I am sitting at home watching Hitchcock's North by Northwest, weirdly, in fact I am up to the exact same moment I just found in this photo I've attached. I noticed to my amusement that one of the actors is Ed Platt, well known to most people who grew up with parents like mine, on a diet of The Young Ones, Blackadder, Monty Python and Get Smart. Old Ed was, of course, the Chief from Get Smart, although I discover now he's been in everything from Rebel Without A Cause to Pollyanna.
Anyway, at first I laughed when he turned up in North by Northwest - he had become a running joke in my family due to his prolific acting career. The Chief was everywhere. 'Guess who I saw today' had to be answered by 'I don't know, the Chief from Get Smart?'. 'Guess who's guest starring on The Simpsons this week?''The Chief from Get Smart'. This was also acceptable as a response if you didn't know the correct answer in a game of Trivial Pursuit. You get the idea.
So, smiling to myself, just now I looked up Edward Platt, and was shocked and saddened to read that Ed Platt suffered from depression and committed suicide in 1974 - after two attempts (nearly as shocked as when I found out Jonathan Brandis from Sea Quest DSV, a little watched and frankly crappy show from the early 90s had done the same when he was only 17 - Jeanna I'm sorry to break it to you like this, I know he had a special place in your heart).
Not only that, Platt shared my birthday. (I found this kind of spooky. That means that the Queen of Dumped and the Chief from Get Smart share my birthday.) Maybe there's a curse associated with being born on Valentine's day, because I can relate to these two (not the suicide bit, but the depression bit. And Queen of Dumped speaks for itself).
Hopefully, Ed was not a mere mortal. I mean from what I can see he looked exactly the same from about 1944 - 1974. He must have gone bald when he was about 15.
So here's to you Ed - and I am sorry you went the way you did, but thanks for all the shoe-phone jokes.
3 comments:
"well known to most people who grew up with parents like mine"
Or people who actually grew up when the show was in production.
99, I think we should use the Cone of Silence.
--b
J Brandis shocked me too: "Nnooo!" I cried into my roommate's pillow! He's too girly! And so so close to being mine! After endless nights of my teenage-hood spent watching that silly Deep Sea show.
Granted, I hadn't yet made the leap from small-town undergrad to big time Hollywood screen, but that was only a few seconds away I swear.
Regardless, glad to see I wasn't alone.
Correction: Jonathan Brandis was actually 27 when he died. Still tragic, but not quite as shocking as if he was 17. My flatmate informs me he was acting since he was 5. Poor guy, maybe he should have gone and become a teacher like the kid from The Shining or Neverending Story.
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