Lynn Loring Passed On

Lynn Loring, an actress who appeared on the TV shows Search for Tomorrow, Dobie Gillis, and The F.B.I., and a one-time MGM/UA executive, died on December 23 2023 at the age of 80. Her family recently disclosed her death.

Lynn Loring was born Lynn Zimring on July 14 1943 in New York City. She began modelling when she was 3 years old. As a child she appeared in commercials for RCA Victor. She was only eight years old when she became one of the original cast on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow. She appeared on Search for Tomorrow for the next ten years. In the Fifties, she also had a regular role on The Jean Carroll Show. She guest starred on the TV shows The Web, Starlight Theatre, Hands of Murder, Robert Montgomery Presents, Studio One, The Man Behind the Badge, The Stranger, Omnibus, Frontiers of Faith, Kraft Television Theatre, Armstrong Circle Theatre, CBS Repertoire Workshop, and Play of the Week.

In the Sixties she continued to appear on Search for Tomorrow. She was a lead on the short-lived show Fair Exchange. She also had a semi-regular role on The F.B.I. in its first season. She appeared on two episodes of Dobie Gillis, playing Edwina "Eddie" Kegel, a love interest for Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver). She guest starred on the TV shows Bus Stop, Wagon Train, Target: The Corruptors, The Eleventh Hour, Gunsmoke, The Defenders, The Greatest Show on Earth, Perry Mason, Daniel Boone, Mr. Novak, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Big Valley, Amos Burke Secret Agent, The Wild Wild West, A Man Called Shenandoah, Bonanza, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, The Invaders, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., My Three Sons, Lancer, The Immortal, and The Mod Squad. She appeared in the movies Splendor in the Grass (1961), Pressure Point (1962), and Doppelgänger (1969).

In the Seventies Miss Loring guest starred on The Young Lawyers, The Mod Squad, Ghost Story, Return to Peyton Place, and Police Woman. Her last appearance on screen was in the TV movie The Kansas City Massacre in 1975. She retired from acting to go into production. She produced the TV movies The Return of the Mod Squad (1979), The Best Little Girl in the World (1981), Sizzle (1981), and Making of a Male Model (1983). She produced the TV series Glitter. She produced the feature films Mr. Mom (1983) and Me and the Kid (1993).

In 1985 she became a development executive at MGM/UA Television. Among other things, she suggested to Fred Silverman that it would be a good idea to adapt the hit movie In the Heat of the Night as a TV series and that Carroll O'Connor should star in the series. The TV series In the Heat of the Night proved to be a hit that is still seen in reruns. Lynn Loring eventually became president of MGM/UA Television and one of the highest paid female studio executives in Hollywood.

Lynn Loring was an extremely talented actress capable of playing a number of diverse roles. I will probably remember her best as Maynard's one true love Eddie on Dobie Gillis. Eddie was in many respects a female version of Maynard, if a little smarter than he was, and Miss Loring played the role perfectly. In the Gunsmoke episode "Pa Hack's Role" she played a part far removed from Eddie, the daughter of the ne'er-do-well title character, whom he wants to marry off to a wealthy rancher. On the Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Paper Bullets" she played the younger sister of a politician who is dating the son of his opponent. In the Bonanza episode "Something Hurt, Something Wild," she played a mentally unstable young woman who accuses Little Joe (Michael Landon) of assault. Lynn Loring was nothing if not versatile, and she could play roles that were dramatically different from each other.

Ron Harper Passes On

Ron Harper, who starred on the TV shows 87th Precinct, Wendy and Me, Garrison's Gorillas, and Planet of the Apes, died on March 21 2024 at the age of 91.

Ron Harper was born on January 12 1933 in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania. He earned a scholarship to Princeton University. It was while he was at Princeton that he did two seasons of summer stock. He was offered a fellowship to Harvard Law School. Instead he studied acting with Lee Strasberg and then served in the United States Navy.

