“Spear chucker” was a racist term long before the novel came out. Using the term for a Black guy who competed in javelin is part of the joke, but no one would have called him that if he hadn’t been Black.
But for the period it would be verisimilitude. Hell, even mid-70s it would have been thrown around (get it?) in real life.
Yeah, we get the point.
Say, you’re sharp.
It’s being reported that Mickey Kuhn passed away on Sunday. RIP.
Lisa Loring, the original Wednesday Addams has died. That leaves John Astin as the final cast member.
Crap! 
RIP, Lisa.
Jesus, I thought she’d be the last one standing. She had a pretty rough go of it for a number of years, and I’m sorry she died so young.
Who would have guessed that Gomez / Buddy would outlive Wednesday and Harry ?
RIP.
He is the last regular cast member of the Addams Family, even the kids are gone now.
From Night Court we lost Harry, Markie & Charles Robinson along with of course Selma and Florence and Mel Torme. Those 3 of the older cast members used their actual first names for the show. 
Only John Astin didn’t.
Then of course Harry shared his first name with his character but that was accidental. The character was already named Harry before casting Harry. Mac and Charles were both Robinsons of course.
Michael McKean is now the last of the Laverne & Shirley cast.
Ed Marinaro is still alive, though when I went to look it up, I see that he was only in 11 episodes (fewer than I had remembered) in Season 6, when they moved the show’s setting from Milwaukee to Los Angeles.
Yeah, I remember being quite surprised when I first learned that the character wasn’t written specifically for Harry Anderson.
Cindy Williams has died.
Shit!
I was head over heels in love with Cindy after seeing her in American Graffiti.
RIP!
Carole Ita White (who is also still alive) appeared in twelve episodes (mostly in the second and third seasons). She played Big Rosie Greenbaum, who was a rival of Laverne and Shirley.
Same with Woody Harrelson/Woody Boyd on Cheers. The character was already named before the part was cast.
As I’ve remarked before, I’ve long wondered if Michel Lonsdale got the part of Hugo Drax in the James Bond movie Moonraker because Ian Fleming described Drax as “a Lonsdale kind of character” (not referring to Michel, of course).
But I’m absolutely SURE that Richard Kiley got to be the narrator of the “ride” in the movie Jurassic Park because Michael Crichton said in his original novel that Kiley was the narrator.
Well, ya gotta admit, that he didn’t do much in the program other than something like “Message from London, Colonel” or “So what do we do?” So if that’s the reason, he probably had a point.
Similar to Robert Reed, who did not care for his “Brady Bunch” role at all and felt that his talents were being wasted, but it’s hard for an actor to turn down a steady paycheck. He still had a number of guest appearances as a cop on “Mannix.”
Spared no expense! 