Cultureshark Remembers: Year-End Edition (Part 1)

It's been said over and over again how 2016 was a terrible year for prominent deaths, with seemingly one celebrity after another leaving. I didn't do a lot of Cultureshark Remembers posts in 2016, but this year I am going to do something different: I'll recommend one work, or maybe just embed a video, to remember the individual who passed. We'll do it in chronological order.

JANUARY

Pat Harrington:

There was much more to him than Schneider from One Day at a Time, but can you blame the guy for cashing in on it?

Alan Rickman: Die Hard "Do you really think you stand a chance against us, Mister Cowboy?"

Iron Mike Sharpe: Any of his 1980s WWF matches on syndicated television. You don't want to seek one of his 15-minute borefests with S.D. Jones from Prime Time Wrestling, but check out a shorter squash match to see him billed as "Canada's Greatest Athlete" and get his shtick.

David Bowie:

I don't care, this is my favorite thing of his ever.

Glenn Frey: The "Smuggler's Blues" video Unfortunately, you can't get the official video with sound on YouTube because the MAN will take it down, yet for some reason the label won't post it.

Abe Vigoda:

He was in one of THE movie classics, and he was great on Barney Miller, but I also appreciate his great second career as "that guy who everyone joked they thought was dead"

FEBRUARY

Harper Lee: The movie To Kill a Mockingbird I mean, you could read the book, but do people read books anymore?

George Kennedy: The Naked Gun movies His reactions to Drebin are priceless.

George Gaynes: Police Academy Tough not to recall the way he said, "Punky!" to Punky Brewster, but I think the best way to honor this classy actor is to picture him getting pleasured under that podium.

Bob Elliott: Get a Life, "Neptune 2000" Grumpy father Fred Peterson was one of the best things about the underrated Chris Elliott sitcom. This episode, in which Fred and Chris get stuck in a "submarine" they build from a kit, is a great showcase.

Maurice White:

'Nuff said!

MARCH

Garry Shandling: It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show Really, they're all brilliant, and you can't pick just one. It's all classic Shandling.

Patty Duke:

Joe Garagiola: The 1975 World Series It's all available on video, and Joe is in the booth.

Robert Horton: A Man Called Shenandoah, "The Onslaught" Wagon Train was a much more popular series, of course, but I dig this Western about an amnesiac wandering in search of his identity. Check it out from the beginning, and check out Horton's rendition of "Oh, Shenandoah!"

Bud Collins:

Kudos to this uploader for posting vintage Bud Collins post-match interviews. Like Sager, Bud Collins was a huge part of my sports on TV regimen back in the day. Check out this classy interview he conducts with Jana Novotna (she exhibits remarkable grace considering) after her horrible loss to Steffi Graf, double faulting on game point up 4-1 in the final set and losing the championship.

George Martin:

Sure, we think of Sir George in a tie, sitting behind the glass and supervising the lads, but I love this video in which we see him tickling the ivories in a band with Paul and Ringo. It's got to be one of the most outright FUN clips ever of the legendary producer.