Ron Harper made his television debut in 1955 in an episode of Kraft Television Theatre. In the late Fifties he also guest starred on Tales of Wells Fargo, Thriller, and Wagon Train. He was an understudy for Paul Newman on Broadway in Sweet Bird of Youth, in which he also appeared as a man at a bar.

In the Sixties Ron Harper starred on multiple television shows, including 87th Precinct, Wendy and Me, The Jean Arthur Show, and Garrison's Gorillas. He guest starred on The Deputy; The Tall Man; Shotgun Slade; Laramie; Love, American Style; and The Big Valley.

In the Seventies he starred on the TV show Planet of the Apes and the third season of Land of the Lost. He had a recurring roles on the daytime soap operas Where the Heart Is and Another World. He guest starred on the shows Cannon; Love, American Style;  and The Blue Knight. He appeared on Broadway in 6 Rms Riv Vu. He also appeared in the movie Temporada salvaje (1971).

In the Eighties Ron Harper had roles on the soap operas Loving, Capitol, and Generations.He guest starred on the shows Mike Hammer, Remington Steele. and Dragnet. In the Nineties he guest starred on the shows Beverly Hills, 90120; Melrose Place; Night Man; Night Stand; Boy Meets World; Walker, Texas Ranger; and Malibu, CA. He appeared in the movies Below Utopia (1997), Freedom Strike (1998), and The Odd Couple II (1998).

In the Naughts he guest starred on the shows Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place; The West Wing; and Cold Case. He appeared in the movies Pearl Harbor (2001) and Touched (2005). In the Teens he appeared in the movie Whoa! (2013).

Ron Harper was a fine actor and seemingly perfect as a leading man for TV series. After all, among other things, he played First Lt. Craig Garrison, leader of the group of the title, on Garrison's Gorillas and astronaut Coloenl Alan Virdon on the TV series Planet of the Apes. The fact that the various series on which he was a lead did not last long was certainly  due to no fault of his own, as he gave solid performances in each of them. He was also excellent in his various guest appearances. He was a husband who wanted to keep gold that he found, against the objections of his wife, in the Laramie episode "Edge of Evil." In the Cannon episode "Fool's Gold," he played the hotel manager in a small town insistent on protecting an armoured car robber. Ron Haper was certainly a talented actor whose performances made any show better.

The Late Great Barbara Rush

Legendary actress Barbara Rush, who appeared in such films as When Worlds Collide (1951), It Came from Outer Space (1954), The Young Philadelphians (1959), and Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), and on such TV shows as Peyton Place and Seventh Heaven, died yesterday, March 31 2024, at the age of 97.

Barbara Rush was born on January 4 1927 in Denver, Colorado. Her family moved to Santa Barbara, California, where she and her father worked as ushers at the Lobero Theatre there. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and afterwards studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. It was in 1950 that she signed a contract with Paramount Pictures.

Barbara Rush made her film debut in The Goldbergs in 1950. Her first starring role was in the science fiction classic When Worlds Collide (1951). In the Fifties she appeared in such films as Quebec (1951), The First Legion (1951), Flaming Feather (1952), Prince of Pirates (1953), It Came from Outer Space (1953), Taza, Son of Cochise (1954), Magnificent Obsession (1954), The Black Shield of Farnsworth (1954), Captain Lightfoot (1955), Kiss of Fire (1955), World in My Corner (1956), Bigger Than Life (1956), Fight to Hong Kong (1956), Oh Men! Oh Women! (1957), No Down Payment (1957), The Young Lions (1958), Harry Black (1958), The Young Philadelphians (1959), The Bramble Bush (1960), and Strangers When We Meet (1960). She made her television debut in an episode of Lux Video Theatre in 1954. She guest starred on the shows Matinee Theatre, Suspicion, Lux Playhouse, Sunday Showcase, Playhouse 90, Checkmate, and Our American Heritage.

