The passing of Patrick McGoohan, best known for his role as Number Six of “The Prisoner,” and his famous line, “I am not a number!” Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker has commentary, as does David Bianculli. I recommend watching “The Simpsons” episode where they parodied “The Prisoner” – and Homer Simpson’s stealing Number Six’s raft.
My past link on “The Prisoner” – here.
The passing of Ricardo Montalban – best known for his roles as Khan in Star Trek (the creepy “Space Seed” episode, and, of course, “Khaaan!” as Kirk says in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”), and Mr. Roarke of “Fantasy Island” (no, Mr. Roarke was not always a nice man). It’s nice to think about Montalban, who helped to bring some diversity in the media at a time when there probably wasn’t much of it; as the NY Times obituary that I linked noted:
Though Mr. Roarke became Mr. Montalbán’s signature role, it was a mere bump in the timeline of a career that spanned decades, media and genres. Mr. Montalbán embodied stereotypes, fought them and transcended them in his years in show business. His entire reputation, both as smooth Latin seducer and parodist of a smooth Latin seducer, was capsulized in a television advertisement from the mid-1970s in which he served as pitchman for the Cordoba, a luxury car being introduced by Chrysler. He purred over the automobile’s assets, including the seats, upholstered, he said, in “soft, Corinthian leather,” a phrase that became a campy giggle-inducer, especially after it became known that there is no such thing as Corinthian leather, from Corinth or anywhere else: the description was just a marketing invention.
Plus, interesting commentary on Entertainment Weekly’s website on Montalban as Khan.
Anyway, I think it was kind of funny that two guys associated with weird islands passed away so close in time like this; plus, “Lost” is coming back, so… hmm… more weird islands and existentialist and mind-blowing entertainment coming our way.
Plus, from James Poniewozik on Time.com – his observations on McGoohan (apparently, AMC was in the works to do a remake of “The Prisoner”), Montalban, and the “Lost” connection (well, he’s gearing up for the return of “Lost”).
Sudden news arose (Miracle on the Hudson, indeed; thank goodness about that the airplane crash-landed in the water without fatalities), but I’ll note that NYS will have a new chief judge – Governor Paterson has appointed Justice Lippman to succeed Chief Judge Kaye on the Court of Appeals. NY state of mind, indeed.