# Green-er Acres in Heaven--Eddie Albert dead at 99 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814 "2005-05-27T21:30:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/1 "2005-05-27T21:30:00Z")
[Yahoo news link](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050527/ap_en_ot/obit_albert) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/2 "2005-05-27T21:36:50Z")
_Post obligatory “bought the farm” joke here…_ ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/3 "2005-05-27T21:43:47Z")
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!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/4 "2005-05-27T21:45:35Z")
> [@](#): > > “Three days ago he was playing basketball in his wheelchair with his granddaughter,” Guttman said. “He stayed very vital.” 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.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/5 "2005-05-27T21:49:45Z")
I wonder why the news sources are listing him as 99 when he was born in 1908. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/6 "2005-05-27T22:06:32Z")
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**. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/7 "2005-05-27T22:18:58Z")
Guess he’ll be climbing that big telephone pole in the sky… ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/8 "2005-05-27T22:20:20Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > …and was great as Cybell Shepard’s father in **The Heartbreak Kid**. Best. Slow. Burn. Ever. (When Grodin tells him he’s married and on his honeymoon) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/9 "2005-05-27T22:39:05Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/10 "2005-05-27T22:49:02Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > 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**. He was also the warden in the original “The Longest Yard”. Hmmm, wonder if it was the remake that did him in. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/11 "2005-05-27T22:54:45Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/12 "2005-05-27T23:06:34Z")
In 1936, when NBC [demonstrated its first all-electronic television](http://members.tripod.com/~FrameMaster/index5.html) to the press, Eddie Albert was one of the performers. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/13 "2005-05-27T23:08:44Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I wonder why the news sources are listing him as 99 when he was born in 1908. 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.” ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/14 "2005-05-27T23:19:57Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > An ecologist, gentleman, war-hero and successful actor. Not a bad life. Not to mention “clown and trapeze artist in a one-ring Mexican circus”. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/15 "2005-05-27T23:35:08Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/16 "2005-05-28T00:46:28Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > 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. Well, according to news accounts, though, wheelchair bound, he was playing basketball with his granddaughter just a few days ago. ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/17 "2005-05-28T00:59:57Z")
[hungarian accent] This has been a _Film Ways_ presentation, dah-link! [/hungarian accent] ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/18 "2005-05-28T01:15:08Z")
So that makes an interesting trio arriving at the Pearly Gates this week - The Riddler, Ernest T. Bass and now Oliver Wendell Douglas. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/19 "2005-05-28T01:17:11Z")
I hear the Gabors are approaching 160… ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814/20 "2005-05-28T01:17:18Z")
> [@Kolak of Twilo](#): > > So that makes an interesting trio arriving at the Pearly Gates this week - The Riddler, Ernest T. Bass and now Oliver Wendell Douglas. You forget Thurl Ravenscroft, aka Tony the Tiger and singer of _You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/green-er-acres-in-heaven-eddie-albert-dead-at-99/305814.md?page=2)