Actor Barnard Hughes Dies at 90

I remember Hughes in many wonderful roles and several television series, including Doc, where he played an irascible GP, and even the unbelieveably silly Mr. Merlin, where he was Merlin the magician, a.k.a. Max Merlin the garage owner who was trying to pass his baton on to mage-talented but feckless Zack, played by Clark Brandon.

But I think my favorite Hughes role was his portrayal of Walter Rhenquist, the cantankerous coot who allows Addie Mills to ride his horse and finally unbends his heart to her in The Thanksgiving Treasure.

Actress and Spokeswoman June Allyson Dies

My gosh, she was only six months younger than my mom. I always liked June Allyson. She thought she was funny-looking, and maybe against Hollywood standards of beauty, she was. But I always loved her. In the movies I saw her in she was a "regular girl," spunky and strong. She is about the only thing good about the 1949 version of Little Women, which was terribly miscast in several roles (Elizabeth Taylor as an Amy older than Beth was pretty bad). She plays the stalwart service wife in several movies, including James' favorite, Strategic Air Command, and makes this relatively dull role memorable.

Half the comments today I have found on the web about Allyson twitted her for the Depends commercials; some were extremely rude. It's always easy to make fun of people's infirmities when you aren't the one going through them. Let's see them horselaugh in the future, when they're old and incontinent and need some protection themselves.

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:33:00 AM

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