'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
'Grey's' Isn't Going Anywhere
Goodbye to two great ladies of the small (and big) screen
by Bob Sassone, posted Dec 8th 2008 8:06AM
Sometimes a celebrity dies who wasn't just a TV star, they actually had a hand in almost every aspect of television over a very long period of time. We lost two such stars over the weekend.For example, fans of NCIS will know Nina Foch (right) from her role as Ducky's mother on the show. But did you know she also starred in several vintage horror movies back as early as the early 40s, such as Return of the Vampire and Cry of the Werewolf? She also had the honor of being the very first murder victim on Columbo, in 1968's Prescription: Murder (done in by hubby Gene Barry). She also appeared in several other TV shows, such as Bull, Just Shoot Me, Dharma & Greg, Murder She Wrote, L.A. Law, Hunter, Lou Grant, Barnaby Jones, Hawaii Five-0, That Girl, and a ton of others. She appeared in Spartacus, The Ten Commandments, An American in Paris and others. She was even the associate director on The Diary of Anne Frank.
Foch passed away in Los Angeles on Friday at age 84.
She wasn't the only veteran actress to pass away in Los Angeles on Friday. Beverly Garland was 82. She's probably best known to TV audiences as the wife of Fred MacMurray on My Three Sons, but she also had a very long career in the business. She appeared in such early 50s TV shows as Mama Rosa and The Lone Ranger, as well as Lux Video Theatre, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Climax!, Goodyear Theater, The Twilight Zone, Dr. Kildare, Rawhide, Diagnosis: Murder, Friends, Ellen, Remington Steele, Magnum, P.I., Hart to Hart, and dozens more. She was a regular on 7th Heaven (she played Ginger), Lois & Clark (she played Ellen Lane), and Port Charles. She also appeared in several old sci-fi films you've probably come across late at night while channel surfing, including It Conquered The World and Not of This Earth.
See what I mean about these two women not only starring in a lot of shows, but also forming a history of television within themselves? There aren't many people who can say they appeared in the original 1950 version of D.O.A., and then over 50 years later appeared in 7th Heaven like Garland did. How many stars have appeared in a 1943 western and then appeared on The Closer 64 years later like Nina Foch did? Pretty amazing.It's really sad when these veteran, classic stars pass away. Like I've said before, a big part of pop culture is going along with them.
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