Monster of the Day #512
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Monster of the Day #512

A holdover from last week's Repurposed Monsters theme. Bonus: Here's the same guy playing Professor X in that Columbo / X-Men crossover. The '70s were a weird decade. Anyway, a more versatile actor than people gave him credit for.
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RIP Ernest Borgnine
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RIP Ernest Borgnine

Extremely sad news, as one of the very last of the greatest Hollywood character actors, Ernest Borgnine, has passed away. In this extremely long and busy career, Mr. Borgnine played it all. He specialized in great villains, but he also played some of the best lovable coots ever. Moreover, if you call up an…
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RIP Andy Griffith
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RIP Andy Griffith

Not just Andy Taylor (in what is probably one of the five greatest sitcoms of all time) or Mattlock, although either--especially the first--would be enough. I really loved his show Salvage 1, in which he played an entrepreneur who launched his own private space rocket to the moon despite government interference. Mr. Griffith also…
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Tuesdays with Lorre: Hell Ship Mutiny (1957)
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Tuesdays with Lorre: Hell Ship Mutiny (1957)

Well, I’ve been spoiled, so I was due for a comeuppance sooner or later. Lately I’ve been feasting on movies made during Peter Lorre’s best period, when he was a contract player at Warner Brothers. He didn’t star in many of these films; indeed, some of his roles were depressingly scant. Still, he was…
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Holy Crapatoli!

Apparently my instincts were right when I dumped cable. They not only removed TCM from my current package, but now to get it you have to move up not one but two or three packages. The 'deal' is fifty dollars a month, for only six months, and then up to $83 (!!!) a month…
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