In Memoriam: The TV Stars Of 2008

By Tom Rose
Fancast.com

Another year is passing and soon, 2008 will be just a distant memory. So it’s only fitting that we take a moment and remember the prominent television stars who passed away in 2008. Though some of their deaths were unexpected, and all came much too soon, we celebrate the contribution these television personalities have made to our lives by bringing joy, love, laughter, and even tears into our living rooms down throughout the years.

Join us as we give thanks for the presence they’ve had in our lives:

George Carlin, 71, was best known as a standup comedian who elevated the fight against censorship to its highest levels in the 1970s. He began his journey of cool when the symbolic torch was passed to him by controversial comic Lenny Bruce after his untimely death.

Carlin’s breakthrough comedy album “Class Clown” threw down the gauntlet, defying the network executives with a list of “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” (several of which are still banned today). This forever sealed his fame as the most intelligent, innovative, and funniest of the counter-culture personalities carving out a niche in show business.

He sold millions of albums, hosted top rated HBO specials and wrote a string of non-fiction bestsellers. He truly proved that George Carlin was much more than just a counter-culture pundit and court jester, but rather a keen commentator on American culture whose brilliance and wry humor rivaled such literary greats as Mark Twain and James Thurber.

Michael Crichton, 66, was an author, producer, director and physician best known for his science fiction and “future history” novels, films, and television programs. It was probably due to his background that his projects, at their core, were always based on a grain of truth.

His books sold over 150 million copies worldwide and his movies were often box office hits, including the blockbuster “Jurassic Park.” And rather than the dry, technical approach you might expect from an academic, Michael Crichton’s forte was the taut action thriller with a villain that often sprung from the depths of mankind’s thoughtless tinkering with the universe.

But to TV fans he will always be remembered as the brains behind the early seasons of ER and a pioneer of the trend towards the realistic depiction of medical drama, made simple for viewers to understand, even embrace the most technical of concepts.

Estelle Getty, 84, was a feisty, New York-born actress who spent most of her career on the Broadway stage in supporting roles; mainly playing the Jewish-mother type.

But it was as the no-nonsense, wisecracking and always hilarious Sophia Petrillo on the popular 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls which earned her everlasting TV fame. Though her last years were plagued by a debilitating disease which affected her memory, Estelle Getty showed signs of Petrillo-like resolve, even authoring a memoir entitled “If I Knew Then, What I Know Now… So What?” The book became a runaway bestseller and an inspiration to millions of fans, young and old alike.

David Groh, 68, played many supporting roles in his stage career, in movies and on television. But it was as Joe Gerard, hunky construction worker romancing Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper), that Groh achieved his greatest fame.

When the two were married on the first season of the Mary Tyler Moore spin-off, Rhoda in 1974, the episode drew one of the largest TV audiences of all time. But, like so many fairy tale marriages, the couple soon divorced, and Joe was written out of the series. Valerie Harper went on to become an icon of the liberated, single woman, and Groh quietly returned to his first love: the theater.

In his later years, David Groh enjoyed a renewed television career as the heartthrob-turned-heavy, excelling in roles on shows like “Law & Order” “L.A. Law” and “The X-Files” thus cementing a reputation as one of the finest, most underrated actors in television.

Isaac Hayes, 65, was an Academy Award winning songwriter, musician and producer who penned the song “Shaft.” This is a song that will forever define and recall the early 1970s and the independent feature film revolution that exploded into the consciousness of mainstream American audiences. With a musical style that still influences R&B stars today, Hayes leaves behind a rich legacy of innovation that has yet to be fully explored and interpreted.

But it was in his role as “Chef” on South Park that Isaac Hayes enjoyed his greatest fame, joining in on the fun of lampooning all of society’s ills. Until it got too personal. In 2006 Hayes quit the show in a dispute over an episode that depicted his chosen religion, Scientology, in an unflattering light. Proving to the end that Isaac Hayes was a man of conviction who always blazed his own path.