In the Sixties, Miss Rush had a recurring role on the TV show Saints and Sinners and a regular role on the nighttime soap opera Peyton Place.  She made an unsold pilot titled The Barbara Rush Show that aired as an episode of the show Vacation Playhose. She guest starred on the shows Frontier Circus; Theatre '62; General Electric Theatre; The Eleventh Hour; The Dick Powell Show; Ben Casey; The Outer Limits; Kraft Suspense Theatre; Convoy; Dr. Kildare; The Fugitive; Laredo; Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre; Custer; Batman; Mannix; and Love, American Style. She appeared in the movies Come Blow Your Horn (1963), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), and Hombre (1967).

In the Seventies she guest starred on the shows The Mod Squad; Night Gallery; Marcus Welby, M.D.; McCloud; Cade's County; Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law; Maude; Ironside; The Streets of San Francisco; The New Dick Van Dyke Show; Medical Center; Police Story; Cannon; Mannix; Ellery Queen; The Bionic Woman; ABC Weekend Specials; The Eddie Capra Mysteries; Fantasy Island, and The Love Boat. She appeared in the mini-series The Seekers. She appeared in the movies The Man (1972), Superdad (1973), and Can't Stop the Music (1980).

In the Eighties Barbara Rush was a regular on the nighttime soap opera Flamingo Road. She guest starred on the TV shows Cop Shop; Matt Houston; Knight Rider; Fantasy Island; Masquerade; Finder of Lost Loves; Glitter, Hotel; Magnum, P.I.; Murder, She Wrote; and Hooperman. She appeared in the movie Summer Loves (1982).

In the Nineties Miss Rush had recurring roles on the daytime soap opera All My Children and the TV series 7th Heaven. She guest starred on Paradise, Hearts Are Wild, Burke's Law, Relativity, and The Outer Limits. In the Naughts she continued to appear on 7th Heaven. She appeared in the short "My Mother's Hairdo." Her last appearance on was in the short "Bleeding Hearts: The Arteries of Glenda Bryant" in 2017.

Barbara Rush also had an extensive career on stage. She appeared on Broadway in A Woman of Independent Means in 1984. She also appeared in such productions as The Little Foxes, Antony and Cleopatra, Unsinkable Molly Brown, Butterflies are Free, Night of the Iguana, Blithe Spirit, Steel Magnolias, and Love Letters. She attended multiple TCM Classic Film Festivals over the years.

Following Barbara Rush's death, I heard someone describe her as a "classically beautiful character actress," and I think that is a very accurate description. She had the looks of a leading lady, but she could play a wide variety of roles with ease. For sci-fi fans she might be most familiar as the astronomer's daughter Joyce Hendron in When Worlds Collide and school teacher Ellen Fields in It Came from Outer Space. While she is remembered for those two sci-fi classics, she was also at home in more straight-forward dramas. She played the wife of drug-addicted teacher Ed Avery (James Mason) in Bigger Than Life. In The Young Philadelphians Barbara Rush played socialite Joan Dickson, who falls in love with middle class Princeton student Tony Lawrence (Paul Newman). Barbara Rush could and did play villainous roles. In Robin and the 7 Hoods she played the somewhat duplicitous Marian. In Hombre she played the aristocratic wife of an Indian agent who has her own agenda.

Of course, Barbara Rush was not only beautiful and talented. She was an altogether wonderful person. I never got to meet her, but I have many friends who did get to meet her at the TCM Classic Film Festival and other events. She was warm, friendly, and known for her kindness to her fans. And she was so very intelligent, as anyone who has seen an interview with her will know. She was generous with her stories of Old Hollywood. In the end Barbara Rush was the very definition of a lady, intelligent, elegant, kind, and so much more.

Happy Easter 2024

Here at A Shroud of Thoughts  we realize that some people appreciate some cheesecake to go along with their Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies. Here then is this years collection of pinups.

Mary Carlisle is dressed as the Easter Bunny and ready to deliver eggs!

Marla English is also dressed as the Easter Bunny.

Gloria Holliday is being stalked by a rather sinister looking Easter bunny.

Claudia Barrett really loves her carrots.

