The Recently Departed

A remarkable number of interesting people have died in the last week. While I don't feel like writing a whole post on any of them, I am going to list them with brief comments.

Jack Palance--I love Palance, not for any the roles mentioned in his obituary and certainly not for City Slickers. I love him for the weird roles he took in the 60s and 70s when his career in the US was on the slide. In particular, I cannot recommend Companeros strongly enough. This spaghetti western directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Franco Nero and Tomas Milan, cast Palance as a marijuana-crazed sadist. Yes, that's right. A marijuana-crazed sadist. It's classic in so many ways.

Ed Bradley--Andy Rooney is going to outlive everyone. He's just too mean to die. Bradley--not mean enough.

Markus Wolf--Rob has the coverage here. Rob's right--he certainly had the best name for a spy in history.

Johnny Sain--Honestly, I had no idea he was still alive. Great pitcher. Too bad he had to pitch for the Yankees for awhile.

Marijohn Wilkin--The Nashville songwriter who penned "The Long Black Veil" among other hits. A wonderful song. I argue the best version is by The Band. Others say differently. They are wrong. She also discovered Kris Kristofferson. That alone is a reason for her to go to heaven.