# The one thing MacGyver can't fix - Dana Elcar dead at 77 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782 "2005-06-10T19:47:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/1 "2005-06-10T19:47:51Z")
[CNN obit](http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/10/obit.elcar.ap/index.html) Gotta give the man credit for not letting his impending and eventual blindness stop him from working. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/2 "2005-06-10T21:06:43Z")
He was pretty convincing in a _Law & Order_ episode about a guy who was deeply bitter about his doctor’s inability to correct his diabetic retinopathy. That was the first time I’d seen him post-_MacGuyver_ and hadn’t known before then that he was having vision problems for real. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/3 "2005-06-11T01:16:36Z")
That’s the third TV “boss” to die recently, the other 2 being: **Leon Askin,** \*Hogan’s Heroes’ \* General Burkhalter. \*\*JD Cannon, \*\* Chief Clifford on _McCloud._ Look out Ed Asner! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/4 "2005-06-11T02:27:44Z")
The first thing I ever saw him in was a PBS production of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” in which he played Vladimir, opposite Donald Moffat as Estragon and Ralph (yeah, Pa Walton) Waite as Pozzo. A very good actor, much better than you’d guess from his mundane, prime time TV roles. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/5 "2005-06-11T02:31:12Z")
MSTies may remember him from ep #614 - San Francisco International. He was the hippie-hating businessman. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/6 "2005-06-11T03:05:02Z")
I didn’t know his glaucoma was real, either. I was kinda hoping that Dana Elcar would get a guest appearance on Stargate SG-1, as one of O’Neil’s former commanding officers or something like that. This bites ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/7 "2005-06-11T03:59:32Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I didn’t know his glaucoma was real, either. > > I was kinda hoping that Dana Elcar would get a guest appearance on Stargate SG-1, as one of O’Neil’s former commanding officers or something like that. > > This bites ☹ Did you see the pilot episode? At one point Samantha Carter eas talking about a difficult problem she and some coworkers had faced, and how they “MacGuyvered” a solution to it. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/8 "2005-06-11T13:05:13Z")
Elcar also had a brief, but memorable role in the original “Fail Safe.” He played a chap who is arguing house guest “Professor Groeteschele” about nuclear war, shortly before he gives his lecture to the military brass. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/9 "2005-06-11T20:42:46Z")
> [@Torgo](#): > > That’s the third TV “boss” to die recently, May Sorrel Booke live forever. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/10 "2005-06-11T22:39:01Z")
I bet he was the first guy named “Dana” that a lot of people had ever run across. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/11 "2005-06-11T22:45:11Z")
> [@furt](#): > > May Sorrel Booke live forever. [Uh…](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0095368/) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-macgyver-cant-fix-dana-elcar-dead-at-77/307782/12 "2005-06-12T01:37:21Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Did you see the pilot episode? At one point Samantha Carter eas talking about a difficult problem she and some coworkers had faced, and how they “MacGuyvered” a solution to it. I remember that line.