2007: Goodbye to Hollywood's kudos winnahs & losers
Joey Bishop died in October at age 89 of multiple organ failure after an impressive career that included no nominations for Emmys, Grammys, Oscars or Golden Globes. Perhaps he should've tried faking a smile once and a while — prove to us that he could act.
Just months after Ronald Reagan dumped Jane Wyman after 8 years of marriage, she got a date with Oscar, winning best actress of 1948 for portraying a deaf-mute rape victim in "Johnny Belinda." She died in September at age 90 of complications from diabetes and arthritis.
Yvonne De Carlo revealed the true ugly side of Hollywood. When the poor thing died at age 84 in January, she had never been nommed for any award as ghoulishly gorgeous Lily on "The Munsters" TV show (1964-66).
Charles Nelson Reilly won a Tony Award as Broadway's best supporting actor in a musical in 1962 ("How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying") and was nominated twice more (best supporting actor, "Hello, Dolly!" 1964; best director of a play, "The Gin Game," 1997). Lost three Emmy noms, including best supporting actor in a comedy series in "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (got beat by Michael Constantine of "Room 222"). Too bad he never won any awards for his hilarious turns on "The Match Game" and "Hollywood Squares." He died in May at age 75 of complications from pneumonia.
Tom Snyder lit up late night TV in the 1970s with more than just his cigarettes and roaring laugh. Conversational sparks really flew between him and his guests on his "Tomorrow Show." In 1974 he tied Dick Cavett for an Emmy, beating Bette Davis and Paul Lynde. He died in July at age 71 of lymphocytic leukemia.
I felt so sorry when I heard the news that Merv Griffin died of prostate cancer at age 77 in August. His TV show was watched every day in our house in Mentor, Ohio, when I grew up — we considered him to be part of our family. And I regretted his death for another selfish reason when I heard the news. I never, never, never should've opened my big mouth when I ran into Merv backstage at the Daytime Emmys in the late 1990s. Being the nerdy awards scorekeeper that I am, I couldn't wait to tell him, "Did you know that your talk show once held the record for winning the most Emmys? Six wins!"
"It did?" Merv beamed. "But why do you say 'did'? It doesn't hold the record anymore?"
"Oh, no!" I said. "Phil Donahue's show eventually tied it, then Oprah's and Rosie O'Donnell's show surpassed it, but you held the record for a while."
"I didn't know that," he said, looking glum. "You're telling me that I lost something very important that I never knew I had. Now I'm a loser. Why did you tell me this? It's very upsetting."
"I don't know . . ." I said. He ran away from me as fast as he could.
A few years later I hoped to run into him again to tell him the good news that the game show he created, "Jeopardy," now holds the Emmy record for most wins in that category, but I never saw him again. Sorry, Merv!
Hi Tom,
When are you guys going to update the buzzmeter? Love tis blog.
Posted by: Gilda | January 01, 2008 at 03:02 AM