It Was a Bad Week If You Were Big in 1982...

Tangina and Trapper John Go Into the Light ....

As most of you know, I am a child of the 80's. It's been a long time since those days, and this week, we got a small reminder that even people who were at their peak then eventually get older and pass away. Most people talked about JD Salinger, but few people my age read it, because it was 'Catcher in the Rye' that Mark David Chapman sat down and read after he shot John Lennon. It wasn't Salinger's fault, but for a lot of kids my age, it brought up bad memories, so we skipped it in High School....

However, for those of us who grew up on other forms of entertainment, we lost two familiar faces as well. Zelda Rubenstein, who played Tangina in 'Poltergeist' passed away from heart complications this week at age 76. A neat little tidbit we learned - Zelda didn't even go into acting until she was 47. A graduate of University of Pittsburgh and Cal-Berkeley, she was a lab technician at a blood bank, when she chose to change career paths. That little Southern Drawl was fake! Poltergeist was probably the second movie that scared the crap out of me - The Shining was the first - but Rubenstein also had a gig on 'Picket Fences' as well....

Also lost this week was actor Pernell Roberts. For those of you who were older (read: Tom and Moye), you know him for playing Adam Cartwright on 'Bonanza', but for me , he was Trapper John, MD. My parents seemed to watch CBS 24/7 (Pops was too lazy to change the channel , pre-remote control, folks!), and it must have been on right after MASH, because we always watched it for the whole run. I kinda had a crush on Linda Kelsey too....

So yes, it was a tough week for those big stars of 1982. Movies, TV and literature - they all lost someone this week. If I were John Mellencamp or Sammy Hagar, I'd take it easy this week ....

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