This week is the birthday of the TV and film actress best known (to me, anyway) as one of the cast of the classic TV show Mission:Impossible. Lynda Day George was born on December 11, 1944. She was another of my first crushes as a kid; I was attracted to her beauty and charm, and what I guess now I would call "class." I was not really old enough to "remember" the original Mission:Impossible, but it was one of the shows my dad liked to watch on Saturday nights, and I remember that not only was she beautiful but she was a great spy, which was cool.
I picked up this issue of TV Guide from an antique mall a few years ago. I kept meaning to post the article about her, but then forgot about it. In celebration of Ms. George's birthday, I present the article from January 22, 1972 in its entirety.
Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958. If he was still alive, he would turn 58 years old today.
Of course, he died in 2009, a victim of either incompetent doctors or his own hypochondria or some mixture of both. I am not a student of his life by any means; all I know is that he left behind three children and an amazing body of work.
To romanticize his life, it's almost as if it was fated that he would "die young," as, really, he "lived young." He signed with Motown when he was ten years old. By the time he was 12 he had four Number One hits. By the time he was 24, he had the largest selling album of all time.
To help celebrate the birthday of Mrs. Emma Peel, I thought I would scan cards in the Strictly Ink Avengers Series One collectible card set that feature Diana Rigg. I figured many people hadn't seen these before....
Believe it or not, today marks Burt Ward's 71st birthday!
When I was a kid, Robin the Boy Wonder and Batgirl were my two favorite TV super-heroes (sorry, Batman!). I've loved them ever since I first saw Burt Ward and the late, great Yvonne Craig bring them to life.
The great character actor was born on November 6, 1914. He would have been 101 years old today. On the occasion of his birth, I'd like to tell you a nice little story about him.
Today is the birthday of actor-writer Richard Sanders. Sanders was a classically trained Shakespearean actor from Pennsylvania when he got the quirky role of Les Nessman, news director on WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-1982). While enjoying that role, Sanders also wrote five episodes of the series, all of them centering on his character.
Gene Roddenberry was born on August 18, 1921. He served in the Army Air Forces during World War II, then returned to California and worked as a police officer before he broke into screenwriting and then producing.
Can you name the US Representative from Tennessee who battled against President Andrew Jackson, then lost a re-election bid so moved to the Mexican state of Tejas to help fight for its freedom? Of course you can!
Today August 9 is actor Sam Elliott's birthday. He is 71 years old.
Sam appeared in a very small role in the classic film, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid in 1969. This movie stars Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Katherine Ross. Nearly ten years after this, he actually met Katherine Ross, and they fell in love and got married in 1984.
Tony Bennett is 89 years old today.
He is a veteran of World War II, a dedicated pacifist, and the oldest living artist to get a hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (his duet with Amy Winehouse, "Body & Soul," reached #87 when he was 85 years old).
Mr. Bennett has won 18 Grammy Awards, including Best Male Vocal Performance, Album of the Year, and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
And he's a hell of a singer.
I didn't like Tony Bennett when I first heard him. His older recordings, which my parents had, were mostly lush orchestrations such as "Because of You" (1951). I basically thought of him as another Perry Como....and this is not a compliment.
Guy Williams was born Armand Joseph Catalano on January 14, 1924. He grew up in the Bronx, but instead of wanting to be an insurance broker like his father, he dreamt of being an actor.
After WWII he made his first trip to Hollywood. In 1946 he signed with MGM and changed his name to "Guy Williams." He worked mostly in commercials. When he signed another contract a few years later with Universal-International, he began appearing in supporting roles in several films, most famously as a police officer in I Was A Teen-Aged Werewolf (1957) with Michael Landon.
1957 was also the year Guy answered an open audition for Walt Disney Productions. They were producing a new television series, ZORRO, based on the swashbuckler who had appeared in two motion pictures starring Douglas Fairbanks and Tyrone Power. Guy got the part, not only because of his tall, dark, and handsome looks but also because he had fencing experience. Do you know or remember ZORRO? He's the guy dressed all in black who roams the border between California and Mexico fighting injustice, cutting his initial "Z" into various places around the villages he protects. You may have seen the more recent Antonio Banderas films.
