Ya Doesn't Have to Call Me Johnson.

Catching up from yesterday's day off...


Michael Johnson
1939 - Feb. 24, 2001

Michael Johnson
1939 - Feb. 24, 2001
What are the odds? I mean, really. "Michael Johnson" is one of the more popular names in the internet movie database, apparently. And an actor named Michael Johnson, who was born in 1939, died on this day in 2001.

No, wait...make that two.

Two actors named Michael Johnson (with completely different IMDB resumes and lists of credits) died on this day, the same day, in 2001. And both were born in 1939, at an unknown date. One (Michael Johnson 1) was a British actor who appeared in and the other (Michael Johnson 2) was an actor who appeared in bit parts in E.R. and Walker, Texas Ranger. Are they the same person? Not according to the Internet Movie Database, they're not. It's bizarre, since MJ1's credits end in 1984, and MJ2's credits pick up in 1985. They carry on until his last appearance in 2000. I suspect that they're the same person...but it doesn't appear so to the IMDB, which is considered to be dang near infallible on such matters.

It's weird, I tell you.



James Coco
Mar. 21, 1930 - Feb. 25, 1987
James Coco was a Broadway and movie actor who was known for being overweight and prematurely bald. This lent him to a lot of comedic roles, and the Neil Simon play Last of the Red Hot Lovers was written specifically for him. He went on to win a Tony award for that role. He also appeared in the Neil Simon films Murder By Death, The Cheap Detective, and Only When I Laugh (for which he was nominated for an Oscar). In the last few years of his life, Coco took to dieting, and he lost an incredible amount of weight. He wrote a diet cookbook and had a recurring role on Who's the Boss?. It is my memory that Coco then put a lot of the weight back on, and he suddenly died of a heart attack at age 56. Bummer. He was a really funny guy.


Darren McGavin
May 7, 1922 - Feb. 25, 2006
Darren McGavin was a great actor with a long list of credits, but is best remembered for two roles: newspaper reporter Karl Kolchak in the 1970s horror TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and the father in the 1983 classic A Christmas Story. It all really depends on where you're from, and how old you are. It's blasphemy to members of my generation, but I never cared for A Christmas Story. I was, however, crazy about The Night Stalker, a mediocre and short-lived TV series based on a fantastic 1971 TV movie. If you've never seen it, it concerns a reporter on the trail of a vampire in Las Vegas. It is notable for being the highest rated TV movie of its time. The series that followed broke ground that made series like The X-Files possible, and McGavin himself later guest-starred in a memorable episode of that show. Died of natural causes at a fairly old age.