Thank You For Bein A Friend

They say tragedies come in threes.  This past week has seen the passing of three celebrities.  Each of them left their mark in one form or another.  How will they be remembered?  Two of them were adored by millions on the small screen while the other made his mark on the silver screen.

I can well remember many Saturday nights in front of the tv watching the pint sized Gary Coleman deliver his catch phrase: “Whatchu talkin’ bout, Willis” week in and week out.  Hopefully, he will be remembered as the 10 year-old, pinchable cheeked, comedic ingenue instead of the tabloid hunted adult.  Not even a week following his death, Coleman’s life is being dragged through the muck.

One of my favorite Golden Girls, Rue McClanahan, passed today.  Blanche was the hussy of the group.  Kind of a modern day Scarlett O’Hara (“a little more Scarlett than O’Hara”).  Hopefully, Betty White will be with us for a while longer.  Ms. White shows no sign of slowing down.  Her Super Bowl Snickers commercial, stint as host of Saturday Night Live, a new sitcom coming to TV Land, and a new petition for her to be next year’s host of the Academy Awards have all put her once again in the limelight.

I am less familiar with the work of Dennis Hopper.  I am too young to remember Easy Rider and have never had the desire to seek it out.  I do remember Speed as well as one of my favorite sports movies, Hoosiers (a little sleeper movie from 1986 for which he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar).

Prayers and thoughts to the surviving families and friends.  And may the fans remember all three for the artistic accomplishments of each of them.