The 1950s were, quite simply, the Golden Age of Television. Everything from the biggest rock stars in the world to the top acting and writing talent in Hollywood were represented on the tube, alongside Shakespearean dramas, Broadway shows and operas.

TV schedules in the '50s were also packed with family comedies ('Leave It to Beaver' and 'The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet'), Westerns ('Gunsmoke' and 'The Lone Ranger'), some of the all-time greatest comedians (Groucho on 'You Bet Your Life,' Gleason on 'The Jackie Gleason Show') and, despite the more traditional times, some of the most independent ladies in TV land ('Our Miss Brooks' and, of course, 'I Love Lucy'). In short, though TV was still in its early days in the 1950s, there was plenty to watch, and love, in prime time. -- By Kimberly Potts

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Michael Pate: He was a veteran Australian actor who appeared in many TV shows over the years, including Batman, The Rifleman, The Time Tunnel, The Rat Patrol, Matlock Police, Hondo, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Disneyland, The Wild Wild West, Daktari, Get Smart, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Zorro, Wagon Train, Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Lassie, and a ton of westerns. He was also the first person to play the Felix Leiter character, in the 50s TV version of Casino Royale. He appeared in several movies, including Houdini, Major Dundee, The Silver Chalice, Howling III, Return of the Gunfighter, PT109, McClintock!, and Sergeants 3. He died of complications from pneumonia at age 88.
  

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Lois Maxwell: She is probably best known for playing Miss Moneypenny in all the James Bond movies up until Roger Moore's last (A View To A Kill), but she also appeared in several TV shows, including The Avengers, UFO, The Saint, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (80s version), Zero One, Danger Man, One Step Beyond, and Adventures in Rainbow Country. She died of cancer at age 80 in Australia.

I've been looking for a copy of this Playhouse 90 episode for years. VHS, DVD, some guy doing a puppet show version of it in his living room, whatever, I've really wanted to see it since seeing snippets of it on the excellent PBS American Masters episode "Submitted For Your Approval" (it's on one of the Twilight Zone DVDs). And now, thanks to YouTube, we can all watch it.

Well, most of it anyway. After the jump, I posted the opening of the show (complete with intros and commercials!), and then if you follow this link you can find other segments of the show (on the right), but I have no idea what order they go in because they aren't labeled. It's well worth watching though. I mean, look at the cast: Art Carney, Jack Klugman, Leslie Nielsen, Burt Reynolds, and the kid is Mickey Dolenz from The Monkees! They don't do TV like this anymore.

After all these years, I still don't know how to pronounced his name. Is it "Tigh?" "Tig?" "Teeg?"

Andrews is probably best known for his work on The Mod Squad. He played Captain Adam Greer, the police captain in charge of Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams III and Michael Cole (the original show, not the movie with Claire Danes). Andrews also had recurring roles on Gomer Pyle and CHiPs, and guest starred on several other shows: Murder, She Wrote, Vegas, Quincy, M.E., Hawaiian Heat, Police Story, Marcus Welby, M.D., Police Woman, Playhouse 90, Inner Sanctum, The Dick Powell Show, The Phil Silvers Show, The Big Valley, The F.B.I., The Fugitive, and many others.

Andrews died of a heart attack in California on January 27.