I have to say I have never seen any of the Guy Williams' ZORRO episodes or specials. Because they are owned by Disney, they were never really sold to syndication when I was growing up. They aren't at my local library, and I'm not going to pay $100 to get a complete season. They do LOOK fun, though.
After the series ended in 1961 Guy made a few films in Europe. Then in 1964 he thought he had gotten another big break, as he signed to co-star on one of the most popular television series of the time, BONANZA. Co-star Pernell Roberts had made his intention to leave clear, so the producers signed Guy to be the new "fourth lead." (The other leads were main star Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, and Guy's former co-star, Michael Landon.) After Guy had appeared a few times, however, Roberts decided to stay on, forcing the producers to let Guy go.
At the time that probably bothered him greatly. However, because he was not tied to BONANZA Guy was able to film a pilot for producer/director Irwin Allen. This series became LOST IN SPACE, which ran from 1965-1968. Guy played the patriarch, Professor John Robinson, co-starring with June Lockhart as his wife, Dr. Maureen Robinson.
LOST IN SPACE is a silly series, but not because of the acting, which is top-notch across the board. Guy did the best he could with episodes about Space Hippies and Space Hill-billies. Even when he is giving water to an evil space carrot, you believe *he* believes in what he is doing.
After LOST IN SPACE ended Guy Williams retired from show business. During a visit to Argentina in 1973, Guy felt a strong attraction to the people and the culture. He moved there soon after, although he did make two final LOST IN SPACE inspired appearances in the US in 1983. One was on a celebrity episode of FAMILY FEUD and one was on an episode of GOOD MORNING AMERICA.
Guy Williams died the last week of April in 1989 of a brain aneurism. He was only 65 years old.
Happy Birthday, Guy Williams!
from the opening credits of BONANZA
in the first season costume for LOST IN SPACE (with June Lockhart)
in the second season costume
in a third season PR shot, with June Lockhart and Jonathan Harris
from their FAMILY FEUD appearance in 1983: Bob May (the Robot), Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright, Guy, and June
Here's a preview to one of the best John Robinson-centric episodes of LOST IN SPACE,
You probably know Jane Badler as Diana on the mid-80s TV show "V" if you know her at all. I, however, am an eternal fan because she was "Shannon Reed" on the 1989-1991 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE series.
When the new M:I series premiered in the fall of 1988, actress Terry Markwell played Casey, the lone woman of the team. Her back-story was that she had helped out the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) when her fiance had been killed. She appeared in the first eleven episodes. In the 11th, "The Fortune," Casey is murdered by guest-star Barbara Luna. Shannon Reed is then asked to fill-in temporarily; by the end of that particular mission she is made a permanent replacement.
In real-life, Markwell wanted off the series, so the producers made the historical decision to actually have a spy killed and disavowed, then hired Badler.
The original 1988 cast with Terry Markwell
I don't know if it was timing or because Markwell was unhappy, but the remaining episodes with Jane Badler seemed much more fun and exciting than the first ten. Perhaps the producers realized that they had to write a stronger female role, and did so? Maybe Markwell, who retired from acting soon after leaving M:I, was not a strong enough actress for the role? All I know is, Jane Badler did a heck of a job in the role after Terry Markwell left.
One of the best episodes from the second season has Shannon posing as a NASA scientist to try to ferret out a turn-coat on the space shuttle campus. Then, when she is preparing for a test flight, the spy actually causes the shuttle to lift off, with her on it! The trailer for the episode makes it look incredibly stupid (ala Spies In Space), but the story itself makes plenty of sense. Years before Sandra Bullock did it in GRAVITY, Jane Badler was convincing as a woman out in space trying hard not to lose her head. She owned that episode.
After V and M:I, Badler worked mostly in Australia as an actress and as a singer (she has recorded two albums, and sang in atleast two M:I episodes). She was recently a guest-star on the updated V series, but I unfortunately didn't get a chance to watch that.
