Tribute 2011

Tribute 2011

*Harry Morgan* *Jackie Cooper* Ðon Dương Charles Napier Cliff Robertson Anne Francis Peter Falk "Bubba" Smith James Arness Jeff Conaway Susanna York Kenneth Mars		Harry Morgan 1915-2011 Best known in the role of the tough-talking, commanding, fun-loving, serious Army Officer, Col. Sherman T. Potter in the TV series *“MASH” Harry’s career spans over 100 films and stage, some of the movies he as appeared in are cinematic classics “Ox-Bow Incident,” “State Fair,” “All My Sons,” “High Noon,” “The Glenn Miller Story,” “Strategic Air Command,” and the classic James Garner comedies “Support Your Local Sheriff” and “Support Your Local Gunfighter”. Most of his known work has been on TV including “MASH”* and as Spring Byington's jokingly henpecked neighbor, Pete Porter on "December Bride" One of his best roles was as Off. Bill Gannon in the TV drama with Jack Webb in “Dragnet.” .” He later reprised this role as a voice-over on “The Simpsons” cartoon series 20 years later. His friendship with Jack Webb also led to roles in “The D.A.” and “Hec Ramsey.” One of his hidden jewel roles in film was the Sheriff in John Wayne’s swan song “The Shootist"		Jackie Cooper 1922-2011 Best known for his role as the Editor in Chief Perry White in the 1978-1984 *“Superman”* film series. He began his film and TV career while still in the Navy, after serving during the latter years of WWII. He received a commission from the Navy, and he played a Navy doctor Lt. Hennessey in the series “*Hennessey”. He went on to appear in episodes in “The Twilight Zone,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “The F.B.I.,” “Colombo,” “Kojak,” “Mobile 1,” “Police Story,” “The Rockford Files,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Murder, She Wrote,” and “Capital News.” During this time, he was still serving in the Naval Reserve in the rank of Captain and served aboard the carrier U.S.S. Constellation* during Bicentennial celebration on July 4, 1976.
*Ðon Dương* *Charles Napier* Harry Morgan Jackie Cooper Cliff Robertson Anne Francis Peter Falk "Bubba" Smith James Arness Jeff Conaway Susanna York Kenneth Mars		Ðon Dương 1957-2011 The controversial Việt actor whose career was ended by the Vietnamese government for his playing roles in the films “Green Dragon” and a tour-de-force as North Viet Army Lt. Col. Nguyễn Hưu An in “We Were Soldiers.” He was introduced to American audiences as the cyclo driver Hai in “Three Seasons.” After his ban on acting began, he went to live in the United States in 2003 with his nephews, producers Timothy and Tony Bui and later his sister, Susie Bui, assisting her with her San José restaurant, Nhà Tôi. It was here that the QVTC webmaster was introduced to him in 2007.		Charles Napier 1936-2011 This square-jawed character actor was one of those faces people would remember, but not the name. He has played many characters for many years, including the memorably hilarious anti-smoking commercial as a drillmaster helping an unfortunate shlep stop smoking. He has been in many memorable films, including Rambo First Blood II, The Blues Brothers, both Austin Powers films, The Silence of the Lambs, and The Manchurian Candidate (2004). He has also played many great TV roles as well, including two memorable roles in the *Star Trek* franchise, one as a space hippie in the original series episode *“The Way to Eden,”* and in the Deep Space Nine series as General Denning in *“Little Green Men”* episode that riffed off the Roswell, N.M. UFO story. He also played the noted general Walter Bedell Smith in the hallmark TV miniseries “War and Remembrance” He has also voiced-over many animated series as well, including *Squidbillies, The Batman, The Simpsons, Justice League, The Mummy, God, the Devil and Bob, as Zed in Men in Black, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command,* and *Superman.* And he also voiced-over some video games.
*Cliff Robertson* *Anne Francis* Harry Morgan Jackie Cooper Ðon Dương Charles Napier Peter Falk "Bubba" Smith James Arness Jeff Conaway Susanna York Kenneth Mars		Cliff Robertson 1923-2011 One of most successful leading men in film and TV without having to be a star. His major break was President John F. Kennedy’s personal choice for the lead role as the younger Kennedy in *“PT-109.”* Following was as the ruthless presidential candidate in *“The Best Man.”* The role that garnered him an Oscar was that of a developmentally-disabled man in “Charly.” He went on to other notable roles such as Cole Younger in *“The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid,”* Commander Carl Jessup in “Midway,” Hugh Hefner in “Star 80,” and his final role as Peter Parker’s uncle Ben Parker in the Marvel *“Spider-Man”* film series.		Anne Francis 1930-2011 One of the legendary screen sirens who was best known as Altaira Morbius in the science fiction classic *“Forbidden Planet”* alongside of Leslie Nielsen. In 1965 she starred as an action detective in the short-lived *“Honey West.” Subsequently, she had appeared in almost every landmark television series produced, including “The Fugitive,” “The Invaders,” “Hawaii Five-O,”* *“Mission Impossible,” “Love American Style,” “Gunsmoke,* with James Arness, *“Colombo”* with Peter Falk, “Cannon,” ”F.B.I,” “Kung Fu,” “Barnaby Jones,” “S.W.A.T,” “Black Sheep Squadron,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Dallas,” “Fantasy Island,” “Love Boat,” “ChiPs” “Trapper John, M.D.” “Golden Girls,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “Home Improvement,” and “Nash Bridges,” and many others, including a tour-de-force as Zipporah, Moses’ wife, in *“Great Heroes of the Bible.”* her final appearance was in the series *“Without a Trace”* in 2004,
