Blind Item #6 - Reader Blind Item
A tale of two actors with the same interests and problems but with different ways of handling them.
Actor #1, who is deceased, is very well known from two TV shows he starred in. The first was a sitcom based on a movie and a play and featured him paired up with an actor meant to represent his exact opposite. The second was a crime drama with a medical theme. In between the two shows, his gambling, primarily on horse racing, as well as a divorce found him in debt to the wrong people who threatened him with physical harm unless they were paid. He went to the police who in turn put him touch with the feds. He wore a wire and the people he owed money to, who were already under investigation, went to jail.
Actor #2, who is still alive, is even more famous than Actor #1. In fact, he is part of popular culture. A TV show he starred in was not that successful while running the first time but became huge in syndication leading to movies and other versions of the show set in different time frames with different casts. He was also in a popular crime drama that ran for several seasons. Like Actor #1, he liked to play the horses and also had divorces and went into debt to the wrong people. Unlike Actor #1, he tried to resolve the problem himself. They bled him dry until they were put away on unrelated charges. There are allegations the people he owed money to had something to do with the mysterious death of a family member.
Actor #1, who is deceased, is very well known from two TV shows he starred in. The first was a sitcom based on a movie and a play and featured him paired up with an actor meant to represent his exact opposite. The second was a crime drama with a medical theme. In between the two shows, his gambling, primarily on horse racing, as well as a divorce found him in debt to the wrong people who threatened him with physical harm unless they were paid. He went to the police who in turn put him touch with the feds. He wore a wire and the people he owed money to, who were already under investigation, went to jail.
Actor #2, who is still alive, is even more famous than Actor #1. In fact, he is part of popular culture. A TV show he starred in was not that successful while running the first time but became huge in syndication leading to movies and other versions of the show set in different time frames with different casts. He was also in a popular crime drama that ran for several seasons. Like Actor #1, he liked to play the horses and also had divorces and went into debt to the wrong people. Unlike Actor #1, he tried to resolve the problem himself. They bled him dry until they were put away on unrelated charges. There are allegations the people he owed money to had something to do with the mysterious death of a family member.
The first guy is Jack Krugman teamed in Odd Couple with Tony Randall.
ReplyDeleteThe other guy is Shatner
ReplyDelete*Jack Klugman*
ReplyDelete+1 Sandybrook
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteand the drowning death of shatners wife
ReplyDeleteJack Klugman - The Odd Couple/ Quincy
ReplyDeleteWilliam Shatner- Star Trek/ TJ Hooker/Family Member- Nerine Shatner (accidental drowning)
Klugman/Shatner.
ReplyDeleteDubious about Shatner's wife. That call he made to 911 is sketchy.
Um, other blinds have alleged Shatner murdered her himself. Can we at least get some stories straight here.
ReplyDeleteOr..maybe hevdidn't do it, but he knew who did.
ReplyDeleteThat actually seems most likely.
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ReplyDeleteIf I thought or if the mob let me know that they murdered my spouse, I'd probably sound sketchy when I called 911.
ReplyDeleteGood job Sandybrook! +1
ReplyDeleteFirst i've heard of Shatner selling off his "rights" for $25k. In fact, I've heard him comment on how much residuals were for him over the years. By his own words, he was flat broke for a couple of years after Star Trek went off the air, so that $25k would have allowed him not live in a camper truck, which he was. Plus, I'm not entirely sure you CAN sell off syndication income.
ReplyDeleteI've heard lots of good or bad about Shatner over the years, and as widely examined every aspect of that show is, and it's actors, I gotta ask where you got that information from.
Shatner is the second. All is forgiven tho cuz he got Sheryl Crow to sing the haunttingly beautiful song Mrs. Major Tom: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/mrs-major-tom/1168209941?i=1168210014
ReplyDeleteWas star trek not popular during it's run tho?? They made a lot of movies with the early cast so I'd have to assume the show was pretty popular? I mean everything else fits but I'm not sure about that part. Anyone alive around then or any trekkies can confirm/rebuke?
ReplyDeleteStar Trek was not a hit. It almost got cancelled, but a fan letter campign saved it. The third season was the worst, and they were so cheap, many of the sets were like surreal stage plays.
DeleteIt became a hit in syndication.
@Unknown You definitely can sell off future residuals. Charlie Sheen did it, and that's why he has nothing coming in these days.
ReplyDelete@Shadow No, Star Trek was actually cancelled after three seasons, and it only limped along before that.
@Unknown: Despite my distinct memory of reading that, I have been unable to verify it, so I deleted the comment.
ReplyDeleteJerry Orbach ALMOST seemed like a good fit for actor #1.
ReplyDelete@TheShadowKnows, no, Star Trek struggled in its initial run. It only got a third season thanks to a letter-writing campaign, and then was moved to a bad timeslot and canceled after that. The first movie didn't happen until 10 years later, after the show had gained a strong following in syndication, and the success of Star Wars and Close Encounters made Paramount want a sci-fi movie of its own.
ReplyDeleteThe second BI is absolutely positively *not* Shatner and his wife.
ReplyDelete