Death came calling with a vengeance again this year. Just as last year and the year before and always. Several huge losses to the silver screen sky_ Anne Rutherford, Celeste Holm, and biggest IMO, Andy Griffith and Ernest Borgnine. And Michael Clarke Duncan was a particularly tragic loss because he was still such a young man in addition to being a great talent. The TCM Remembers montage is as touching, saddening, and beautiful as ever. But some people are left out and each person is afforded only a second. This was a bad year to be beloved in the entertainment industry. The starry sky is my favorite imagery in it but the whole thing is haunting.

2010 saw the passing of many, many actors and directors as well as other performers. I would like to express my particular affection for three of them. Kathryn Grayson, Patricia Neal, and Barbara Billingsley. Though their deaths were not surprising or necessarily untimely, with all 3 women having lived well into old age, they are still a loss. Kathryn Grayson will be making the heavenly choir sound even more beautiful; Patricia Neal will be making everything up there a little cooler; and new arrivals will no doubt think Barbara Billingsley decorated the place, approved the pearls for the gate, and is there to keep the cherubs chipper with her sweet, beatific smile.

God rest their awesome, talented souls!

On August 17, Maureen O'Hara celebrated her 90th birthday! I celebrated it by spending the evening watching Turner Classic Movies and enjoying some old favorites of mine starring that beautiful lady. THE QUIET MAN still makes me laugh out loud, over and over again. And did any two people ever look so magnificent together on screen as O'Hara and John Wayne?