RIP: Andy Williams

[jfrancispastirchak]

Crooner Andy Williams has succumbed to Bladder cancer. Few performers ever created as many TV memories as he did, particularly with his Christmas Shows.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Is it just me or is it that 2012 has had more than its share of entertainers' passing?

I mean I can't remember this many show business types dying off within a matter of several months. Do you?

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Is it just me or is it that 2012 has had more than its share of entertainers' passing? I mean I can't remember this many show business types dying off within a matter of several months. Do you?

Interesting question. I wish I knew the answer. Yes, 2012 so far would seem like an unusally productive year for celebrity ammortization, but I'm not aware of any statistical services that track such trends.

Another sad reality-- very few performers sprouting from talent screamfests like Idol or Voice appear to have the credentials necessary to replace the singers we've lost this year, like Williams, or Tony Martin. I doubt any of them have even heard of Tony Martin. And household name prima-donnas of both the big screen and the small screen, like Ashton Kutcher and "Snooki", offer credible testimony that Hollywood's standards have declined as well. Neither of those two clowns will ever prove worthy of licking the boots of Ernest Borgenine and Celeste Holmes, both legendary stars lost in 2012.

 

[Mitchell H]

Is it just me or is it that 2012 has had more than its share of entertainers' passing? I mean I can't remember this many show business types dying off within a matter of several months. Do you?

Interesting question. I wish I knew the answer. Yes, 2012 so far would seem like an unusally productive year for celebrity ammortization, but I'm not aware of any statistical services that track such trends.

Another sad reality-- very few performers sprouting from talent screamfests like Idol or Voice appear to have the credentials necessary to replace the singers we've lost this year, like Williams, or Tony Martin. I doubt any of them have even heard of Tony Martin. And household name prima-donnas of both the big screen and the small screen, like Ashton Kutcher and "Snooki", offer credible testimony that Hollywood's standards have declined as well. Neither of those two clowns will ever prove worthy of licking the boots of Ernest Borgenine and Celeste Holmes, both legendary stars lost in 2012.

Which begs the question - 40 years from now, whose deaths will we be mourning? Will we have many who could legitimately be considered a legend? Or will they be the flavor of the month, people still in the midst of their fame?

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Andy Williams' first regular TV gig was way back in 1950---at the age of twenty---when he was a regular on "College Bowl", not the quiz show but a musical-variety show on ABC set in a campus soda shop and emceed by (of all people), Chico Marx!

In the Summer of 1957, he and June Valli co-starred in a twice-weekly 15-minute "minishow" on NBC (airing at 7:30 P.M. EDT, eight before the "Huntley/Brinkley" newscast, which would be moved from 7:45 ET to 6:45 ET that September).

In the Summers of 1958 and 1959, Williams did Summer variety shows on CBS and ABC respectively.

By 1962, he was a major recording star (with hits like "Moon River"), and returned to weekly TV with an hour-long variety show on NBC that ran through 1967.

In the 1967-68 and 1968-69 TV seasons, Williams did a handful of specials, but returned to the weekly variety format on NBC in the Fall of 1969, which stayed on the air until 1971.

In the 1976/77 TV season, he hosted a weekly half-hour syndicated variety show.

Additionally, he emceed several Grammy Award telecasts.

He was as much a star on TV 9and maybe more so) as he was as a singer.

He made it to the top reaches of both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Nielsen Primetime Ratings list.

 

[LKellerIII]

For what it's worth, I believe Andy gave The Osmonds their first big break - the older brothers, pre-Donnie and Marie.

My father was a big fan of his variety show in the 60s, and I have nostalgic memories. He seemed like a good guy, too. It was admirable of him to stand by his ex-wife Claudine Longet.

Not to go off topic, but does anybody else remember the old SNL skit? Footage of a skier going down the slope, a shot rings out and the skier tumbles helplessly.

Announcer: Oh, no! Again.. again, Spider Sabich has been accidentally shot by Claudine Longet...

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

For what it's worth, I believe Andy gave The Osmonds their first big break - the older brothers, pre-Donnie and Marie.

My father was a big fan of his variety show in the 60s, and I have nostalgic memories. He seemed like a good guy, too. It was admirable of him to stand by his ex-wife Claudine Longet.

Not to go off topic, but does anybody else remember the old SNL skit? Footage of a skier going down the slope, a shot rings out and the skier tumbles helplessly. Announcer: Oh, no! Again.. again, Spider Sabich has been accidentally shot by Claudine Longet...

