Always in Threes, Aren't They?

I'll be getting back to regular posting soon, I hope, I'll update you then on the big doin's over this way, but I had to post about three men that passed away this week that I'd never met but still had an effect on my life.

Kurt Vonnegut died Wednesday night at the age of 84 after suffering injuries in a fall at home in Manhattan's Turtle Bay neighborhood several weeks ago. Back when I was a more avid reader than I am now (I spend too much time driving to read, I used to do most of my reading on trains), Vonnegut was a name I meant to get to, wanting to read Slaughterhouse Five in his words after having the movie version etched on my brain during my senior year of high school. Vonnegut was a Serious Author who still had enough of a sense of humor to pop up in "Back To School" as himself, hired to write a term paper on his own work by Rodney Dangerfield (prompting a great punchline from Dangerfield's professor: "Whoever wrote that paper doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut."), and that alone made me think he must have been a cool guy.

Stan Daniels died last Friday in L.A., leaving behind his wife of 50 years and four children. Mr. Daniels had been a writer on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", enough of a pedigree to earn him demigod status in my head, but he also was one of the creators of "Taxi", which I watched religiously during its network run and afterward. That formula of good character ensembles working off each other is my favorite sitcom archetype, and "Taxi" had so many very strong characters and great setups to let them gallop through. To paraphrase, goodnight, Mr. Daniels. ("Harrumph.")

The last notable death this week I just read about in the paper this morning. Actor Roscoe Lee Browne died Wednesday in Los Angeles after a bout with cancer. Mr. Browne was one of those actors that could immediately class up the room when he entered a scene, he had such great presence. My wife is a fan of "The Cosby Show" and there's an episode where Mr. Browne and Christopher Plummer get together onscreen and threaten to make it "The Browne and Plummer Show", and that's an episode I'll stop switching channels at 3 am to catch. My primary memory of Mr. Browne, however, is his voice, that great rumbling profundo could always hook me in. When I was 12 and had "Star Wars" on the brain, the only way I could experience even a part of "Star Wars" at home was by listening to my "The Story of Star Wars" 8-track tape over and over, narrated by Mr. Browne. Many a night was spent with Mr. Browne's being the last voice I'd hear before falling asleep.

Rest well, gentlemen, and thank you.