In 2024, we've experienced the loss of several luminaries in the world of entertainment. These beloved figures—actors, comedians, musicians, singers, and coaches—have touched our lives with their talent, passion, and dedication. They've left an indelible mark on our hearts and shaped the world of entertainment in ways that will continue to inspire and influence generations to come.
Among the incredible actors who bid farewell this year, we mourn the loss of a true chameleon who effortlessly.
Harold V. Goldstein , best known by his stage name Harold Gould died from prostate cancer he was , 86. Gould was an American actor best known for playing Martin Morgenstern in the 1970s sitcoms Rhoda and The Mary Tyler Moore Show and as Miles Webber on The Golden Girls. Gould acted in film and television for nearly 50 years, appearing in more than 300 television shows, 20 major motion pictures, and over 100 stage plays, and received Emmy Award nominations five times.[2] He is known for playing elegant, well-dressed men, and he regularly played Jewish characters and grandfather-type figures on television and film. (December 10, 1923 – September 11, 2010[1])
Early life
Gould was born to a Jewish family in Schenectady, New York to Louis and Lillian Goldstein. Louis was a postal worker, and Lillian was a homemaker who did part-time work for the state health department. Gould was raised in Colonie, New York and was valedictorian of his high school class. He enrolled at Albany Teachers College upon graduation (now known as University at Albany, SUNY), and studied to become a social studies or English teacher.
After two years in college, Gould enlisted in the army, during World War II, and saw combat in France in a mortar company.[2] He developed trenchfoot, and was sent to England to recover. After convalescence, Gould served in a rail transport unit in France.[3]
After the war, Gould returned to Albany Teachers College to study drama, and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1947.[4] He performed in summer stock theatre on Cape Cod, then decided to enroll at Cornell University to study drama and speech. Gould earned a master of arts degree in 1948 and a Ph.D. in theatre in 1953 from Cornell, and also met his future wife, Lea Vernon.
Career
Upon graduation, Gould accepted a position at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and spent three years there teaching and doing stage work.[3] He made his professional theatre debut in 1955 as Thomas Jefferson in The Common Glory in Williamsburg.[5]
In 1956, Gould was offered a professorship in the drama department at the University of California, Riverside,[4] which he accepted. He taught there until 1960, when he decided to try professional acting himself.[3] He had difficulty finding acting jobs at first, and had to take work as a security guard and as a part-time acting teacher at UCLA.[2]
Gould made his film debut in Two for the Seesaw but was not credited for his work; his first credited role was a small part in The Coach in 1962. He gradually found more work and got roles in The Yellow Canary, a Rod Serling movie with Pat Boone, Jack Klugman, and Barbara Eden; The Satan Bug; Inside Daisy Clover; and Harper, starring Paul Newman.
Gould worked steadily in television in the 1960s and early 1970s, including roles in Dennis the Menace, Dr. Kildare, Hazel, The Twilight Zone, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, The F.B.I., The Big Valley, Cannon and Mission: Impossible. Gould originated the role of Marlo Thomas's father Lou in the 1965 pilot for That Girl, but the series role went to Lew Parker. He appeared in The Long, Hot Summer and He and She, two short-lived television series. Gould also acted in a pilot, later broadcast as a 1972 episode of Love, American Style titled "Love and the Happy Days" as Howard Cunningham, the frustrated father of a young man named Richie Cunningham (played by Ron Howard).[6]
When ABC turned that episode into a series called Happy Days, Gould was tabbed to reprise the Howard Cunningham role. However when production was delayed, he went abroad to perform in a play. Midway through the play's run, after learning Happy Days was ready to begin shooting, he decided to honor his commitment to the stage production and passed on the part, which led to Tom Bosley being cast as the family patriarch. Gould would later state that a requirement to shave his beard was also a factor in his declining the role.[7]
Gould had worked in television and film for almost 15 years before his career really took off with his portrayal of Kid Twist in The Sting. He appeared in the Woody Allen movie Love and Death, as a villain in Silent Movie (directed by Mel Brooks), and made guest appearances on television shows such as Hawaii Five-O, Petrocelli, Soap, and The Love Boat. On "Soap" Gould played the hospital roommate of the character Jody Billy Crystal who has suicidal feelings while deciding whether or not to undergo a sexchange. Gould's character sometimes refers to Jody as a 'fagela', which is yiddish for a Gay man.