Felicia Farr has completed painting her eggs.

And, finally, Ann Miller is eschewing the Easter Bunny to water her lilies!

Happy Easter!

The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery

(This post is part of the Mismatched Couples Blogathon hosted by Cinematic Catharsis and Reelweedgiemidget Review)

Detectives Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin first appeared in the novel Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout in 1934. Ultimately Rex Stout would write 32 more novels and 41 novellas and short stories featuring the pair. The popularity of the Nero Wolfe novels would lead to adaptations to other media, including two movies produced by Columbia in the Thirties, four different radio shows, a 1959 television pilot featuring no less than William Shatner as Archie Goodwin, a 1977 TV movie with Thayer David as Nero Wolfe and Tom Mason as Archie Goodwin, and a short-lived 1981 TV series with William Conrad as Wolfe and Lee Horsley as Archie. What may have been the best received adaptation of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin to another medium may have been the 2001-2002 A&E series Nero Wolfe, which began with the TV movie The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery starring Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin.

For those unfamiliar with the Nero Wolfe novels, Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, but eccentric and overweight private detective. He refuses to leave his lavish brownstone on West 35th Street in New York City to do business and not for very many other reasons either. He keeps a very rigid routine, whereby breakfast is served at 8:15 AM, lunch at 1:15 PM, and dinner at 7:15 PM or 7:30 PM. In between Wolfe tends to his orchids and does business. Nero Wolfe loves both food and beer (in Fer-de-Lance he tells Archie he is going to cut down to five quarts a day). He is also a voracious reader and he owns an extensive library. Wolfe has a profound dislike of women, to the point that it is nearly pathological. There are some hints, especially in the early novels, that Wolfe may have had an unfortunate encounter with a woman years ago. Wolfe also dislikes being touched by anyone, to the point that he won't even shake hands. He also is very precise in his words, and fastidious when it comes to proper grammar. Wolfe dislikes exercise, but he can be surprisingly athletic when he has to be.

Nero Wolfe could easily have become an eccentric recluse if not for his employee Archie Goodwin, who is a sharp contrast to the brilliant detective. Archie could accurately be described as Nero Wolfe's secretary, although his duties go well beyond that. Like Wolfe, Archie is a licensed private detective. Since Wolfe refuses to leave his brownstone to do business, Archie Goodwin is the one who actually gathers clues and information, and interviews individuals who either can't or won't visit Wolfe's brownstone. Archie is perfectly suited to this task, as he possesses a great memory (he can recall entire conversations) and he is a keen observer when it comes to small details. He also has a very respectable typing speed, so that he can churn out reports in no time. It should come as no surprise that it is Archie who conducts most of Nero Wolfe's day to day business, including keeping Nero Wolfe's books, handling Wolfe's banking, paying the bills, and typing any correspondence Wolfe might have. It is also Archie who insures that Wolfe continues working, often badgering his employer into taking cases. In contrast to Wolfe's lavish tastes in food and drink, Archie's tastes are more middle class. He likes corned beef sandwiches and will leave the brownstone to get it (Wolfe won't allow it on the premises), fried chicken, and milk. While Wolfe seems to dislike women, Archie definitely has an eye for the ladies.

What set Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novels apart from other mystery novels of his day is that they are essentially a fusion of the refined detectives of classic mysteries (such as Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot) and detectives of the hard-boiled school (such as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe). Quite simply, Nero Wolfe is a classic mystery detective, while Archie Goodwin is a hard-boiled detective. While the two are quite different and seemingly mismatched, they compliment each other perfectly. While Nero Wolfe is a genius at deductive reasoning, but at a loss in dealing with the world beyond the brownstone, Archie Goodwin has a talent for gathering information and dealing with a wide range of people. Of course, here it must be pointed out that Archie could have easily run his own detective agency. In the novel In the Best of Families, when Wolfe disappears for a time, he did exactly that.

