The most tragic case is that of St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Tavares, 22, who was killed in an auto accident in his native Dominican Republic over the weekend, less than 2 weeks after the Cardinals were defeated in the NLCS. Tavares had just finished his rookie campaign, and while the Rookie of the Year award hasn't been announced yet (not for another week), his passing won't make the baseball writers rethink their final vote, regardless of what some people might think.
We also lost musician Jack Bruce, who played bass and shared vocal chores with Eric Clapton in Cream back in the 60's, and actress Marcia Strassman (ex-Welcome Back, Kotter), who lost a battle with breast cancer at 66. Strassman's passing makes it 4 Kotter cast members to have passed on (following John Sylvester White, Robert Hegyes, & Ron Palillo).
In tribute to Jack Bruce, we present a clip of Cream performing "Sunshine of Your Love":
Rest in peace.
Marcia Strassman's passing surprised me the most!
ReplyDeleteI grew up watching "Kotter" and will forever remember her as the long suffering "Julie". She was the straightwoman to Gabe Kaplan's Kotter character, but she was still as important as the rest of the cast. She got the short shrift IMO. I remember in an interview on a "Behind The Sitcom Scandals" episode, she mentioned part of her misery was due to James Komack, who help create and produce the series. According to her, he spread false rumors about her to the other cast - claiming she didn't like them and vice versa! How horrible!
In re.: Komack-jealous much? He himself was a supporting player (Courtship of Eddie's Father), never a lead, and didn't have the acting resume that Strassman had (she'd been on M*A*S*H before Kotter).
ReplyDelete