Mork and Mindy," which starred Robin Williams as a space alien, Poston was Franklin Delano Bickley, the mindless boozer with the annoying dog. On "Newhart," he was George Utley, the handyman who couldn't fix anything at the New England inn run by Newhart's character. And on Newhart's show "Bob," he was the star's dim-bulb former college roommate.
"These guys are about a half-step behind life's parade," Poston commented in a 1983 interview. "The ink on their instruction sheets is beginning to fade. But they can function and cope and don't realize they are driving people up the walls.
"In ways I don't like to admit, I'm a goof-up myself," Poston continued.
>> There's a "next page" to the MSN coverage, but I'm averse to beaucoup cutting & pasting, so I'll let those who so desire track it down on their own time.
Boy, I sure adored this fella; he was kind of a Boomer icon, in a pleasantly hometown kind of way.
I'll never forget going to see him in the Bill Castle film "Zotz" when I was 8, and being all bummed-out that there were no more plastic, promo Zotz "coins" to pass out with the tickets.
I'd buy one on eBay, but I have a mortgage & a truck payment to cover this month!
Klondike
Just found this byte on MSN.com:
'Newhart' Actor Tom Poston Dies at 85
May 1, 4:24 PM EST
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Tom Poston, the tall, pasty-faced comic who found fame and fortune playing a clueless everyman on such hit television shows as "Newhart" and "Mork and Mindy," has died. He was 85.
Poston, who was married to Suzanne Pleshette of "The Bob Newhart Show," died Monday night at home after a brief illness, a family representative, Tanner Gibson, said Tuesday. The nature of his illness was not disclosed.
Poston's run as a comic bumbler began in the mid-1950s with "The Steve Allen Show" after Allen plucked the character actor from the Broadway stage to join an ensemble of eccentrics he would conduct "man in the street" interviews with.
Don Knotts was the shaky Mr. Morrison, Louis Nye was the suave, overconfident Gordon Hathaway and Poston's character was so unnerved by the television cameras that he couldn't remember who he was. He won an Emmy playing "The Man Who Can't Remember His Name."
But when Allen moved the show from New York to Los Angeles in 1959, Poston stayed behind.
"Hollywood's not for me right now; I'm a Broadway cat," he told a reporter at the time.
When he did finally move west, he quickly began appearing in variety shows, sitcoms and films.
His movie credits included "Cold Turkey," "The Happy Hooker," "Rabbit Test" and, more recently, "Christmas With the Kranks," "Beethoven's 5th" and "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement."
On "Mork and Mindy," which starred Robin Williams as a space alien, Poston was Franklin Delano Bickley, the mindless boozer with the annoying dog. On "Newhart," he was George Utley, the handyman who couldn't fix anything at the New England inn run by Newhart's character. And on Newhart's show "Bob," he was the star's dim-bulb former college roommate.
"These guys are about a half-step behind life's parade," Poston commented in a 1983 interview. "The ink on their instruction sheets is beginning to fade. But they can function and cope and don't realize they are driving people up the walls.
"In ways I don't like to admit, I'm a goof-up myself," Poston continued.
>> There's a "next page" to the MSN coverage, but I'm averse to beaucoup cutting & pasting, so I'll let those who so desire track it down on their own time.
Boy, I sure adored this fella; he was kind of a Boomer icon, in a pleasantly hometown kind of way.
I'll never forget going to see him in the Bill Castle film "Zotz" when I was 8, and being all bummed-out that there were no more plastic, promo Zotz "coins" to pass out with the tickets.
I'd buy one on eBay, but I have a mortgage & a truck payment to cover this month!
Klondike
