Another Friend Lost

My Friend, Chris

I took my time in college, attending several schools; starting out full-time and ending part-time (mostly because I couldn't afford to do so any other way). One of the advantages of taking my time was that I got to do and learn from lots of great theatre and lots of great directors and acting coaches. The other was that I got to meet and make friends with a whole lot of people, many of whom I still know and love to this day.

One of those people was my friend Chris, seen to your right in a rather blurry photo taken by our mutual friend Marly while on a trip we took to Salem, MA to do 'research' for a production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Chris lived close to campus and we had many parties at his house. We also went on lots of adventures together. 

One of those adventures was a Spring Break road trip to Florida, which probably deserves a post of its own one day. Myself, Chris, our friend Rich and his future wife Dawn all headed down I-95 in car I rented (because I was only one old enough to do so). We took turns driving and I remember waking up around 3 AM somewhere in the Carolinas, as Chris was driving. I glanced at the speedometer - the needle was pressed as far right as it would go. I simply shrugged and went back to sleep, knowing that someone who had once been pulled over for speeding on the Autobahn was at the helm and we would be fine. There's a ton more to tell about that trip, but again - that's for another post.

As much as Chris had a reputation among our clique for being for being a madman, he was sweet and kind and gentle and often very, very funny. A talented carpenter (his father was a cabinet maker) and an often reluctant actor, Chris was known to have a bit of a temper and once infamously and very completely destroyed a beautiful art deco set he'd built for a production of Dinner at Eight after a dispute with the director (the show had closed). We all knew who'd done the deed, though none of us told, even though the incident made the local papers.

Many years passed and while some of us were still in touch, it wasn't until the advent of Facebook that we all reunited (as much as folks can on Facebook). It was last fall when Chris joined Facebook and we were all glad he had done so. 

Then news came in January that Chris had gone missing. Suffering from bi-polar disease, Chris was visiting his sister who noticed he wasn't himself and set out to take him to a local hospital for treatment. She went to get her coat and upon her return found him gone. Scent dogs traced him to a footbridge on the Delaware-Raritan Canal. While Chris was an avid outdoorsman and knew how to survive in harsh conditions, the situation didn't look good. Although we were scattered all over the country, our mutual friends expressed concern and worry. This past Sunday, a family canoeing the canal stumbled across a body which was identified by a driver's license as Chris. Local police are speculating that he committed suicide, though there is no hard evidence to support that theory.

It doesn't matter to me how or why Chris passed, only that he did. And that my life is all the better for having spent time with him. And I can only hope that his was better for having spent time with me and our mutual friends. While I and our friends mourn his loss, we can all celebrate the many wonderful; hilarious; joyous; confounding and exciting times we shared together. I only hope he is finally at peace.

Tonight, at 10 PM Eastern, our mutual friends raised a glass in Chris' memory and posted photos of ourselves doing so on a private Facebook page dedicated to him. I can imagine him smiling at the thought. 

Here's the thing: None of knows how long we'll be here. Take the time to tell the ones you love that you love them. Do so often and sincerely. Savor the joyous moments of your life because they are truly few and far-between. Spend as much time pursuing the joyous moments as you can. Spend even more time pursuing time with friends and family. Be kind to everyone you meet - you never know who'll be part of your life for all of it, or just some of it. Laugh as often as you can. Love as much as you can. Share your joy, but never gloat about it. Slow down. Live the life you want to live and make no apologies to those who disagree with that life. Take time to remember everyone who touches your life, no matter how briefly.

This was one of Chris' favorite songs, and while it isn't exactly a 'happy' song, it's one all of his friends will always remember him by:

I truly hope that Chris' pain has receded, even while his family's and friends' is peaking.

More, anon.
Prospero

RIP Gloria Stuart

I have to start this post by saying that I really do hate James Cameron's Titanic. Overlong and overwrought, it made its millions by appealing to teenage girls who saw it over and over because of it's "romantic" storyline. Well I say "Bullcrap!" Only slightly more contrived than the plot of Cameron's Avatar, Titanic exploits a real-life tragedy for a lame romance not even worthy of the worst Harlequin Romance novel. How sad then, that an actress with a 7 decade career is best remembered for a supporting role in it?

Stuart made her film debut as Doris in 1932's Street of Women, a cheesy soap opera about a cheating doctor. She went on to appear in several Universal classics, including James Whale's The Old Dark House and Whale's 1933 version of H.G. Welles' The Invisible Man.

She appeared in the Shirley Temple classic Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and almost 50 years later in Richard Benjamin's hilarious salute to 50's TV, My Favorite Year. In 1991, in a nod to her role in the original film, she guest starred on the short-lived TV series "The Invisible Man" and also appeared in guest spots on "Murder, She Wrote;" "Touched By an Angel" and "General Hospital."