Eileen Herlie, 70, enjoyed a long, successful career and earned universal admiration for her skills as a highly trained, dramatic actress on stages from The West End to The Great White Way, all the while appearing in many of the finest productions ever to hit the boards.

But fans will best remember her as long time daytime soap opera favorite Myrtle Fargate on All My Children. The popularity of her beloved character never waned over the nearly 30 years she played the role. Proving the point, Eileen Herlie had the distinction of being one of the few actresses who was able to successfully “cross over” to other daytime soaps, including turns on “Loving” and “One Life To Live.”

Harvey Korman, 81, arrived late to his television career, initially providing the voice for characters on shows like “Tom and Jerry” and “The Flintstones.” But when he made the move to the other side of the camera, he became an immediate hit with TV and film audiences alike.

Movie goers will remember him for roles in the Mel Brooks films, most notably as Hedley Lamarr in “Blazing Saddles,” the perennial late night rerun. But it was as an ensemble player on The Carol Burnett Show, playing perpetual “straight” man to the wacky Tim Conway that Harvey Korman earned his beloved status as one of TV’s most versatile and talented character actors.

Bernie Mac, 51, was a naturally gifted stand up comic who survived the mean streets of Chicago’s South Side, and, along with Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer, went on to become a founding member of the fabled comedy troupe “The Original Kings Of Comedy.”

But TV fans know him best for his 5-year-run on the groundbreaking sitcom The Bernie Mac Show as the gruff but kindhearted character he played in the series. As with all the memorable roles Bernie Mac brought to both the big and little screen, the key to his popularity with fans was that he always seemed to be playing himself.

Dick Martin labored on the comedy circuit throughout the 1950s, honing his skills until he ran into another comic, Dan Rowan, in search of a partner who might help him cash in on the Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis craze at the time. The rest as they say, is history.

After knocking around clubs for a few years and drawing a strong following for their hysterical act, the dynamic duo finally landed the TV vehicle that would ensure their television immortality, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. Although the series was intended as a summer replacement for the Dean Martin Show, it went on to become one of the iconic programs of the decade, often imitated, never duplicated. Was Dick Martin a key factor in its unprecedented success? You bet your sweet bippy.

Jim McKay, 86, was a television sportscaster who parlayed the normally blue collar position into a reputation as the first, and foremost sports journalist. McKay was best known for hosting ABC’s Wide World of Sports from 1961 through 1998 and his was the voice behind the iconic phrase “the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat.”

During his long career Jim McKay was the perennial go-to-guy for a host of eagerly anticipated annual sports events, particularly the Indianapolis 500 and the Kentucky Derby. But it was his compassionate and poignant live coverage of the tragic 1972 Munich Olympics which forever tied his name to any sober, penetrating analysis of the impact of athletic competition on American television in general, and the world at large in particular.

Suzanne Pleshette, 70, was a husky-voiced, seductive actress, born in a Brooklyn show biz family, who went on to a successful career on Broadway and in popular movies throughout the 1950s and 1960s. But it was her role as the patient, devoted wife Emily Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show in the 1970s that is best remembered by fans who have followed her career from its promising beginnings and on to her reign as one of the sexiest women on television.

She made history as well. In the finale of Newhart’s subsequent series, a twist never before seen was employed when it was revealed that his life since the end of the original sitcom had all been just a dream. Very much like Suzanne Pleshette herself.

Tim Russert, 58, was the bureaucrat turned journalist who helmed the NBC Sunday morning political gab fest Meet The Press for 16 years, the lengthiest tenure for any host in the history of the longest running show on television.

Known for his objective, probing intelligence, tempered by keen wit and a bulldog determination, Tim Russert was the most beloved journalist of our age. He was taken far too early from his family, his friends and the fans who loved him, when he was stricken with a heart attack at his desk, in Washington, D.C.

The only consolation for us all at the time of his early passing was the knowledge that he spent his last moments doing what he loved best. Gathering news and manning his post.