Category: Celebs

RIP Evel Knievel

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Robert Craig Knievel aka Evel Knievel died today. He was 69 years old. Many of you younger ZONE readers may not remember Evel, but my guess is you know something about this outrageous daredevil whose biggest claims to fame came from unsuccessful jumps.

In 1965, Knievel led a group that he named Evel Knievel’s Motorcycle Daredevils. They would travel from town to town performing typical motorcycle stunts of the era: riding wheelies, driving through fire walls and jumping things. Knievel had a knack for self-promotion and a talent for jumping his motorcycle over things. In 1966 he began touring alone and his jumps continued to become bigger.

On New Year’s Day in 1968 he failed in his attempt to jump the fountains at Caesar’s Palace. Although the jump nearly killed him, it also launched him in to popular culture history. In the years to follow there would be more jumps, astronomical paychecks, tv and movie appearances, Evel Knievel toys and collector cards and an ever growing legend. Most kids my age went through a period when they considered Evel Knievel to be “the man.” He was outrageous, traveled where he wanted, had tons of money and beautiful women and risked his life doing what he wanted.

In 1974, Knievel was paid $6 million dollars by ABC for the rights to televise his attempt to jump the Snake River canyon in a rocket-motorcycle. I remember watching the show live and my total disappointment when the chute malfunctioned almost immediately. Although Knievel continued to make big jumps and big money, I had lost interest. Knievel retired from big jumps in 1976, but continued touring into the 1980’s. He had been in failing health in recent years.

In 2006, Evel was quoted as saying, “No king or prince has lived a better life.” Evel lived his life doing things his way and for a several years he was as popular as any rock star. It’s hard to imagine that a guy who jumped his motorcycle over things could have had such an impact on popular culture, but Evel Knievel did.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, and fans.

RIP Dick Wilson aka Mr. Whipple

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Dick Wilson the actor who played tv icon Mr. Whipple in over 500 commercials spanning 21 years died today. Mr. Wilson was 91. If you grew up in the 60’s, the 70’s or 80’s you knew Mr. Whipple and not to squeeze the Charmin [at least when he was around].

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Wilson’s family, friends and fans.

Bonaduce’s Lucky / Fairplay’s Lucky

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Great news for Danny Bonaduce; he won’t be charged for dropping reality tv personality Johnny Fairplay on his face during a telecast of an awards show.

Fairplay, 33, whose real name is Jon Dalton, had filed a police report saying that Bonaduce came onto the stage uninvited, made a derogatory comment and then committed the battery on him when Fairplay attempted to “hug” Bonaduce with one of Fairplay’s “signature moves”.

Anyone who saw the video knows that while Bonaduce did go on stage and make a comment, he was walking off stage when Fairplay called out to him. The video also shows that Fairplay’s “signature” move/hug involved him jumping uninvited into Bonaduce’s arms, straddling his legs around Bonaduce’s body and then humping him at the chest/face level. Fairplay’s lucky that he was simply thrown off.

Of course Bonaduce is lucky that no charges are being brought forward… because even if he would have been found “not guilty” it would still have cost him a good bit of money for lawyer’s fees and other expenses.

Bonaduce vs Fairplay

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Danny Bonaduce is facing felony criminal charges and a lawsuit after dropping reality tv “star” Johnny Fairplay on his face last night on FOX’s Reality Channel Really Awards show. While some sites [like HERE] seem to be coming down on the side of Johnny Fairplay, after watching THE VIDEO, I don’t really blame Bonaduce for throwing Fairplay off of him.I’m a fan of neither Bonaduce nor Fairplay so I have no horse in this race. After watching THIS VIDEO it is pretty clear that Bonaduce was walking away, that Fairplay jumped on to Bonaduce and then began gyrating and that Bonaduce simply threw him off.

My guess is that it’ll probably cost Bonaduce some money either to make the lawsuit go away or to hire attorneys to fight it. Odds are even greater that both of these “celebs” will use the incident to grab a few more minutes of fame.

