Farewell to a Favorite

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Most of my interest is in music, so my chronicles of the jaw-dropping number of musicians who've died this year have hurt. Certainly, however, music hasn't been the only entertainment format to suffer this year, which CNN dubbed (way back in June, no less!) "the year of the celebrity death." Look at the long list of actors who've died: George Kennedy (Oscar winner), Patty Duke (Oscar and Emmy winner), the brilliant Gene Wilder, Kenny Baker (R2-D2 of Star Wars), Everybody Loves Raymond's Doris Roberts, and Abe Vigoda are just a few of the actors who died this year. Add now to the list one of my favorites, Van Williams. Williams died last Monday, November 28, in Arizona of renal failure. Born Van Zant Jarvis Williams in Fort Worth, Texas, Williams got into acting quite by accident. He was a diving instructor in Hawaii and met Mike Todd (the Around the World in 80 Days producer and the only husband Liz Taylor did NOT divorce [he was killed in a plane crash]). Todd suggested that Williams try acting. It came at the perfect time, the late 50s. This was the era of "cheesecake" female stars and their male counterparts, known as "beefcake." Most of the people had more looks than talent, but Williams proved himself a capable actor to compliment his rugged good looks. In 1959 Williams landed a co-starring role in a Warner Brothers TV series, Bourbon Street Beat, playing a young detective named Kenny Madison in a New Orleans detective agency. The stars of the show were Andrew Duggan and Richard Long. The show was canceled after one year but Williams -- and Ken Madison -- moved on to a more popular TV series, Surfside 6. Co-starring young heartthrob Troy Donahue (quick trivia about him: he had a small role in The Godfather Part II, playing Connie Corleone's love interest du jour in the beginning of the film. His character's name in the movie was Merle Johnson, which is a great in-joke: Donahue's real name was Merle Johnson Jr. ) and established actor Lee Patterson (who was dead for six months before his obit made the paper...sad, isn't it), Surfside 6 was set in Miami Beach with a similar theme to most of the other Warner Brothers detective series (the most successful of which was 77 Sunset Strip). Surfside 6 lasted for two seasons and 74 episodes (and yes, I have them all on DVD, thank you) before being canceled. While these roles helped establish Van Williams as a "name," his memorable role came in 1966, when the creators of Batman brought The Green Hornet to television. Much more serious than the campy Batman, the show was also legendary for introducing the world to Bruce Lee, who played the Green Hornet's assistant, Kato. Now for some trivia (told you I really liked this guy): while the show was successful, The Green Hornet was canceled after one season, thanks to Van Williams. He sought to have Bruce Lee's role as Kato expanded to be more in line with the character's original creation (in the radio series and original serial Kato was a well-educated scientist and inventor who created many of the Green Hornet's weaponry) instead of having Kato relegated to a "servant" in the series. Instead of accepting Williams' idea the executives at ABC canceled the series. (And it wasn't just that show: the original idea for the series that became Kung Fu came from Lee, but he was never cast in the show nor given credit.) Williams had one other starring role, in a 1975 Saturday morning children's live-action show, Westwind. He continued acting in guest starring roles until the late 1970s. Williams majored in business in college (at Texas Christian University), and because of that he made good use of the money he made as an actor. His investments allowed him to retire from the acting business and live comfortably with his wife and three children. In addition to his acting, Williams served as a reserve sheriff's deputy and volunteer firefighter in Los Angeles. Van Williams was 82. Here's a clip from my favorite Surfside 6 episode, "The Affairs at Hotel Delight" (Van was the only series regular in this episode):