| May 22 |
| 1927 -- Constantine Joanides is born in Reading, PA. Under his stage name Michael Constantine, his 45-year career led to the status of 'overnight sensation' when he played the father of the bride-to-be in 1997's wildly successful film 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding.' For TV fans, though, he's remembered as gentle if downtrodden principal Seymour Kaffman in ABC's serio-comedy 'Room 222' in the '70s. He won an Emmy for the role in 1970. 1961 -- gangly actress and comedienne Joan Davis, who starred in the early sitcom 'I Married Joan,' died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 53. Jim Backus played her husband and her real-life daughter, Beverly Wills, played her sister. Tragically, two years after Joan's death on October 24, 1963, Beverly, her grandmother and Beverly's two young sons died in a house fire. Beverly was just 33 years old. 1962 -- at the 14th Emmy Awards, top honors went to 'The Defenders,' E.G. Marshall, Shirley Booth and Don Knotts. 1966 -- Raymond Burr performed in the last original episode of 'Perry Mason.' 'The Case Of The Final Fade-Out' is also notable because Perry's literary creator, Erle Stanley Gardner, played the trial judge. 1967 -- we moved into a new neighborhood and stayed there for many gentle years as Pittsburgh's Fred Rogers debuted on PBS with 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.' The series stopped production in 2001. Fred died of stomach cancer in 2003. He was 72. 1967 -- Florence Ballard appeared with The Supremes for the final time when they appeared on NBC's 'The Tonight Show.' Ironically, 25 years later to the day (1992), Johnny Carson hosted 'The Tonight Show' for the final time. Jay Leno took over the desk the following week. 1984 -- the final episode of "Hart to Hart" aired on ABC. Lionel Stander, who chauffered the crime-solving husband and wife as Max, was blacklisted in the 1950s because of his affiliations with the Communist Party. 2001 -- Whitman Mayo, best remembered as the mumbling senior citizen Grady on 'Sanford and Son,' died in Atlanta of a heart attack at the age of 70. To the surprise of many fans, Whitman was just 42 when the series began. |