“Forgotten Hollywood”- Television Staples Have Died…
Manny P. here…
The passing parade was busy this week, and we lost familiar faces after successful careers on the small screen. Here are the details:
Joe Santos played Lieutenant Dennis Becker on The Rockford Files. The pal of private eye Jim Rockford (James Garner), which aired from 1974 to 1980, and scored him an Emmy nod.
His career spanned more than four decades, from a guest shot on The Naked City through a recurring part on The Sopranos. The New York-born actor also had guest roles on Kung Fu, Magnum, P.I., Miami Vice, MacGyver, and Hardcastle & McCormick. His cinematic career included The Blue Knight, Blue Thunder, Panic in Needle Park, The Last Boyscout, and The Postman. One of his closest pals was Al Pacino.
Joe Santos (right) was 84.
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Larry Drake was best known as Benny in the top prime time series, L.A. Law. He earned two consecutive Emmys for the role.
He also guest-starred in Hardcastle & McCormick, Hunter, Fantasy Island, Tales From the Crypt, Star Trek: Voyager, Six Feet Under, 7th Heaven, Boston Legal, and 34 episodes of Johnny Bravo. He appeared on the big screen, with parts in Bean, The Karate Kid, The Ladies Club, Darkman, and Dr. Giggles.
Larry David (left) was 67.
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Frank Sinatra Jr. (right) carried on his famous dad’s legacy with his own music career, and whose kidnapping as a young man added a bizarre chapter to his family’s legacy. He followed his father into music as a teenager, eventually working for the senior Sinatra as his musical director and conductor. His career was influenced by advice given by Duke Ellington and Sammy Davis Jr. His sisters are Nancy and Tina Sinatra.
Frank Jr. guest-starred in Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Adam-12, The Dean Martin Show, The Patty Duke Show, Marcus Welby M.D., The Love Boat, The Sopranos, and most recently, Family Guy.
At the time of the kidnapping, Frank Sr. was filming Robin and the 7 Hoods. The stress of the incident, in addition to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy just a few weeks previous, caused him to seriously consider shutting down production completely, though the film was ultimately completed. The plot may have inspired a teleplay of a Hawaii 5-0 episode.
Frank Sinatra Jr. was 72.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Sunday, March 20th, 2016 at 10:17 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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