RIP DONALD SUTHERLAND AND WILLIE MAYS
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Willie Mays in the mid-eighties. He had long ago retired from his Hall Of Fame career and was living in the northeast. I caught up with him for the CBS Sunday Morning show at a charity baseball event in which he played. And I mean played. Even though it was just a local charity event and he was in his 50s, he dashed across the field and slid for home base like his life depended on it. He didn’t know any other way, I guess. RIP, Willie Mays.
No sooner than I digested this sad news, a report dropped about the passing of Donald Sutherland, one of my all-time favorite actors. The younger generation knows him best for his portrayal of President Snow, in the Hunger Games movies. But I remember him from great thrillers like Eye of The Needle(1981), playing a charming but cold blooded nazi spy, and from 1978’s Invasion of The Body Snatchers. I still get chills any time I think about that crazy expression on Sutherland’s face at the end of Body Snatchers when he outs a hiding human, jaw opened wide like he’s about to devour a tasty meal. Wildly over the top, but delightful.
His more understated performance in Klute also stands out. As does his witty portrayal of “Hawkeye” Pierce in the movie version of MASH.
He and Willie will be missed.
COMING SOON: “Whispers On The Savannah,” a serialized novella.