Three New Tributes

1. Roger Smith, 1932-2017, R.I.P.

Roger Smith, actor, screenwriter, and (later in his career) Ann-Margret's husband and manager, has died at the age of eighty-four.

Convinced to become an actor by none other than James Cagney -- after which Smith played Creighton Chaney (a/k/.a Lon Chaney, Jr.) in Man of a Thousand Faces, where Cagney played Lon Chaney, Sr. -- Mr. Smith's best-known role was probably that of Jeff Spencer on ABC's 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964) with Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and Edd Byrnes. Smith went on to star as the title character in NBC's Mister Roberts, based on the earlier play (1948) and movie (1955).

Smith started dating actress and singer Ann-Margret in the mid-1960s, and they married in 1967. He eventually became her manager, and producer of her Las Vegas shows. They celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary on May 8th.

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2. Elena Verdugo, 1925-2017, R.I.P.

Actress and singer Elena Verdugo has passed away at the age of ninety-two.

I first encountered Ms. Verdugo in her role as nurse Consuelo Lopez on ABC's Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969-1976). I didn't realize it at the time, but her character was a very early positive role model for Latina women. And it was quite a kick for the teenaged Silver Fox to learn during Welby's run that Ms. Verdugo had played a part in 1945's House of Frankenstein! (She wore a dark-haired wig for this and many other roles -- as a Gypsy, Latina, Native American, etc. -- as she was actually blonde.)

I was also quite pleased to recognize her in a small role at the beginning of 1952's Cyrano de Bergerac, when I finally got to see it in 1983 or so, fifteen years after reading its 1952 comic book adaptation in an old issue of Classics Illustrated!

Ms. Verdugo with one of my very few idols, voice-over goddess June Foray!

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3. Peter Sallis, 1921-2017, R.I.P.

Actor Peter Sallis has died at the age of  ninety-six.

Personally, I wasn't familiar with Mr. Sallis' many projects, outside of his voice-over work as the character of Wallace in the "Wallace and Gromit" films. (I'd actually seen him in such films as The Curse of the Werewolf, Taste the Blood of Dracula, and 1973 TV movie Frankenstein: The True Story, but I saw all of them when I was much younger and regrettably, I don't specifically recall his part in any of them.)

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Thanks for your time.