RIP

[Kobi]

The good-looking actor may be best remembered by audiences as Hymie the Robot from 1960s TV spy spoof “Get Smart.” Although he only appeared in six episodes over the course of four seasons, the literal-minded automaton was a hit with fans and served as best man at Max’s wedding to Agent 99.

Gautier had a lengthy career with other notable comedic roles, including the Elvis Presley-inspired Conrad Birdie in the original Broadway production of “Bye, Bye Birdie.” He was nominated for a Tony award in 1960.

He later went on to star as Robin Hood in “Get Smart” co-creator Mel Brooks’ 1975 TV series, “When Things Were Rotten.” Although the series was critically acclaimed it was not popular, and was canceled after 13 episodes.

In addition to guest appearances on sitcoms, he was a frequent game show panelist. Beginning in the 1980s he became involved with voice-over work, playing the part of Rodimus Prime in “Transformers” and Serpentor in “G.I. Joe” animated series.

Before and throughout his acting career he was also a successful cartoonist, known for celebrity caricatures, and author of several instructional drawing books.

[Kobi]

Miguel Ferrer, the actor best known for starring as Owen Granger on “NCIS: Los Angeles,” died Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017, of cancer. He was 61.

Ferrer launched his career in the early 1980s with small guest shots on such series as Magnum, P.I., CHiPS and Cagney & Lacey and features including Heartbreaker, The Man Who Wasn’t There and Star Trek: III: The Search for Spock. He would go on to focus mostly on TV throughout that decade before landing the Twin Peaks role in 1990.

The Santa Monica native toplined the short-lived Stephen J. Cannell-creator cop drama Broken Badges in 1991 and also starred in Lynch’s 1950s romp On the Air the following year. He appeared in a number of features during the 1990s but continued to star on short-run TV series including Fallen Angels and Al Franken’s LateLine.

In 2001, Ferrer landed a role in the NBC drama Crossing Jordan, starring opposite Hennessy’s Boston medical examiner. The show was among the top 20 in the year-end ratings for 2001-02 and remained on the air until 2007.

After that series wrapped, Ferrer starred opposite Michelle Ryan in Bionic Woman, which lasted nine episodes, co-starred with Ally Walker and Tisha Campbell-Martin in the LAPD drama The Protector in 2011. But his next role would be his biggest.

In 2012, Ferrer joined the cast of CBS’ popular spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles, opposite Chris O’Donnell, LL Cool J, Linda Hunt and others. He came in early on as the assistant director of NCIS and at first was a hard-as-nails unpleasant sort to the team. But during the course of the ensuing seasons, his Owen Granger warmed up to them and became a friend. There has been an ongoing mole-hunt storyline in the current eighth season of NCIS: LA, and Granger was stabbed while in police custody in the most recent episode that aired Sunday.

Ferrer was the oldest of the five children of singer Rosemary Clooney and Academy Award-winning actor Jose Ferrer. He is a first cousin of actor George Clooney. He started his career as a drummer and played the drums on a cover of the Beach Boys' “Don’t Worry Baby” for Keith Moon’s solo album, “Two Sides of the Moon.”

Ferrer will be seen reprising his role as Rosenfield in the upcoming “Twin Peaks” reboot for Showtime. The series has already finished filming and will debut this summer.

[~ocean]

Mary Tyler Moore just died at the age of 80.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Butch Trucks, who co-founded the Allman Brothers Band, has died. He and Gregg and Duane Allman and three other musicians formed the band in Macon, Georgia. Butch was the drummer. He was 69 years old.

[cricket26]

[Kobi]

Mike Connors, the B-movie actor who found stardom on the long-running detective series "Mannix," has died. He was 91.

Connors played the private investigator Joe Mannix on the CBS television series that ran from 1967 to 1975.

Connors was born Krekor Ohanian Aug. 15, 1925, in Fresno, California. He was of Armenian descent. He served during World War II in the U.S. Army Air Forces. After the war, he attended the University of California at Los Angeles on a basketball scholarship. His basketball coach was the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden.

