Here we see the cast of a great TV show named Barney Miller. The short guy in the center is Ron Carey who, as noted here, passed away in mid-January.
This afternoon, a bunch of his friends — and he had many — gathered at the Improv in Hollywood for a lovely memorial service. Among those who spoke were the two men on either side of him in the photo, Max Gail and Steve Landesberg. We also heard from Mel Brooks and from the team of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, and others, plus there was a lovely tribute video edited by Chuck McCann.
(Forgive the abrupt change of topic but I seemed to have picked up Billy Connolly's disdain for sticking with a topic. People keep asking me about this. There are two Chuck McCanns in show business. There's the Chuck McCann who got famous hosting a kid's show in New York and who's now a busy character actor and cartoon voice actor and one of my best pals. There's also the Chuck McCann who's a film editor, whose credit you'll see on most of the Charlie Brown cartoons, among other places. Those are totally separate Chuck McCanns…but just to confuse you, the film I'm describing was edited by Chuck McCann the Actor. Back to Ron…)
The afternoon went long, as these things so often do. At the end of it, Anne Meara yelled out, "When we got here, I was still menstruating!" Everyone recalled Ron as a lovely, friendly guy who never missed a chance to help his friends and even some total strangers. Many recalled that before he was a successful character actor, Ron had quite a career as a stand-up comedian. Emcee Budd Friedman, who operates the Improv, remarked, "The thing about Ron — and I remember this with a lump in my throat — is that he was the first comedian I had to pay." That alone assures the guy his immortality.