I lost somebody else from one of my lists. Darren McGavin was one of my favorite actors. He starred in one of my favorite TV shows of all time, Kolchak the Night Stalker; and in one of my 10 favorite movies, The Christmas Story.
Once again, I have found that someone else has put my thoughts into better words than I could create.
Recalling Don, Darren and Dennis
There is a superstition that things - mostly bad things - come in threes. I don't buy that. It has been my experience that bad things can come in any number at all, including twos, ones and fives.
Still, three men who meant a lot to us in their journey through the entertainment world died in recent days. As it happens, I had the good luck to meet all three of them at varying stages of their careers.
Don Knotts was just at the beginning of his high-profile run when we met in California in 1957. Don was already well-known because of his hilarious cameos on the Steve Allen show. I was fresh out of the Army and looking for work. As I recall, Don was in Los Angeles for a role in the movie version of "No Time for Sergeants," which he had done on Broadway with Andy Griffith.
This, of course, was before Don's stardom in "The Andy Griffith Show" as Barney Fife in the 1960s and his much later turn in "Three's Company" in the 1980s, or the score or more of movie comedies in which he was the headliner.
We were at a social gathering of some kind and our point of contact was our hometowns. His childhood in Morgantown, W. Va., mine in Maysville, Ky., had many similarities. The thing we talked about most, however, was Don's earliest work in show business. He was very proud that he had made a living in small nightclubs as a ventriloquist. We were going to meet again so he could bring along his dummy and give me a demonstration, but it never happened. I always wondered what a Don Knotts performance as a ventriloquist might be. The possibilities are endless. Maybe the dummy would be the calm one.
Darren McGavin was on my talk-variety show on Channel 12. It must have been the mid-1970s because he was there to talk about his show, which I admired then and admire still. It was called "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" and was an entertaining blend of comedy and horror. I thought it was a great comedy performance and was able to tell him how pleasantly surprised I was because his best work in films had been as a villain. The prime example, perhaps, was his role as an evil drug dealer in "The Man with the Golden Arm."
However, there was a coincidence that came to me only much later. Within days of Mr. McGavin's appearance, humorist Jean Shepherd made one of his frequent visits to my show. Longtime Cincinnati residents remember that Mr. Shepherd began his career as a quirky radio personality here in Cincinnati. I listened to him when I was growing up. After he became a writer, I would use any excuse to bring him to town for an interview.
Ten years later, Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" would be put to film, and Darren McGavin would star as the eccentric Indiana father weathering the holiday in about 1940. It is now, of course, an annual classic and, I believe, a minor masterpiece for both men in their respective crafts.
Dennis Weaver had as much TV success as anyone and was already a longtime big star on the small screen when I met him in Los Angeles in the 1980s.
There was a connection between Mr. Weaver and Augusta, Ky., where Nina and I live. He was one of the many stars of the mini-series "Centennial," much of which was shot in and around Augusta.
Most of us remember Mr. Weaver as the limping Chester Goode during his 10-year run on "Gunsmoke" in the 1950s and 1960s. But think of all the series in which Mr. Weaver played the title character. He was "Kentucky Jones" in the 1960s, "McCloud" in the 1970s, "Stone" in 1980 and "Buck James" later in the 1980s.
In fact, our conversation started with a question from me about "Kentucky Jones." The rest of our time we talked about his school days as a track star in, not Kentucky, but Oklahoma.
A lot of our pop culture is tied up with these men. Good memories come in threes.
Nick Clooney writes for The Post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Write to him in care of The Post at 125 E. Court St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. E-mails sent to Nick at postliving@cincypost.com will be forwarded to him via regular mail.
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