R.I.P. Michael J. Pollard.

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Jefforey Smith
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Re: R.I.P. Michael J. Pollard.

Post by Jefforey Smith »

Actor Michael J. Fox, whose real middle name is Andrew, adopted the middle initial "J." as an homage to Pollard.
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Re: R.I.P. Michael J. Pollard.

Post by FilmFan720 »

Big Magilla wrote:
Mister Tee wrote: Mary Poppins also rates a salute, with Julie, Dick van Dyke and the indefatigable Glynis Johns sticking around, along with the Banks children. It depends how far down the cast list one goes; Bonnie and Clyde having only five real principals (all Oscar-nominated) gives them a leg up in this weird competition. (Since, as you say, Gene Wilder's been gone a while, along with Dub Taylor.)
Re the Banks children, Karen Dotrice is still very much alive, but Matthew Garber died of pancreatitis in 1977 at just 21.

The only Oscar nominated film older than Bonnie and Clyde that I can find with four principal players still alive is Doctor Zhivago - Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Tom Courtenay, Rita Tushingham. Courtenay is also one of three stars of King Rat (with 2 1965 Oscar nods) still with us, the others being George Segal and James Fox.
West Side Story has Beymer, Chakiris, Tamblyn, and Moreno, plus a lot of other Jets and Sharks.
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Re: R.I.P. Michael J. Pollard.

Post by Big Magilla »

Mister Tee wrote: Mary Poppins also rates a salute, with Julie, Dick van Dyke and the indefatigable Glynis Johns sticking around, along with the Banks children. It depends how far down the cast list one goes; Bonnie and Clyde having only five real principals (all Oscar-nominated) gives them a leg up in this weird competition. (Since, as you say, Gene Wilder's been gone a while, along with Dub Taylor.)
Re the Banks children, Karen Dotrice is still very much alive, but Matthew Garber died of pancreatitis in 1977 at just 21.

The only Oscar nominated film older than Bonnie and Clyde that I can find with four principal players still alive is Doctor Zhivago - Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Tom Courtenay, Rita Tushingham. Courtenay is also one of three stars of King Rat (with 2 1965 Oscar nods) still with us, the others being George Segal and James Fox.
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Re: R.I.P. Michael J. Pollard.

Post by Mister Tee »

Precious Doll wrote: I don't think there is an older film with so many cast members still with us.


Interesting parlor game. I instantly thought of The Sound of Music, whose two main stars are very much with us, and I figured the kids would up the score -- but those kids have had it rougher, with two of the girls dying in the past few years. And of course, the character actor roster (Parker, Haydn, Wood) is depleted.

Mary Poppins also rates a salute, with Julie, Dick van Dyke and the indefatigable Glynis Johns sticking around, along with the Banks children. It depends how far down the cast list one goes; Bonnie and Clyde having only five real principals (all Oscar-nominated) gives them a leg up in this weird competition. (Since, as you say, Gene Wilder's been gone a while, along with Dub Taylor.)

Can anybody think of other largely-surviving casts from that era?
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Re: R.I.P. Michael J. Pollard.

Post by Precious Doll »

I've always like Michael J. Pollard. Interestingly he is the first major actor from Bonnie and Clyde (now 52 years old - can you believe that?) that has passed away, or second if you count Gene Wilder.

I don't think there is an older film with so many cast members still with us.
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Re: R.I.P. Michael J. Pollard.

Post by dws1982 »

It's strange how actors tend to have different reference points for different people. While I was growing up, my dad was (and is) a huge fan of The Andy Griffith Show. So I first saw Michael J. Pollard as Barney Fife's cousin Virgil on one episode of that show, and he was always cousin Virgil to me, even when I saw him pop up in lots of other things. I remember being shocked when I discovered he got an Oscar nomination, and also being shocked when I discovered that most people didn't think of him as cousin Virgil. I just assumed that was where everyone first saw him.

I don't know that I've seen him in anything since Tumbleweeds, but I always liked him.
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R.I.P. Michael J. Pollard.

Post by Mister Tee »

He was many things -- including, incongruously, the original Hugo in Broadway's Bye Bye Birdie -- but he's immortal as C.W. Moss. The original stoner.

https://variety.com/2019/film/obituarie ... 203413369/
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