All in the Family

Did you hear? Tony Curtis, the famous actor, died the other week. He was 85. His name earned a top but fleeting trend word on Google. “Tony who?” was the likely response from people born after 1970. Such is the way of things. With apologies to Gen. Douglas MacArthur: Old celebrities never die, they just fade away.

For those of us of a certain age – call us the Gilligan's Island Generation – the passing of so many of the old stars have been sobering. It reminds us that our own inky shadows are lengthening with time’s relentless march. We’re not yet “old.” But there is no denying that, as the Bard would say, we are “too far in years to be a pupil now.” From Rhett Butler to Captain Kirk, the archetype roles our stars played helped to define us. We know our extended cinematic family is fictional. But our brains barely register the distinction. Yesteryear's stars have been comfort food for the psyche. And then suddenly, before we can bid them a proper adieu, they’re gone.

Since 2000, the grim reaper’s list grew exponentially: Alec Guinness, Jason Robards, Walter Matthau, Dennis Hopper, Farrah Fawcett, Karl Malden, Patrick Swayze, Ricardo Montalban, Charlton Heston, George Carlin, Paul Newman, Richard Widmark, Don Knotts, Dennis Weaver, Glenn Ford, Eddie Albert, Richard Pryor, Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Rodney Dangerfield, Charles Bronson, Bob Hope, Katharine Hepburn, James Coburn, Rod Steiger, Jack Lemmon – and “Archie Bunker” himself, Carroll O`Connor. Then there are the character actors we associate by role: Patrick McGoohan (“Secret Agent”), Robert Culp (“I Spy”), Roy Scheider ("Jaws"), Ray Walston ("My Favorite Martian"), Buddy Ebsen ("Beverly Hillbillies"), Bob Keeshan (“Captain Kangaroo”), James Doohan ("Star Trek's” Scotty) and Pat Morita ("Karate Kid"), to name a few.

They were all old friends. They are relics of an America that exists only in memory now, like yellowing snapshots in a worn family album. Perched on today’s uncharted isle, a part of us, like the passengers of the SS Minnow, long to return home.

But in the comforting recesses of my mind, at least, I am still with Gilligan;

The Skipper too,
The millionaire and his wife,
The movie star,
And The Rest,
Here on Gilligan’s Isle.

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Bonus trivia: “All in the Family” was the first TV series that allowed viewers to hear a toilet flushing. Image that. More: http://www.crazyabouttv.com/ 

And the fate of the cast of Gilligan's Island?

Bob Denver (Gilligan): Died in 2005 at 70
Alan Hale, Jr. (the "Skipper"): Died in 1990 at 69
Natalie Schafer (Eunice "Lovey" Howell): Died in 1991 at 91
Jim Backus (Thurston Howell, III): Died in 1989 at 76
Tina Louise, 76 (Ginger Grant), Russell David Johnson, 85 (The Professor) and Dawn Elberta Wells, 72 ("Mary Ann"' Summers) are all alive as of this writing.

And, you ask, whom did I prefer: Ginger or Mary Ann? A no-brainer: Mary Ann!