As mentioned above, Nero Wolfe has been adapted to media beyond literature several times. For much of the Twentieth Century, the rights to the novels and stories were a hot commodity. Among those who sought the rights to the Nero Wolfe novels and stories was Michael Jafffe, son of actress Jean Muir and lawyer turned producer Henry Jaffe. It was in the mid-Seventies when the rights to the Nero Wolfe novels and short stories became available that Warner Bros. asked Henry Jaffe to enter into negotiations with the Rex Stout estate so that they could adapt the three novels featuring archvillain Arnold Zeck (And Be a Villain, The Second Confession, and In the Best Families) as a feature film. As it turned out, Warner Bros. lost out to Paramount Pictures, who produced the 1977 TV movie  and the 1981 TV series.

At long last Michael Jaffe was able to obtain the rights to the Nero Wolfe novels and stories. Michael Jaffe had known Allen Sabinson, the head of programming at A&E for years, and he was able to interest the cable channel in Nero Wolfe. Initially it was planned that The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery would be the first in a series of two-hour movies. As it turned out, The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery proved so successful that A&E decided to go ahead with a regularly-scheduled, one-hour series.

The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery was based on the 1953 novel The Golden Spiders by Rex Stout. The Golden Spiders is not necessarily considered among the very best Nero Wolfe mysteries, but it was decided to adapt it first for a number of reasons. In an interview from 2002 with the magazine Scarlet Street, Michael Jaffe said, "We wanted to pick a story that had activity in it so that we could slowly bring people into the static milieu of Nero Wolfe's house. The Golden Spiders took you outside. There's a gunfight and a tough interrogation scene." As a long-time reader of the Nero Wolfe books, I also have to suspect The Golden Spiders was chosen because it features most of the major characters in the Nero Wolfe mythos:  Wolfe's personal chef Fritz Brenner; Manhattan Homicide detective Inspector Cramer; Sergeant Purley Stebbins of Manhattan Homicide; crime reporter Lon Cohen of The New York Gazette; Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin, and Orrie Cather, freelance detectives who often work for Nero Wolfe; and Deputy Commissioner Neary.

The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery followed the novel fairly closely, with dialogue even lifted from the book. In both the novel and the TV movie, after Nero Wolfe (Maury Chaykin) throws a tantrum over how Fritz (Collin Fox) prepared his food, as a prank Archie Goodwin (Timothy Hutton) allows a neighbourhood boy into the brownstone to talk to Wolfe. The boy tells Wolfe that he was washing the windshield of a car when the woman driving the car, wearing golden spider earrings, told him to alert the police. Wolfe simply has Archie pass the boy's information onto the police, but then the following day the boy is the victim of vehicular homicide. Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin then find themselves on a case.

The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery was directed by acclaimed actor and director Bill Duke, who had earlier directed The Killing Floor (1984) and A Rage in Harlem (1991). The teleplay was written by Paul Monash, who had written for such classic shows as Studio One and Playhouse 90, and wrote the 1979 mini-series Salem's Lot. The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery is to be noted for its production design, which perfectly captures post-war New York City. Lindsey Hermer-Bell would do the production design for the regular Nero Wolfe series and would later do production design for such shows as Murdoch Mysteries and Suits.

The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery was watched by 3.2 million households, an exceptionally large number of viewers for a TV movie aired on a cable channel at the time. It also received a good deal of critical acclaim, with particular praise for Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin.  As mentioned earlier, the success of The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery led A&E to order the regular TV series Nero Wolfe.

There is much to commend The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery. There is the aforementioned production design. Bill Duke's direction makes The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery look more like a feature film than a TV movie. The teleplay is faithful to the novel, and much of the dialogue is taken directly from the book. What really sets The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery apart from other TV movies (or feature films, for that matter) are the performances of Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton as Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin respectively. The two men captured their characters perfectly, from Wolfe's petulance to Archie's wit. Through their performances they also show the stark contrasts between the characters,  Nero Wolfe's aristocratic demeanour and Archie Goodwin's more down-to-earth personality, while at the same time making it clear how their talents compliment each other.

