John MORTIMER + Patrick MCGOUHAN

With in the past week these two characters have passed away. I have fond memories of both.

Patrick MCGOOGHAN, author/actor died last week (Jan 14, 2009) at age 80. I remember him from his TV show "The Prisoner" - one of the most cryptic and puzzling TV dramas of the late 1960's in the genre of James Bond spy/thrillers of my childhood like "Danger Man", "The Man from U.N.C.L.E", "The Avengers", "The Fugitive" and "Get Smart". It exploited the political climate of extreme distrust in the post-cold war era that existed between the West and Soviets Union after the JFK assassination. (Image Courtesy: BBC News Online, Patrick MCGOOHAN in character on set of "The Prisoner" c 1963 in Portmerion, N. Wales UK)

John MORTIMER also passed away today (Jan 20, 2009) and also achieved fame as author of popular TV show "Rumpole of The Bailey" based on his life as a Barrister, later spun off into a series of books. It was a remarkable hit for BBC starring actor Leo MCKERN - who also coincidentally had a starring role in MCGOUGH's "The Prisoner" but died on July 23, 2002. (Image Courtesy: The Guardian Online, Sir John MORTIMER left, Sir Leo MCKERN right)

Harold PINTER died on Xmas Day

Poetic.

I never knew the prolific old lefty playwright and actor was married to Lady Antonia FRASER - author of many "historic" biographies (I am sorry to say that never found her books credible. They always seemed indulgences of near-fiction - more like romance novels redeemed by an historic allusion.)

2006 Oct - Pinter in (his contemporary's equal ) Sam BECKETTs "Krapp's Last Tapes". An excellent role for him - no doubt!

The only film by PINTER I recall seeing was his British "Betrayal" with Patricia HODGE, Ben KINGSLEY and Jeremy IRONS. It was adapted from his play of the same name, which reputedly drew upon his own divorce from 1st wife, Vivien MERCHANT (a stage name, as she was born Ida THOMPSON and so was no relation to famed Merchant Ivory Productions impresario - Ismail MERCHANT.) It had a huge impact on me - very moving.

He died - apparently - from recurrence of cancer, a reprise of 2002 esophageal cancer?

[RIP was commonly misunderstood to mean "Rest In Peace", when in fact it stands for the ancient Latin prayer "Requiescat in pace" which cannot be literally translated as such - although it is a good approximation of the intent. In the modern world (by this I mean the opposite of the ancient world or our post-christian era that began in 1 A.D) we tend to believe that the dead go to their respective fates immediately after death. In Ancient times it was thought that the dead waited in Hades until Judgment Day, and hence "Requiescat in pace" was a prayer that the deceased rest peacefully, not in torment, while awaiting the Judgment Day.]