YES !!!

 

[bpatrick]

That just about leaves Tony Bennett as the only surviving
middle-of-the-road singer from the era that produced Sinatra,
Como, Tony Martin...and Andy Williams.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

That just about leaves Tony Bennett as the only surviving
middle-of-the-road singer from the era that produced Sinatra,
Como, Tony Martin...and Andy Williams.

Actually, thanks to his successful dodging of the bullet in Goodfellas, Jerry Vale is still with us, as is Doris Day and Sue Rainey.

 

[bpatrick]

Vic Damone is also still with us.

Here's a trivia note: Andy Williams dubbed Lauren Bacall's
singing voice in her first movie with Humphrey Bogart, "To
Have And Have Not," in 1944. By some accounts, he was
sixteen at the time (I've heard his birth year given as 1928,
1930, and 1932).

 

[blackgold]

I used to listen to Andy Williams all the time and watch him as I was growing up on the TV. His show was the best in music and laughs. And his Christmas shows were spectacular.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Is it just me or is it that 2012 has had more than its share of entertainers' passing? I mean I can't remember this many show business types dying off within a matter of several months. Do you?

Interesting question. I wish I knew the answer. Yes, 2012 so far would seem like an unusally productive year for celebrity ammortization, but I'm not aware of any statistical services that track such trends.

This might help when it comes to those who died this year.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/world/obituaries/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

 

[firepoint525]

I don't know if we've lost any "more" celebrities this year than in previous years, but I'm wondering if maybe we're becoming more aware of it now because we are living in the internet age now. Wasn't too long ago that deaths of b-list celebs might have actually passed unnoticed.

As it is, we are all aging (we are aging as a society, too) and none of us will live forever.

 

[Mark Giardina]

With no offense meant to Andy Williams, but if Tony Bennett dies (say this year) then the music world will lose a giant talent.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

I don't know if we've lost any "more" celebrities this year than in previous years, but I'm wondering if maybe we're becoming more aware of it now because we are living in the internet age now. Wasn't too long ago that deaths of b-list celebs might have actually passed unnoticed.

Good Point.

 

[brian4]

I love Williams version of The First Noel.

R.I.P. Andy

 

[cd637299]

There are very few, if any, of Andy's tunes that I don't like.

Andy will be missed.

cd

 

[EZway2go]

That just about leaves Tony Bennett as the only surviving
middle-of-the-road singer from the era that produced Sinatra,
Como, Tony Martin...and Andy Williams.

Actually, thanks to his successful dodging of the bullet in Goodfellas, Jerry Vale is still with us, as is Doris Day and Sue Rainey.

Add Patti Page, Johnny Mathis, Petula Clark, Connie Francis, Kay Starr, Joni James, Gogi Grant

 

[bpatrick]

I read in my local paper this morning that Andy's biggest hit, "Moon River,"
almost didn't get released; the record company thought the lyrics would have
no appeal to teenagers.

It also noted that in 1956 and '57 Andy gave Elvis a run for his money at the
top of the charts, with a range of songs from the Sinatra-esque "Canadian Sunset"
to "Butterfly" ("Singin' The Blues" sideways).

As for Andy's Christmas specials, I miss those musical events each year (Bing Crosby,
Perry Como, etc.); unless a country-oriented singer (for example, Faith Hill) does one,
the genre is practically extinct. Even something's missing without Bob Hope around to
entertain the troops all over the world.

 

[bpatrick]

For what it's worth, I believe Andy gave The Osmonds their first big break - the older brothers, pre-Donnie and Marie.

My father was a big fan of his variety show in the 60s, and I have nostalgic memories. He seemed like a good guy, too. It was admirable of him to stand by his ex-wife Claudine Longet.

Not to go off topic, but does anybody else remember the old SNL skit? Footage of a skier going down the slope, a shot rings out and the skier tumbles helplessly. Announcer: Oh, no! Again.. again, Spider Sabich has been accidentally shot by Claudine Longet...

YES !!!

My memory may be playing tricks on me, but IIRC, that sketch got a lot of criticism (people weren't used to SNL's brand of humor at the time, I suppose). I also remember the criticism for a "Weekend Update" where Chevy Chase was reporting on the murder of comedian Professor Backwards: "nobody understood him; he kept shouting, "pleh! pleh! pleh!" (If you don't get it, that's "help! help! help!" spelled backwards.)