Sadly, A&E cancelled the TV series that emerged from The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery, after only two seasons. A&E decided to abandon quality television shows such as Nero Wolfe for the cesspool that is reality television (yes, I am still sore about that). Regardless, the TV series Nero Wolfe maintains a cult following to this day, and it all started with The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery.

The Late Great M. Emmet Walsh

Legendary character actor M. Emmet Walsh, he appeared in movies from Blade Runner (1982) to Blood Simple (1984) to Knives Out (2019), died on March 19 2024 at the age of 88. The cause was cardiac arrest.

M. Emmet Walsh was born on Mach 22 1935 in Ogdensburg, New York. He grew up in Swanton, Vermont. He earned a degree in business administration from Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. At the college he appeared in various stage productions there. He decided to pursue acting as a career after being encouraged by a faculty advisor. Mr. Walsh then moved to New York City to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Art. He began his professional acting career in regional theatre.

M. Emmet Walsh made his television debut in 1968 in a guest appearance on the daytime soap opera The Doctors. He made his film debut the following year in an uncredited role in Midnight Cowboy (1969). He made his debut on Broadway in Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?. In the late Sixties he guest starred on television on N.Y.P.D. and Arnie. He appeared in the films Stiletto (1969), Alice's Restaurant (1969), End of the Road (1970), The Traveling Executioner (1970), and Little Big Man (1970).

In the Seventies M. Emmet Walsh had a recurring role on the Western TV series Nichols and a regular role on The Sandy Duncan Role. He appeared in the mini-series The French Atlantic Affair. He guest starred on the shows Julia; All in the Family; The Jimmy Stewart Show; Ironside, Bonanza; The Don Rickles Show; The Bob Newhart Show; McMillan & Wife; Amy Prentiss; The Rockford Files; The Waltons; Kate McShane, Baretta; Gibbsville; Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; Starsky and Hutch; James at 15; Dear Detective; and Skag. He appeared in the movies Cold Turkey (1971), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), They Might Be Giants (1971), What's Up, Doc? (1972), Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972), Kid Blue (1973), Serpico (1973), The Gambler (1974), At Long Last Love (1975), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975), Bound for Glory (1976), Nickelodeon (1976), Mikey and Nicky (1976), Slap Shot (1977), Airport '77 (1977), Straight Time (1978), The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979); The Jerk (1979); Brubaker (1980); Raise the Titanic (1980), and Ordinary People (1980). He appeared on Broadway in The Championship Season.

In the Eighties M. Emmet Walsh appeared in the movies Back Roads (1981), Reds (1981), Cannery Row (1982), The Escape Artist (1982), Fast-Walking (1982), Blade Runner (1982), Silkwood (1983), Scandalous (1984), Blood Simple (1984), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), Missing in Action (1984), Courage (1984), Fletch (1985), The Best of Times (1986), Wildcats (1986), Critters (1986), Back to School (1986), Raising Arizona (1987), Harry and the Hendersons (1987), No Man's Land (1987), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Sunset (1988), Clean and Sober (1988), War Party (1988), Red Scorpion (1988), The Mighty Quinn (1989), Thunderground (1989), Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989), Catch Me if You Can (1989), Chattahoochee (1989), and Narrow Margin (1990). On television he appeared in the mini-series East of Eden, The Deliberate Stranger, and Brotherhood of the Rose. He guest starred on the shows Little House on the Prairie, ABC Afterschool Specials, After MASH, You Are the Jury, ABC Weekend Specials, The Twilight Zone, The Hitchhiker, The Wonderful World of Disney, Amazing Stories, Tales from the Crypt, and The Flash. He was a regular on the short-lived show Unsub.

