Spenser: Retired

April 17, 2002 9:23 AM

Spenser: Retired Robert Urich 1946-2002 :(
posted by WolfDaddy (20 comments total)

Oh sad.
posted by scarabic at 9:29 AM on April 17, 2002

I'm glad wolfdaddy posted this, I submitted it to Matt yesterday because I don't have posting privileges.

Urich was perhaps the perfect TV actor of his type, with just the right range for the small screen. He basically played himself.

I've got a SPENSER viewing marathon set up for this weekend... as Hawk used to say, "you a case, babe."
posted by anser at 9:37 AM on April 17, 2002

Boy, he sure did a lot of bad movies and tv, didn't he?

Brush with Greatness Mediocrity: Urich once hit on a highschool girlfriend of mine. He was shooting Spenser outside of Boston, and she went with friends to watch. While signing autographs, he made some comment about how nice she smelled. She was only 16, and went away thinking he was pretty much a creep.
posted by jpoulos at 9:38 AM on April 17, 2002

Complimenting a 16-year old girl makes one a creep, eh? Either there's something you're leaving out of the account, or your friend had a problem accepting kind words.

I worked with Urich fairly extensively about 2 years ago, as he did a cancer survival video for a company I used to work for. He was terrific to work with, and while he often complimented females (males, too, for that matter), none of them ever got the impression they were being hit upon.
posted by WolfDaddy at 9:48 AM on April 17, 2002

Anybody remember Gavilan? As one critic put it: "It's 'Magnum PI goes underwater'."
posted by Ty Webb at 10:05 AM on April 17, 2002

I agree, jpoulos. I remember him from Vega$ and he was awful. But it's shit to die so young, unless you've had as much sex as he had.
posted by johnnydark at 10:05 AM on April 17, 2002

He did, however, do Soap (untill his character was killed off, just a few weeks into the first season, if I remember correctly).

Best. Cast. Ever.

All these questions, and many more, will be answered next week on ...
posted by yhbc at 10:14 AM on April 17, 2002

It's a particularly sad day for the Michigan State University community, losing one of our most famous alumni. James Caan and Sam Raimi are no doubt raising a glass in honor of their fallen fellow Spartan.
posted by pardonyou? at 10:22 AM on April 17, 2002

Did he not have the coolest pad in Vegas ?

Drove his car into the living room !!! SWEET !!

I have had my motorcycle in the house (BMW K1100RS) but that was in days passed. On the hook to be married soon, so that will never happen again.

Is Vegas ever on anymore ? I want to see the car in the living room again.
posted by a3matrix at 11:45 AM on April 17, 2002

Vega$ was actually pretty good, in an almost campy way -- but I like the city (well at least I think it's really interesting) and late 1970's tv shows so I'm biased

People -- including me -- are nuts about things like Starsky & Hutch, and the scripts weren't much better than Vegas'. And yes, it's shit to die that young and especially is shit to have to fight a nasty cancer like the synovial form he had for six years. A really slow and cruel way to go
I'm sorry for the guy
posted by matteo at 11:46 AM on April 17, 2002

Vega$ was actually pretty good, in an almost campy way -- but I like the city (well at least I think it's really interesting) and late 1970's tv shows so I'm biased

People -- including me -- are nuts about things like Starsky & Hutch, and the scripts weren't much better than Vegas'. And yes, it's shit to die that young and especially is shit to have to fight a nasty cancer like the synovial form he had for six years. A really slow and cruel way to go
I'm sorry for the guy
posted by matteo at 11:47 AM on April 17, 2002

Spenser: Retired

If we're going to overlook the sad tragedy and make with the sassy wordplay, let's do it right:

Spencer: Expired.
posted by rcade at 2:07 PM on April 17, 2002

Spenser: Cancelled?
posted by jpoulos at 2:12 PM on April 17, 2002

or SPENSER: FOR HIGHER...
posted by anser at 2:18 PM on April 17, 2002

I was a Parker fan before the TV series. I enjoyed the series greatly (when I could get around to a TV, that is), although Urich didn't match the image I had of Spenser. Somehow, I visualized somebody more burly Still, I warmed to him.

I thought Avery Brooks (laster played Sisko on Star Trek: DS9) was awesome as Hawk. And the woman they cast as Susan was h-h-h-hot! Too bad they dumped her. Susan was supposed to be a slightly snotty character.

Anyway, I thought the Spenser series was fun, and I've always appreciated Urich for bringing the work to life.
posted by chipr at 3:00 PM on April 17, 2002

Can I get a hallelujah for Ice Pirates being the greatest camp sci-fi flick ever?

second only to the inimitable ski school for drunken late night after party nothing else on the tube cable surfing?
posted by eyeballkid at 3:17 PM on April 17, 2002

i liked ski school better when it was called better off dead.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:16 PM on April 17, 2002

i won't get into a detailed discussion of the subtle nuances that seperate ski school and better off dead. suffice to say that ski school was a piece of drivel that ran seemingly every night at 3am on one of the pay/basic cable networks and was funny only when drunk because it was all about drinking and skiing.

better off dead is funny no matter what state you're in (and only partly involved skiing).
posted by eyeballkid at 4:27 PM on April 17, 2002

but ski school had the acting prowess of dean cameron, star of many eighties and ninties b-movies. let's face it, cusack is no dean cameron.

of course i kid, i'm like a freaking cusack mega fan... it's sick really.
posted by boogah at 5:25 PM on April 17, 2002

"Better Off Dead" is one of the finest movies ever made. Just watching The Badger as he calmly picks up his ray-gun, turns to face Lane, and fires...

Re: Urich -- let us not forget his role on "S.W.A.T." You know - the uber-70s cop-show with the awesome theme song by Rhythym Heritage...see, NOW you remember!

RIP, Robert.
posted by davidmsc at 6:13 PM on April 17, 2002