Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Leading off today’s list o’ birthdays is English actress Lesley-Anne Down. The 60 year old rose to fame in the 1970’s UK series Upstairs Downstairs, aired here in the US on PBS. She was later in the cast of daytime soaps The Bold & The Beautiful and Sunset Beach.
Also celebrating a birthday is Kurt Russell (63). He starred in the 1960s western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters and a bunch of Disney movies. Russell also guested on such TV classics as Daniel Boone, Dennis the Menace, Gilligan’s Island and Lost In Space.
Others on the March 17 birthday list: Patrick Duffy (Dallas, The Man from Atlantis) is 65, singer-songwriter John Sebastian (theme from Welcome Back Kotter) turns 70, Patty Maloney (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Far Out Space Nuts, Rhoda) is 78 and singer-actor Adam Wade turns 79. Wade guested on Adam-12, Good Times, Kojak and Tarzan. He also hosted a short-lived 1975 game show called Musical Chairs:
Today was also the birthday of since departed singer Nat King Cole and actor Don Mitchell. Cole hosted his own variety show in the 1950s and was the father of another singer, his daughter Natalie. Mitchell is best remembered for his role as Mark Sanger on Ironside.
We also lost some classic TV friends on March 17. British character actor Michael Gough guested on UK series The Avengers, Doctor Who and The Saint. He also played Alfred the butler in the 1989 movie version of Batman. Longtime radio deejay J.J. Jackson was one of the original MTV veejays. Rosetta LeNoire appeared on Ryan’s Hope and Studio One, but achieved her greatest success much later as Mother Winslow on Family Matters.
Others passing this day include Grace Stafford and Sylvester ‘Pat’ Weaver. Stafford was the wife of cartoonist Walter Lantz, the creator of Woody Woodpecker. She provided the bird’s memorable voice. Weaver created NBC’s franchise Today and Tonight Shows and was the father of actress Sigourney Weaver.
March 17 was also the day we said goodbye to The First Lady of The American Theatre. Stage actress Helen Hayes also worked in TV, starring in the 1970s mystery series The Snoop Sisters. She guested on numerous classic TV shows from the 1950s to the 80s, including Here’s Lucy, The Love Boat and Tarzan. Hayes also appeared alongside her real-life adopted son James MacArthur on his series, Hawaii Five-0.
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