Green-er Acres in Heaven--Eddie Albert dead at 99

Yahoo news link

Post obligatory “bought the farm” joke here…

Oddly enough, there’s a cemetary near here named Green Acres.
Last time I rode by it, I caught myself singing:

“Green Acres is the place to be!
Not living is the death of me!
Graves spreading out so far and wide!
Give me a six-foot plot of that countryside!”

An ecologist, gentleman, war-hero and successful actor. Not a bad life.

RIP Eddie. (Trivia: his real name was Albert Heimberger; he was one of the stars whose names was changed by a studio to sound less Jewish.)

I wonder why the news sources are listing him as 99 when he was born in 1908.

He also was the bizarre-accented trader Ali Hassan in the movie of Oklahoma!, and was great as Cybell Shepard’s father in The Heartbreak Kid.

Guess he’ll be climbing that big telephone pole in the sky…

Best. Slow. Burn. Ever.
(When Grodin tells him he’s married and on his honeymoon)

Terrific actor, and from what I hear, a nice guy, too.

This will sound wrong, but 99 is too damn long to live. What I mean is, before you jump on me, that damn few people live that long in good health–even Katharine Hepburn was a vegetable for her last eight years or so; wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

He was also the warden in the original “The Longest Yard”. Hmmm, wonder if it was the remake that did him in.

That’s what I thought immediatly, considering that was on Spike just last night.

That and Mr. Douglas.

He was in “The Longest Day” as well.

In 1936, when NBC demonstrated its first all-electronic television to the press, Eddie Albert was one of the performers.

Read on. The obit says his Mother was not married when he was born in 1906. When she did get married she got a birth certificate that said 1908. Made everything look “legit.”

Not to mention “clown and trapeze artist in a one-ring Mexican circus”.

I am in very poor health, and I’m glad to be alive. Sure, it’s good to be active and vital, but very simple pleasures (such as the sound of a favorite tune, a taste of homemade vanilla ice cream, the scent of violets, a hug from a loved one) can make life worthwhile. My granny died at the age of 98. She was a bit addled, but she smiled a lot, and occasionally she got a look in her eye that made us realize that there was still someone in there who was capable of enjoying life.

Well, according to news accounts, though, wheelchair bound, he was playing basketball with his granddaughter just a few days ago.

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This has been a Film Ways presentation, dah-link!

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So that makes an interesting trio arriving at the Pearly Gates this week - The Riddler, Ernest T. Bass and now Oliver Wendell Douglas.

I hear the Gabors are approaching 160…

You forget Thurl Ravenscroft, aka Tony the Tiger and singer of You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.