Prisoners No More

Not of this earthly plane, at least.

We lost two of my favorite actors in one week: Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montalban.

Goodbye No. 6, goodbye various awesome guest villians on Columbo. I couldn't decide which Columbo villian I liked best, so I went with the CIA guy. Whichever, he was totally a Danger Man and will be missed.

Goodbye Khan, goodbye Mr. Roarke. Anyone else remember the pilot episode to Fantasy Island? Mr. Roarke was so definitely Satan in that episode. The nascent Religious Right threw a minor hissy fit and got ABC to change his character. Bastards.

Were you aware that Ricardo was a "community organizer"? Yeah, he got other Latino and Hispanic actors together in, I think, the early 70s, in an effort to gain them more respectful roles and improve the way their culture was presented on screen to the gringos. Way to go, Ricky! And if you ever, like me, suspected that Khan's movie chest was a fake, perhaps we should reconsider the young Ricardo's superb chestal area.

Adios, amigos.