*Peter Falk* *"Bubba" Smith* Harry Morgan Jackie Cooper Ðon Dương Charles Napier Cliff Robertson Anne Francis James Arness Jeff Conaway Susanna York Kenneth Mars		Peter Falk 1927–2011 This Sanford Meisner protegé is best known as the TV Police detective Frank Columbo in the TV series *“Columbo”* He also, however, has had some real gems in his resumé, One small gem of a role was as Professor Fate’s henchman “Maxmillian Meen” in the comedy farce *“The Great Race.”. During the 1970’s, Peter enjoyed a fair streak of films, two of them Neil Simon parodies of classic film genres. The first was as Detective Sam Diamond in “Murder by Death.”* The second was the hidden gem of his career. Lou Peckinpaugh in *“The Cheap Detective.”* This role was a take-off on the Humphrey Bogart characters Sam Spade and Rick Blaine. His swan song was as Fr. Randolph in *“American Cowslip”* In 2009.		Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith 1945-2011 Standing a full two meters tall (“6’7”) This former NFL defensive-back is best known for his role as the appropriately named Moses Hightower in the “Police Academy” movie and television series. He also had roles in “MacGyver,” “Family Matters,” “Married With Children”” “Blue Thunder,” “Hart to Hart,” “Taxi,” “Vegas,” “The White Shadow,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Good Times”. His final role was in yet to be released "DaZe: Vol. Too (sic) - NonSeNse"
*James Arness* *Jeff Conaway* Harry Morgan Jackie Cooper Ðon Dương Charles Napier Cliff Robertson Anne Francis Peter Falk "Bubba" Smith Susanna York Kenneth Mars		James Arness 1923-2011 American leading man famed as the star of one of the longest-running shows in U.S. television history, *"Gunsmoke"* Although he appeared in school plays, he had no interest in performing. During WWII, he joined the 3rd Infantry Division in time for the invasion of Anzio, where was severely wounded in the leg and foot by German machine-gun fire. He studied at the Bliss-Hayden Theatre School under actor Harry Hayden, which subsequently garnered him a role as Loretta Young's brother in *“The Farmer's Daughter”* He appeared in a production of *"Candida"* at the Pasadena Community Playhouse He ended up marrying the leading lady, Virginia Chapman, who pressed him to study acting and to work harder in pursuit of a career. He began to frequently get small roles, and often because of his size, were villainous characters. The most memorable, the space alien in *The Thing from Another World. While playing a Greek warrior on stage, he met Charles K. Feldman, who represented John Wayne. Feldman introduced Arness to Wayne, who put the self-described 6' 6" actor under personal contract. He played several roles for and with Wayne, whom he considered a mentor. Wayne recommended him for the role for which he became famous, Matt Dillon on the TV series "Gunsmoke".* (Contrary to urban legend, Wayne himself was never offered the role.) His portrayal of the stalwart marshal Dillon became an iconic figure in American television and the series still records the longest run in prime-time history, twenty years. Another regular in “Gunsmoke” included Dennis Weaver. His younger brother, Peter, was known to TV and film viewers as Peter Graves.		Jeff Conaway 1950-2011 Best known for his roles of the actor character Bobby Wheeler in “Taxi” and Security Chief Zack Allen in “Babylon 5.” His most notable *“Taxi”* episode being where Wheeler artfully impersonates dispatcher Louie De Palma at a High School reunion party. His first notable appearance was in *“Happy Days”* as Rocko. His most recent project was narrating a series on Dante’s Inferno.
*Susanna York* Kenneth Mars Harry Morgan Jackie Cooper Charles Napier Cliff Robertson Anne Francis Peter Falk "Bubba" Smith Peter Falk James Arness Jeff Conaway		Susanna York 1939–2011 The pert blue-eyed British lady of note whose charm and grace plus moxie got her some notable roles in “Tom Jones”, “A Man For All Seasons,” “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”, and some may know her as Lara, Kal-el’s (Superman) birth mother in “Superman” and “Superman II.” Her most recent works, however, were mostly for the British stage which includes “Independent State", "Picasso's Women", "The Human Voice", "The Loves of Shakespeare's Women", the title role of "Peter Pan”, as Gertrude in "Hamlet", "Camino Real", "The Merry Wives of Windsor", *"A Streetcar Named Desire", "Private Lives”, "Agnes of God",* and the title role in "Amy's View."		Kenneth Mars 1936–2011 Best known for his roles in the great Mel Brooks comedies, "The Producers" and "Young Frankenstein." and the side-splitting comedy classic "What's Up Doc?" He also appeared as the marshal in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" Kenneth has voiced over several cartoons including the Disney classic "The Little Mermaid" as King Triton, a role which he voiced over in the video sequel, the TV series, and the video game series "Kingdom Hearts." He has appeared in many long-running landmark series, such as "LA Law," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Nash Bridges," "Will and Grace," the second series of *"The Twilight Zone," "Diagnosis Murder," "Remington Steele," "Murder, She Wrote,"* and "Magnum P.I."

uo Vadis Theatre Company

Powered by