Kevin McCarthy

[Opera Ghost]

RIP and thanks!

[Big Swan]

Another legend passes.Got to spend quite a bit of time with Kevin at the Bash.What a genuin gentleman  and a truely funny person.I ill miss you my friend!

[typhooforme]

Discussed Kevin's passing with Sara Karloff last night and she called him "a lovely, funny man!"  And so he was.  I have one McCarthy story I've told over and over, and I'll tell it here for the last time.  It has to do with this photo:

Kevin was funny in a dry, straight-faced way.  It was something he did very, extremely well.  This is an experience I had with him the very first time I met him--it was at a Wonderfest, I think-- one thing that Kevin told me--or I should say, that hook he baited and set for me, which I swallowed instantly--keeps coming to mind and making me smile.   He had this horrendous mess of 8x10s on his table, a whole schmeer of photos for sale higgledy-piggledy--just one huge HEAP--and I pawed through them and came upon the one I'm showing above here.  I had already had him sign a BODYSNATCHER one and a TWILIGHT ZONE one--and this childhood photo was, to me, a really unusual thing to find.  I said, "Oh, hey,  I've got to get this one--"  And I handed it to him, and he got this "reminiscing" look on his face--a faraway look in his eyes (ACTING!)--and he said, softly, "You know, I remember the day this photograph was taken--I remember my mom and dad taking me to that studio...I was just 3 yrs old..."  I said, "Oh gosh, you remember that!"  (The hook was set)  Kevin said, "Yep, I sure do!  I even remember what I said to the photographer..."  I was completely in his power then--expecting some sweet childhood-memory...  He continued, "Yep--my mom and dad took me into the studio, and I looked around...and I said to the photographer....'Helluva nice place ya got here!' "  My jaw must have dropped, or at least I know I looked like I'd been pole-axed.  He went from serious-faced to that rascally rotten twinkling-eye look (if you were around Kevin any length of time at a con, you'd see this look!) and he grinned hugely--pleased that another innocent soul had been suckered into a McCarthy tall tale!  He truly WAS a great guy.

[Jscareshock]

What an awesome guy.  HE was always so full of energy.  The last time he was at Chiller he'd turned 91.  I asked him when he was going tor etire and he said he couldn't, that he had two children in college and they were bleeding him dry.  He joked around so often I could never tell if he was serious on that one.

[MDG]

Around 1980, my sister was working at a summer stock theatre in Terrytown, NY. They were planning Equus, with James Daly, who played the older doctor in Medical Center, as the psychiatrist. If you know the play, you know that it is incredibly talky and that the psychiatrist is, IIRC, on stage continuously, often delivering monologues.

Well, James Daly died about a week before opening night. With some scrambling, the producers managed to get Kevin McCarthy to come in, with only about 4  days of rehearsals. I went opening night, and he was very, very good. He, unobtrusively, kept the book in his hand and, once, called for a line, but the audience, who knew he came in at the last minute, gave him an extended ovation at the end. (According to my sister, that was the only time he missed a line, and by the third performance didn't need the book anymore.)

[Opera Ghost]

KNX AM News radio has been playing his last line today, from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"

[CreepysFan]

 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' was one of the first movies I can remember seeing, and has always been a favorite.  His fantastic acting brought the Jack Finney story alive, and to a child's mind, very believable.  Sleep well Mr. McCarthy, and thanks for the warning....and the memories.  Rest easy.

[Creature Features]

Hey Tyfooforme and MDG; great stories.

[marsattacks666]

R.I.P. Mr. Carthy.

[hammerfan]

Kevin McCarthy was a truly nice guy and always so gracious to his fans unlike a lot of celebrities who sign autographs and grab the dough. (yes thats you Mr. Robert Vaughn) He was a delight to talk to and always took time to chat. He WILL be missed.

[Sean]

RIP

[MonsterArt]

He was a dear friend. My gosh, I have so many stories I could fill a book. Sitting beside him at conventions, traveling with him to events near and far, watching him in my backyard as he baited some naive fan into a hilarious gag, sitting with him in my den, as he waxed nostalgic about the theatre, his own life, and life in general. He could always make me laugh, which is why I've spent so much time crying. To this, he would take me to task, and call me a big Nancy. Then he would offer his perfectly pressed hankerchief to dry my eyes.

And then we would drink a few martinis, and talk about how cool it was to be in "Equus." In separate productions, I had played the young patient Alan, and he had played Dr. Dysart. I always thought about us performing it together.

Now, I think, someday we will.

I will miss you forever, my rascally friend.

[ChattyLMS]

I loved Invasion of the Body Snatchers!  I'm sorry to hear of his passing.  Have a safe journey up to heaven.

[typhooforme]

He was a dear friend. My gosh, I have so many stories I could fill a book. Sitting beside him at conventions, traveling with him to events near and far, watching him in my backyard as he baited some naive fan into a hilarious gag, sitting with him in my den, as he waxed nostalgic about the theatre, his own life, and life in general. He could always make me laugh, which is why I've spent so much time crying. To this, he would take me to task, and call me a big Nancy. Then he would offer his perfectly pressed hankerchief to dry my eyes.

And then we would drink a few martinis, and talk about how cool it was to be in "Equus." In separate productions, I had played the young patient Alan, and he had played Dr. Dysart. I always thought about us performing it together.

Now, I think, someday we will.

I will miss you forever, my rascally friend.

"Rascally" is the word I've used, too.  He was a dear old rascal.  Frank, yours are the stories that need to be written down and saved for us less fortunate ones who knew Kevin only from brief contact at cons or just from watching him in films.  I surely hope that you'll write then all down for us--stories of Kevin, and of Ben Chapman and all the rest you've known so well.  Written AND illustrated by you, Frank.  It would be a treasure for us fans.

[Scatter]

"Rascally" is the word I've used, too.  He was a dear old rascal.  Frank, yours are the stories that need to be written down and saved for us less fortunate ones who knew Kevin only from brief contact at cons or just from watching him in films.  I surely hope that you'll write then all down for us--stories of Kevin, and of Ben Chapman and all the rest you've known so well.  Written AND illustrated by you, Frank.  It would be a treasure for us fans.

Hear, hear.