It was during his college basketball career that a director, William Wellman, noticed Connors' strong facial expressions and encouraged him to start an acting career.

After the actor had played a character named Touch Connors on a TV show and in movies during the 1950s, a talent agent suggested that name as his stage name -- so as not to be confused with the actor George O'Hanlon.

Connors' early film credits included "Island in the Sky," which starred John Wayne, and Cecil B. DeMille's blockbuster "The Ten Commandments," in which he played a shepherd alongside Charlton Heston.

During the mid-to-late '50s, Connors turned to television, appearing on such TV series as "Frontier," "City Detective," "State Trooper," and "Maverick."

He later had a starring role on "Tightrope!" from 1959 to 1960, which led to "Mannix" beginning in 1967. After "Mannix," he starred on the short-lived "Today's F.B.I.," which ran from 1981 to 1982.

Connors continued to act on TV as well as in films from the 1985 to 2003 including the films "Too Scared To Scream" (1985), "Fist Fighter" (1989), "Downtown Heat" (1994), "Gideon" (1998) and "The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave" (2000). He reprised his role as Joe Mannix in the 2003 comedy film "Nobody Knows Anything!"

Connors returned to TV in 2007 to appear in an episode of "Two and a Half Men."

[Kobi]

Actress Barbara Hale, who won an Emmy Award for playing legal secretary Della Street on the long-running "Perry Mason" television series, has died. She was 94.

Hale signed on with "Perry Mason" when the series began in 1957, playing the secretary to lawyer Perry Mason, played by Raymond Burr. Hale played Della as a quiet, devoted employee, a classic girl Friday. She was capable and professional, and she looked the part, dressed in timeless business wear that avoided following trends, her hair perfectly coifed. While she wasn't out there winning cases herself, it was clear that Della was the backbone that made her boss' success possible.

For fans of the "Perry Mason" series of novels, begun in 1933 by Erle Stanley Gardner, Hale became the unmistakable face of Della. She wasn't the first actress to play the secretary – five others portrayed Della in early movie adaptations – but Hale did it so well, and for so long, that she became the standard. Her portrayal won her an Emmy Award for best supporting actress in a dramatic series in 1959, as well as another nomination in 1961. When the series was canceled in 1966, she remained in fans' minds as the epitome of Della, and when it was revived for a series of 30 "Perry Mason" TV movies beginning in 1985, she was back.

Those movies also starred Burr as Mason – until his 1993 death. Four more movies were made with other lawyers standing in for Mason, thanks in part to Hale's reassuring continuity, with the final installment coming in 1995. Hale and Burr worked together for decades, and the two became good friends during their long time as colleagues. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times a few years after Burr's death, Hale said, "If anybody had a hero, I did. And Raymond was the man."

Though Hale is remembered most frequently as Della, she had a number of other notable roles on the big screen as well as on television. An early favorite was "Higher and Higher" (1943), Frank Sinatra's film debut. Hale played a young debutante, the love interest of Sinatra's character, and the two sang together. Of the chance to share vocals with Ol' Blue Eyes, Hale later told the Los Angeles Times, "Isn't that fun? I never had been so scared in my life, but he's been a very dear friend ever since."

Hale's first starring role was in 1946's "Lady Luck" opposite Robert Young. She'd go on to play opposite other top leading men of the day, including James Stewart in "The Jackpot" (1951), Rock Hudson in "Seminole" (1953), and Charlton Heston in "The Far Horizons" (1955). After a break from the big screen during the years when she starred on "Perry Mason," Hale returned for a few films in later years, including a supporting role in 1970's "Airport."

On television, Hale guest-starred on a number of shows during the years between the main "Perry Mason" series and the movie revivals, including "Lassie," "Adam-12," "Marcus Welby, M.D.," and "The Greatest American Hero." Her final television appearance came after a hiatus of five years with a 2000 turn on an episode of "Biography" focusing on Burr.

Hale has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and she won a 2001 Golden Boot Award for her memorable presence in a number of movie Westerns during her pre-"Perry Mason" career.