When we were younger we were shocked and saddened when one of our heroes passed away. Saddened because we were fans, and shocked because they died so young… These days our heroes are passing from “old age” and “natural causes”. Yikes.
Here’s four stars that passed in 13 days:
March 24, 2010. Robert Culp, 79, Acted most notably in the TV show I Spy, with Bill Cosby, and as Debra Barone’s father on Everybody Loves Raymond. A fall.
Fess Parker, 85, portrayed frontier heroes, Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. The Crockett show started a fad of people wearing coon skin hats. Natural causes.
March 14, 2010. Peter Graves, 83, was Jim Phelps on Mission: Impossible, and watched his mission instructions disintegrate on every show. He surprised his fans with a ridiculous and wonderful comic character in Airplane! Heart attack.
March 11, 2010. Merlin Olsen, 69, was a Hall of Fame football player for the Los Angeles Rams and acted in 51 episodes of Little House on the Prairie and another 34 episodes of Father Murphy as the same character. Mesothelioma.
Let’s end this sob-fest with an up-lifting quote:
“I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather… Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.” – Will Shriner