Ms. Stuart never garnered the fame of many of her contemporaries, but then not many of them had careers as long as hers. We should all be so lucky to do what we love for as long as she did. Gloria Stuart was 100 years old and the only cast member of Titanic who was actually alive when the ship sank.

More, anon.

Prospero

Klaatu Barada Nikto!

Revered stage and screen actress Patricia Neal passed away today at age 84. Ms. Neal won an Academy Award for her performance in Hud and was nominated for her performance in The Subject Was Roses; both terrific movies featuring performances by an amazing woman who fought her way back from a series of strokes, the first of which left her unable to speak or walk.

Most of the major news outlets have covered only that much of her career, failing to mention her performance as Mrs. Keller in the original production of The Miracle Worker; her marriage to children's author Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Matilda) or her role opposite future President Ronald Reagan in the romantic comedy John Loves Mary. Personally, I will remember Ms. Neal best as Helen Benson in director Robert Wise's (The Haunting) thoughtful 1951 Sci-Fi drama, The Day the Earth Stood Still.

WWII had recently come to an explosive (to say the least) end and the threat of nuclear annihilation was on almost every American's mind as the Cold War started it's 30+ years of scaring both children and adults. School kids were taught to "Duck and Cover" via partially animated films (as if that would actually help) and personal bomb shelters were all the rage when Wise and screenwriter Edmund H. North made their iconic movie about an alien named Klaatu (Michael Rennie) and his robot Gort, who were sent to Earth to warn us that unless we stopped our evil, war-like ways, we risked destruction at the hands of the peace-loving aliens throughout the galaxy. Ms. Neal was the human envoy who made personal contact with Klaatu and managed to deliver the classic line (without giggling) to Gort, thereby stopping his pre-programmed destruction of the planet.

Forget the godawful 2008 Keanu Reeves remake and take the time to watch this thoughtful and surprising anti-war film, which still pops up now and then on AMC and TCM (though I imagine it will get some play, now that Ms. Neal has passed). You won't be disappointed.

More, anon.
Prospero

Dan O'Bannon (1946 - 2009)

Dan O'Bannon died yesterday at the age of 63. He was the cousin of my college friend Brian, and one of the screenwriters (along with Ronald Shusett) of Ridley's Scott's 1979 masterpiece of space horror, Alien. He directed 1985's zombie comedy Return of the Living Dead and worked on the screenplays for Lifeforce and Total Recall, among other films.

But the movie for which I will most remember him is his and Shusett's follow-up to Alien, 1981's Dead & Buried. Starring James Farentino; Melody Anderson (Flash Gordon); Jack Alberston and Robert (Freddy Kreuger) Englund, Dead & Buried is set in the small Rhode Island town of Potter's Bluff. When a series of strange murders starts to take place, the local sheriff (Farentino) starts to become suspicious of the kindly undertaker/coroner (Albertson). As directed by Gary Sherman, D & B is shot through a dream-like foggy filter, making its strange events seem even more surreal.

I saw Dead and Buried with my sister (who will always be my favorite movie companion, even if it's been years since we actually went to the movies together) at a long-gone movie theater in the Quakerbridge Mall and we were both freaked-out by it's slowly building, quiet sense of doom (not to mention the freaky murders).

Thanks for the movie memories, Dan. I hope the projects you had in development come to fruition.

More on Dan O'Bannon's career on tomorrow's Zombie Zone post.

More, anon.
Prospero

Shut up, Rose!

I know this is just another gay blog posting yet another tribute to the late, great Bea Arthur, but indulge me.

My first encounter with Ms. Arthur was on the Original Cast Recording of Fiddler on the Roof. She played Yenta, and she was amazing. And I'm not sure which came first (though with a little digging on IMDb, I'm sure I could find out), but I remember her turn as Vera in the almost awful 1974 film version of Mame with Lucille Ball. She cracked me up. "God, that moon is bright!"

And then there's "Maude." A loud-mouthed liberal grand-dame of Long Island, Maude addressed pot, birth control, abortion and any number of very controversial subjects in the 70's. I don't think I ever missed an episode of this hilarious "All in the Family" spin-off.

Of course, she will probably be best be remembered as Dorothy on "The Golden Girls." Dorothy was the smart one, caring for her post-stroke mother Sophia (the late Estelle Getty), her addled best friend, Rose (the amazingly funny Betty White) and the slutty cougar, Blanche ("Maude" alumnus, Rue McClanahan) in the Florida home they shared. More recently she appeared as a befuddled baby sitter on "Malcolm in the Middle", voiced the Femputer on Matt Groening's brilliant "Futurama" and played Larry David's mother on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Her performance credits go all the way back to a 1959 appearance on "The George Gobel Show." One could only wish for such an expansive career.

Here then, is the best clip I could find that expresses how I feel tonight. What'll we do, indeed?



Rest in Peace, Bea. You will be missed.

More, anon.
Prospero