Posted by Darth Dobbin at 208-58-251-84.s84.tnt2.nwhv.ct.dialup.rcn.com on June 28, 2001 at 10:40:58:
In Reply to: Jack Lemmon, dead today at age 76 posted by Chuz Boy on June 28, 2001 at 08:19:58:
poingnant, no?
I hate it when older actors are cast in roles where they are having heart attacks, or in a hospital on a respirator, because when the time comes that they DO die, those things are eerie, and make you feel awful for seeing this "dry run".
Last time I was so freaked out was in the computer game RIPPER, when Burgess Merideth plays a guy who dies, but who's persona is kept alive in a computer simulation-cyber-world, and he speaks "beyond the grave."
He died after that, in "RL" as the nerds say, and I couldn't help but think that anyone close to him, seeing that part of the game would be terribly upset.
The game is cool though. Walken is in it, and within three minutes of beginning it, he says the line, in Walken-style, "This guy...is...un-fucking-believable.."
Tangential story:
When I was a kid, like 7 or so, on Father's Day, I was effing around with an old piece of furniture, which, by way of me fiddling with it, revealed itself to have a secret compartment. In it was an old wax-pressed record. My dad played it, and it was one of those old Coney-Island "Record Yourself!" booth-type records. On it was my Grandfather, and my Great Grandfather, both deceased,talking to my dad as a little kid, telling him jokes and making him laugh and stuff. True story.
That was an odd little bit of magic.