In 1972, Gould was cast as Martin Morgenstern, the father of Mary's best friend Rhoda, in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He reprised the role the following year and was hired as a regular when Rhoda was made into a spin-off in 1974. After Rhoda ended, Gould appeared in short-lived series such as the 1977 series The Feather and Father Gang, where he starred as Harry Danton, a smooth-talking ex-con man, with Stefanie Powers as Toni "Feather" Danton, his daughter and a hard-working, successful lawyer. It ran for 13 episodes.
He also appeared in the miniseries Washington: Behind Closed Doors. In the 1980 NBC miniseries Moviola, he portrayed Louis B. Mayer and gained an Emmy nomination. He appeared as Chad Lowe's grandfather in Spencer, and played a Jewish widower wooing the Christian Katharine Hepburn in Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry. Other roles included a married man having an affair with another member of his Yiddish-speaking club in an episode of the PBS series The Sunset Years, and as the owner of a deli grooming two African-American men to inherit his business in Singer & Sons.[5] Gould received Emmy nominations for his roles in Rhoda, Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry and Moviola.
Gould played Miles Webber, the steadfast boyfriend of Rose Nylund (Betty White) on the NBC series The Golden Girls (he also played a different boyfriend of Rose's named Arnie in the show's first season). He portrayed the father of a villain called The Prankster on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and made guest appearances on television series such as Felicity, The King of Queens, Touched by an Angel, and Judging Amy. Gould's film roles in the 1990s and 2000s include appearances in Stuart Little, Patch Adams, Master of Disguise, the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday, Nobody's Perfect, and Whisper of the Heart.
His stage credits include Broadway theatre plays such as Jules Feiffer's Grown Ups, Neil Simon's Fools, Richard Baer's Mixed Emotions, and Tom Stoppard's Artist Descending a Staircase. Gould won an Obie Award in 1969 for his work in The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, written by Václav Havel, and reprised the role for a 1988 PBS version of the play.[2] Gould was an early and longtime (48-years) member of Theatre West, the oldest membership theatre company in Los Angeles.[8] He played Mr. Green in Jeff Baron's Visiting Mr. Green" at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Personal life
Gould lived in Los Angeles with his wife, Lea. He died from prostate cancer on September 11, 2010.[1] He is survived by two sons, Joshua and Lowell, and a daughter, Deborah. After his death he was cremated[9] and his ashes were given to his family.
McCarthy was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of Martha Therese (née Preston) and Roy Winfield McCarthy.[4] McCarthy's father was from a wealthy Irish Catholic family based in Minnesota, and his mother was born in Washington state to a Protestant father and a Jewish mother.[5] He was the brother of the author Mary McCarthy, and a distant cousin of former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. His parents both died in the 1918 flu pandemic and the four children "were sent to live with relatives in Minneapolis. After five years of near-Dickensian mistreatment, described in [Mary] McCarthy’s memoirs, the youngsters moved in with their maternal grandfather."[3] McCarthy graduated from Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in 1932,[6] and attended the University of Minnesota, where he participated in his first play Henry IV, Part 1, and discovered a love of acting.
McCarthy went on to have a long and distinguished career as a character actor. He has had some starring roles sprinkled in his career, most notably the science fiction film classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. On television, he had roles in two short-lived series: The Survivors with Lana Turner; and NBC's Flamingo Road as Claude Weldon, father of the Morgan Fairchild character. In 1956, he appeared with Alexis Smith in the NBC anthology series, The Joseph Cotten Show in the episode "We Who Love Her". McCarthy appeared too in the 1959 episode "The Wall Between" of CBS's anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson. He guest starred in the 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "Long Live Walter Jameson", as the title character.
In 1963, McCarthy appeared in the ABCmedical dramaBreaking Point in the episode entitled "Fire and Ice". In 1966 he appeared in the episode "Wife Killer" of the ABC series The Fugitive. In 1967, he appeared in the episode "Never Chase a Rainbow" of NBC's western series The Road West starring Barry Sullivan. In 1971, he guest starred in the "Conqueror's Gold" episode of Bearcats! which starred Rod Taylor with whom he appeared in the films "A Gathering of Eagles," "Hotel (1967 film)" and "The Hell With Heroes". In 1977, he and Clu Gulager appeared in the episode "The Army Deserter" of another NBC western series, The Oregon Trail, which also starred Rod Taylor. In 1985, McCarthy guest-starred in a fourth Season episode of The A-Team called "Members Only".
