Ron Masak, actor.
He had a pretty extensive movie and TV career. Beyond being the guy who let Jessica Fletcher get away with all those murders, he was in “Laserblast”, “Tora! Tora! Tora!”, and “Ice Station Zebra”. TV credits include late period “Columbo”, “McMillan & Wife”, “Mission: Impossible”, multiple appearances on “Police Story”, “Quincy M.E.”…
…and “Mannix”. (“The Sound of Murder“, season 5, episode 17. He played “Barry Gates” in an unaccredited appearance.)
I almost feel like hiding my head in shame, but I saw Laserblast when it came out, at the drive-in, with my ex wife, when we were just dating. That had to be in 1978, I think. I saw it on my computer a year or two back, but it doesn’t hold up quite as well as it was in the first time I saw it. Or saw part of it, as the case may be.
I saw all of the other mentioned shows, of course, but I read the book Ice Station Zebra, before I saw the movie, and thought that the book was much better. But the movie was good, as well.
It does seem that this week we have lost a lot of decent men, who enriched our country, and made us that much the better for having them lived. That is the price that one pays for living older than 6 decades, I guess, they have to see heroes pass away.
I wonder just who the youth of today will be mourning when they hit 6 decades?
Lawrence tells me we watched the MST3K version of “Laserblast” recently. Odd that I don’t remember anything about it, but for some reason I do remember the Leonard Maltin “two and a half stars” rant…
Ice Station Zebra: I have never read the book or seen the movie, but the movie is on our list. As you know, Bob, that was a favorite of Howard Hughes.
“I wonder just who the youth of today will be mourning when they hit 6 decades?”
I wonder too. I think we’ve already gotten a preview of that with some of the YouTube stars. Maybe Kayne West or Taylor Swift? Or will they end up like soft drink bubbles that pop quickly?
I ran across this tidbit on Instapundit. It seems that pretending to be Native American is not limited to politicians, ala Liz Warren.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sacheen-Littlefeather-oscar-Native-pretendian-17520648.php