Gone But Not Forgotten

I realize that when the Oscars and other programs do “In Memorandum” of those we lost from the movie industry that they can’t do them all… but in this case they left off (among others) TWO that I remember so very well.
The first that they missed is Harry Carey Jr. 
Harry was one of John Ford’s stable of “cowboys”.  Whenever Ford made a western (especially with John Wayne) you could count on the fact that Harry would also be in the movie.  His Filmography begins in 1946….
(Article on Harry’s passing.)

I was very lucky in that I got to meet Harry at the autograph shows in California when I lived there.
My story goes like this:  I was at the show when 2 men I knew instantly were before me.. they were David Stollary and Tim Considine.  Or to others my age: Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club’s “Spin and Marty”.  I  had a crush on “Marty” back then so I was thrilled to meet them.  Naturally we talked about the series that ran on the Mickey Mouse Club and about Harry Carey Jr being the head of the Ranch they were all on.

The next thing I knew I was calling to find out Harry’s agent and I wrote Harry a letter and sent it to his agent who forwarded it to Harry.  I told him of the show and that “Spin and Marty” would be there again.
Low and behold.. I got a postcard from Harry saying he would do the show!!!!
Next thing to happen was that Harry wrote a small book called “Company of Heroes” about his cowboy days.  I sent for a signed copy and received it in the mail not long after.   So now I had a postcard written and signed by Harry and his book!
I read the book.. it was very good indeed.  It told how the “valley” (San Fernando Valley) where I lived, was like back in the early days of cowboy movies.. I totally enjoyed the book.  In fact I liked it so much I loaned it to my friend DeForest Kelley (who also did cowboy movies and lived in the valley) to read and later he sent the book back with a post note in it.



So you see why I was shocked to find that Harry Carey Jr had passed away and yet was not mentioned on television.  So this is my little tribute to Harry..who (along with his wife) did the show and were super nice people! 
The second person I had already mentioned back when he died and that’s Turhan Bey.
He was one of the loves of my life, and although I never got to meet him he did write me a note and sent me an autographed photo. See my blog entry here.
I am sad that neither of them were mentioned while Barbra Streisand sang “The Way We Were”.. good song for remembering those that we have known for so long in the movies, and who we will always miss.
(article on Turhan’s passing)


addendum  about forgotten celebs at the Oscars..
I was reading an article about Andy Griffith being “snubbed” by not being on the list of celebs we lost when at the very end of the article it said that it’s not easy getting on their list to honor..even the relatives have to campaign to be included. So if there are no relatives or they don’t know they have to campaign they are left aside. That makes me angry. At the very least they should divided up the entire list between the Oscars and Globes and award shows so that everyone gets their last hooray from all of us. Here’s a link to an article about the fact they have to campaign to be seen: http://news.moviefone.com/2013/02/08/oscars-memorial-2013_n_2646729.html