McCarthy was one of three actors (along with Dick Miller and Robert Picardo) frequently cast by director Joe Dante.
In 2007 McCarthy appeared as himself in the Anthony Hopkins film Slipstream. The film made several references to his Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
On October 24, 2009, McCarthy was honored at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.[7]
His last appearance in a feature-length movie was as Bishop Ryder in the period drama "Wesley".
Personal life
McCarthy was married to Augusta Dabney, with whom he had three children, from 1941 until their divorce in 1961. In 1970, he married Kate Crane, who survived him. The couple had two children.[3]
From 1942, McCarthy had a long and close friendship with the actor Montgomery Clift. McCarthy and Clift were cast in the same play together, Ramon Naya's Mexican Mural. The two of them, along with McCarthy's wife Augusta Dabney, quickly became the best of friends. They socialized together and acted in several projects together. The two also collaborated on a screenplay for a film adaptation of the Williams/Windham play You Touched Me!, but the project never came to fruition.
McCarthy died of pneumonia on September 11, 2010 at the age of 96.
Mike Shaw was a professional wrestler who was best known for his stint in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as Norman The Lunatic, and as Bastion Booger in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) died from a heart attack. he was , 53. His career is considered to be one where he was handicapped by his characters, who never matched Shaw's abilities in the ring.[1]
(May 9, 1957 – September 11, 2010)
Professional wrestling career
Mike Shaw started wrestling in 1981 in Vancouver's NWA All-Star Wrestling using the ring name Klondike Mike. In 1982, Shaw began wrestling under his real name for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, Alberta. He later changed his ring name to Makhan Singh, forming the stable "Karachi Vice" with Gama and Akam Singh, and feuded with the likes of Owen Hart, Bret Hart, and Chris Benoit.
In 1989 and 1990, he wrestled in World Championship Wrestling as Norman the Lunatic. He was managed by Theodore Long, who led him around with a giant key. This key was symbolic of Long's potential to recommit Norman to the insane asylum he came from if he did not follow orders. Norman eventually broke away from Long, and turned face (being re-named "Norman the Maniac"). He feuded with Kevin Sullivan, and even received title shots against NWA World champion Ric Flair. He later adopted a trucker gimmick ("Trucker Norm"), ostensibly in memory of his late father, a long-haul truck driver.
In 1991, Shaw wrestled in the Global Wrestling Federation under his "Makhan Singh" gimmick, where he joined The Cartel with Cactus Jack, Rip Rogers, and Scott Anthony.
Shaw wrestled in Mexico in the 1990s as Aaron Grundy, the brother of Solomon Grundy, an established wrestler in the promotion.[2]
In April 1993, Shaw briefly wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as Friar Ferguson, a "mad monk". The WWF received negative feedback from the Catholic Church of New York, so they dropped the character.[2][3] Shaw then took the ring name Bastion Booger in June 1993, with the gimmick of an unkempt, slovenly and gluttonous man who wrestled in dingy singlets tailored to give him the appearance of a hunchback. Shaw's debut as Bastion Booger saw him lose to Virgil on the July 19, 1993 edition of Superstars,[4] though he did win a rematch the following week. Booger achieved only marginal success, primarily serving as a jobber to the stars. Booger's biggest victory in the WWF was a clean pinfall over Owen Hart on All-American Wrestling just prior to Hart's main event push.
He feuded with Bam Bam Bigelow after "falling in love" with Bigelow's valet, Luna Vachon. While teaming with Bigelow on the January 3, 1994 episode of Monday Night Raw, Booger kissed Vachon, causing Bigelow to get angry.[5] Booger and Bigelow faced each other the following week, and Bigelow won the match after Vachon distracted Booger by blowing him kisses.[6] Mike Shaw was released by the WWF in early 1994.
On December 10, 2007 during the WWE Raw 15th anniversary special, he returned as Bastion Booger in the opening segment, in which it was jokingly suggested, by Triple H, that Big Dick Johnson (a character in WWE who also used his unsightly physical appearance for comic effect) is Booger's son.[7]
Shaw died of a heart attack on September 11, 2010 at age 53. He is survived by his wife Kelly and their two children, son Joshua and daughter Amanda.[9]