In the Nineties Mr. Walsh appeared in the movies Killer Image (1992), White Sands (1992), Equinox (1992), The Naked Truth (1992), The Music of Chance (1993), Wilder Napalm (1993), Bitter Harvest (1993), Cops and Robbersons (1994), Camp Nowhere (1994), The Glass Shield (1994), Relative Fear (1994), Dead Badge (1995), Panther (1995), Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), Albino Alligator (1996), Romeo + Juliet (1996),  Retroactive (1997), The Killing Jar (1997), My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), Chairman of the Board (1997), Twilight (1998), Erasable You (1998), Wild Wild West (1999), Random Hearts (1999), Me and Will (1999), Jack of Hearts (1999), and Poor White Trash (1999). He was the voice of Earl Stutz in the animated classic The Iron Giant (1999). He guest starred on the TV shows The Jackie Thomas Show, Home Improvement, The Outer Limits, Early Edition, Tracey Takes On..., The X-Files, NYPD Blue, Gideon's Crossing, and Ed. He was a guest voice on the animated series The Wild Thornberrys. He was a regular voice on the animated show Big Guy and Rusty the Robot.

In the Naughts M. Emmet Walsh had a regular role on the short-lived television series The Mind of a Married Man. He guest starred on the shows Night Visions, Frasier, Charlie Lawrence, The Guardian, and 'Til Death. He was a guest voice on What's New, Scooby doo?. He appeared in the movies Snow Dogs (2002), Baggage (2003), Christmas with the Kranks (2004), Racing Stripes (2005), Greener Mountains (2005), Man in the Chair (2007), Big Stan (2007), Sherman's Way (2008), Your Name Here (2008), Don McKay (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), Sam Steele and the Junior Detective Agency (2009), Chasing 3000 (2009), and The Assignment (2010).

In the Teens Mr. Walsh had recurring roles on the TV shows Damages and Sneaky Pete.. He was a regular voice on the animated shows Pound Puppies and Adventure Time. He guest starred on the shows Army Wives, 5-Second Films, Empire, Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories, and The Righteous Gemstones. He appeared in the movies The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012), Arthur Green (2012), Love Sick Love (2012), Calvary (2014), Boiling Pot (2015), Shifting Gears (2018), Change in the Air (2018), Faith, Hope & Love (2019), Raising Buchanan (2019), Knives Out (2019), and The Mimic (2020).

In the 2020s he appeared in the movies The Immaculate Room (2022), Dotty & Soul (2022), A Little White Lie (2023), and Outlaw Posse (2024). He is set to appear in God Loves the Green Bay Packers. He guest starred on the television shows The Righteous Gemstones and American Gigolo.

M. Emmet Walsh was extremely prolific. What is more, he never retired. The reason that he was able to work so much and work so long is quite simply that he was enormously talented, so talented that he was never typecast. Throughout the years he played a wide variety of roles, from authority figures to lovable eccentrics to outright criminals. In Slap Shot he was the modest sportswriter Dickie Dunn, who in writing about sports always "tried to capture the spirit of the thing." One of his most famous roles, if not his most famous, was that of corrupt and absolutely amoral private detective Loren Visser. In The Iron Giant he voiced a character about as far from Loren Viser as one could get, local fisherman and town eccentric Earl Stutz. He was an Army sergeant in Alice's Restaurant (1969), Deckard's boss Bryant in Blade Runner, and the local sheriff in the movie Critters. He played a wide variety of characters on television as well, everything from Sandy's neighbour, motorcycle cop Alex Lembeck, on The Sandy Duncan Show to an insurance agent who hires Jim Rockford in the Rockford Files episode "Counter Gambit" to a former police officer who had an encounter with aliens in 1947 in the X-Files episode "The Unnatural." Even with his somewhat imposing size, M. Everet Walsh could play a wide variety of roles, many unlike any other he had played. He was not simply a great character actor. He was a great actor, period.

Thank You for a Successful 10th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon

I want to thank everyone who took part in this year's 10th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon and for making it a success. We had several entries this year. The posts covered shows from the Fifties to Nineties. They also covered a wide array of genres, from anthology shows to sci-fi shows to sitcoms. God willing, the Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon will return next year for its 11th iteration.