Exactly. I was not a Bernie Mac fan and I do not think I would have known Ledger if he had come up and shook my hand but, you are right, it was a tough year. Newman, Korman..great names. Classic characters. It is so difficult for me to watch these Hollywood shows now because I just do not have much interest in what passes for "talent" in Hollywood now. Tom Cruise is OK, but he is no Heston.  DiCaprio, Hugh Grant, Brad Pitt...they do absolutely nothing for me. Nothing. And then there are the people that simply do not belong on a screen or in front of a microphone for ANY reason.. but I digress.

I feel so old when I see old footage of Oscar presentations from the forties, fifties and sixties. I see actors that were really BIG time. Icons that we will never see again. I know that change is inevitable and no one lives forever, but I can't help but feel a tremendous loss when I watch this stuff. When I recall those days in the theater, watching Heston deliver a line that may have seemed so innocuous but had impact that has resonated through the years. To watch Jimmy Stewart or Spencer Tracy do things that NO ONE today can do. Subtle things that mean so much.

The Princess is a big fan of current Hollywood. Reads all the gossip magazines. Watches the shows. I see these people and I wonder, are they going to impact today's generation the way I was impacted by the "old guard"? Are they better than I give them credit for being?  Is it just that I am old and set in my ways and I cannot see their greatness? I suppose that is possible but I am grateful for TCM Channel anyway. 

   (Quoting Message by METALMANJP from Thursday, January 15, 2009 9:32:54 AM)

		METALMANJP wrote:
		DF, I hear what you are saying. 2008 took some good people. To name a few, Paul Newman, Harvey Korman, Isaac Hayes, Bo Diddley, Tim Russert, Heath Ledger, Bernie Mac. I know Heath and Bernie were not from the old school  Hollywood but still. If you see the entire list of famous people that died in 08 it's kind of freaky.