Monday 30 July 2007

R.I.P.

My mother always used to say that deaths came in threes, and they certainly have.

Bill Walsh coached the San Francisco 49ers in their glory years and they really haven't been the same since.

Ingmar Bergman was an amazing film director -- I remember watching Fanny and Alexander when I lived in New York City and thinking it was one of the most beautiful movies I had ever seen. Next to Akira Kurosawa, Bergman is my favourite non-English film director.

And last, but certainly not least, Tom Snyder. I never liked much late-night television: if I was up that late, I wasn't watching television. (I was probably working or sitting in a bar somewhere.)

But Tomorrow with Tom Snyder was another creature all together: he was funny, asked enormously brilliant questions, and never hesitated to call someone an idiot when they were (which was often!). When the show was cancelled, I was not happy.

As "the business" goes, of course, he ended up getting a gig at WNBC-TV, the NBC affiliate in New York, in 1985, just before I left. They had a great advertising campaign for him on the subway, with a full head shot, and a long list of descriptors.

It was so terrific and memorable, that someone actually produced T-shirts with the same script.

Tom Snyder Tshirt

I bought one just before I left: I'll wear it proudly in memoriam.

Rest in peace, gentleman: you will all be missed.

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