And we just had a thread recently that talked about “Them!” (which had run on TCM). Story:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/06/BAIT15P8S7.DTL
You can read Frank Darabont’s eulogy at the link below. Darabont directed Shawshank Redemption with Whitmore.
Awwwww. His headstone should read, “James was here”
That was very nice. Its nice to see that your impressions of a famous person are right on the mark. My favorite role of his was in Battleground. I had no idea he was a combat vet and that role probably wasn’t a big stretch.
Around 1970 he brought his one man Will Rogers act to our college campus.
After the main show he came back out in character and did an interactive direct with the audience. If that was any example, here was a guy who really studied his characters and could respond like each character.
I just realized that this is the third of a Battleground trifecta. Ricardo Montalban, Van Johnson and now James Whitmore.
I remember watching Harry Truman when it came out on VHS over and over and was just floored at …well…everything.
I saw him as The Narrator in Our Town when I was a little kid. It was a real highlight of my childhood and remains a very fond memory.
R.I.P. I just watched him on an episode of “Gunsmoke” a few weeks back and wondered if/when he died. Sorry to hear the news.