RIP: Merv Griffin

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A few minutes ago it came over the wires that Merv Griffin had passed away from prostate cancer at the age of 82. Mr. Griffin started out as a singer, but really hit it big with his self-titled talk show which ran for more than 20 years. He is also known for being the creative genius behind two of television’s most popular and longest running game shows “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune.”
Growing up, I enjoyed watching The Merv Griffin Show. Merv always seemed like a down-to-earth guy who was having fun hanging out with the celebrities joining him for the day. He was a true success story. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans.

Hard to Believe… Jock Mahoney

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Hard to believe, but that’s a photo of me that appeared in 1980 on the inside front cover of Bill Black’s Fun Comics #1. Although it was 27 years ago, it seems like yesterday… ok, maybe not really yesterday, but definitely not 27 years ago.

OrlandoCon 1980. Bill Black, Jim Ivey, and Mike Kott were all friends of mine [still are in fact] and the main men behind OrlandoCon. That year Jock Mahoney was the media guest of honor.

Jock had a long, successful career in movies and on tv. He started out as a stuntman, but soon was playing the lead as The Range Rider, Yancy Derringer, Tarzan [in 3 movies], and in so many other roles. Jock was also Sally Field’s stepfather!

Because of my connections with Bill, Jim and Mike, I was able to appear on stage with Jock when he did some demonstrations of how fights are filmed for movies. Jock was a great guest. He even posed with Bill and his wife Rebecca for the fumetti below. Hard to believe that it was done over 1/4 century ago…

Shatner’s Raw Nerve

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William Shatner, one of the stars of ABC’s “Boston Legal” [which is on my “Must See TV” list] has agreed to host a celebrity-interview show for the Biography Channel. “Shatner’s Raw Nerve” will be a 30 minute showcase for Shatner to interview guests ranging from politicians to actors [now there’s a stretch]. So how will this differ from other interview shows? William Shatner “will explore life’s most intriguing questions and unearth his guests’ strange and unknown stories.” Thirteen episodes have been ordered and will begin airing in 2008.

I gotta tell ya, I’ll tune in just to hear Shatner’s view on things. So beam me aboard.

Russell: “I am Snake Plissken!”

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The other day I mentioned that Gerard [“300”] Butler had signed on to play Snake Plissken in a new movie. My ZONE message board lit up with people [myself included] saying that Kurt Russell should be the one to play Snake.

Well, it seems Kurt Russell agrees. Entertainment Weekly posed the question, “What if they asked you to do a cameo in the new Escape from New York, or play the Ernest Borgnine role?” Here’s Kurt’s reply…
“F— that! I am Snake Plissken! It’s like Sean Connery always watching someone else do their version of Bond. I think one of the things, for instance, about Escape From New York that appealed to me was that it wasn’t a special effects extravaganza. It’s a quiet, dark world and it revolved around watching the behavior of this one guy. He’s a fascinating character. In fact, he’s the most complex character I’ve ever played.”
And if you wonder what Kurt thinks about Scottish actor Gerard Butler playing Snake, the EW interview clears it up when Kurt says, ”Oh, man!” [Russell winces]. I do think that character was quintessentially one thing. And that is, American.”
I have nothing against Gerard Butler. I think he was great in “300” and I expect him to do other cool projects. And, while the remake of Snake Plissken is definitely cool, Russell is still THE MAN to play him. For the whole EW interview, click HERE.

Another Youtube Gem

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I’m amazed at what can be found on Youtube.
 
I’ve discovered everything from clips of old Sammy Terry shows to a news report of a fire that took out much of the downtown in my home town of Terre Haute back in the early 60’s.
 
I’ve found intros to tv shows that I haven’t seen in 40 years and fan made trailers as good as what you’d see in theaters.
 
Today I found video of a wrestling match that took place in the early 70’s pitting The Blackjacks [Mulligan and Lanza] and their manager “Pretty Boy” Bobby Heenan against Dick the Bruiser, his cousin The Crusher and midget wrestler “Little Bruiser.” What makes this match so appealing to me is that in addition to it being over 30 years old, and featuring my favorite wrestlers of the time, I actually saw this match live!
 
I’ll continue searching out Youtube for cool videos. I’d love to find intros to “T.H.E. Cat” [I can’t imagine that it was good as I remember it being] and “Garrison’s Guerillas.”  Hey, and if you find any cool videos, post the links here. I’d love to see what gems you’ve come across.