Fra-gee-lay. That must be Italian.

Darren McGavin passed away of natural causes last Saturday night. Thought I would give a little blog space to the man who made the movie “A Christmas Story”. Born in 1922, McGavin had over 170 staring roles during his Hollywood career.

Mostly staring in television shows during that time with small movie roles mixed in between. He appeared in shows like Mission Impossible, The man from UNCLE and Gunsmoke. While working in television and film he was also a prolific Broadway actor. Most of our generation remembers McGavin as the “Old Man” from “A Christmas Story”. A man’s man who was vitriolic and a buffoon at the same time; after all he did win a major award. Later McGavin appeared in but was not credited for his roll as a gambling/bookie in “The Natural”. Never tiring McGavin went on the appear in many rolls in the late ‘80s and ‘90s in such shows as the X-Files and Murphy Brown.

Don Knotts passed away last Friday night due to complications from pulmanory respiration complications. Born in 1924, Most remember Knotts as the bumbling deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show." Later in life he appeared in a slew of Disney films such as "The Apple Dumpling gang" and my personal favorite "the incredible Mr. Limpet." His last major TV roll was on "Three’s Company" where he was cast as a would be landlord swinger Mr. Fulrey. Later on in the ‘90s he appeared alongside his good friend Andy Griffith again in the crime drama "Matlock." His last film role was a voice in the Animated feature "Chicken Little."