ENGAGING CULTURE

I feel like i need to make a new column for death announcements, after the Harry Potter actor and Sydney Pollack, now I have news that two more notables have passed. I hate writing the title “(insert name here) Dead.” It just feels morbid. So I’m going to start calling any death announcements here the “RIP Report.”

RIP Harvey Korman (1927-2008)

Comedian Harvey Korman has died at the age of 81.

One of my earliest film favorites were the works of Mel Brooks… I loved them all, and Harvey Korman was a Brooks regular. He usually played the villain who didn’t quite have the constitution to really be truly evil. The rubber-froggy loving Hedley Lamaar in Blazing Saddles is a perfect example and his best-known Brooks role, but he was also good in High Anxiety and History of the World.

Korman was probably best known (by people a bit older than me) for his television roles. He was a regular cast member of the long-running Carol Burnett Show, and he did voice work on the Flintstones. A funny man…he will be missed.

RIP Joseph Pevney (1912-2008)

You may not know his name, but he directed some of the most well known episodes of the original Star Trek series, including “The Trouble with Tribbles” and “The City on the Edge of Forever.” He also directed over 35 films and dozens of television episodes including some of “The Incredible Hulk.” He was 96.