I represent the first generation who, when we were born, the television was now a permanent fixture in our homes. When I was born people had breakfast with Barbara Walters, dinner with Walter Cronkite, and slept with Johnny Carson. Read the full "Pre-ramble"
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| Anthony Geary born Tony Dean Geary May 29, 1947 – December 14, 2025 |
In addition to his role as Luke, Geary had a prominent supporting role in the "Weird Al" Yankovic comedy UHF (1989); other notable films include Johnny Got His Gun (1971), Disorderlies (1987), Scorchers (1991), Teacher's Pet (2004) and Fish Tank (2009).
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| Good Night Tony |
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| Stay Tuned Tony Figueroa |
The most important thing is that you be a good person and you live by the golden rule of do unto others.
If you live by that, that's all I care about.
-Rob Reiner
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| Robert Norman Reiner March 6, 1947 – December 14, 2025 |
There were two highlights of the day.
The first one was when I pointed out the house from the
movie The thrill of it all he asked the driver of our trolley to stop. He
points at the house and he says to his kids my dad… Grandpa directed a movie
that was set in that house. Then he looked at me and asked do I know about that
movie and I said, “Yeah your dad directed it when he was on hiatus from The
Dick Van Dyke Show and he looked at me and went “No… wait yes, you're right he was on hiatus from The
Dick Van Dyke Show. He was just so proud and so thrilled to share that
moment with his kids.
The other highlight was in the Back to the Future
gift shop, and this gift shop happened to be selling lava lamps. While we were
chatting I mentioned that I share a birthday with the lava lamp and he was fascinated
by that. He wanted to know how'd you come to find out that I share a birthday
with the lava lamp. I said that one morning I was listening to the radio and
the DJ's said if you were born on this day, you share a birthday with Ronald
Reagan, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mike Farrell and if you were born on this day in 1965
you share a birthday with the lava lamp. Rob started reminiscing about the 60s.
I asked if that was when he was working with The Smothers Brothers. He told me
that came a little later but one of the adults in his group asked, “You worked
with the The Smothers Brothers and in the middle of this gift shop he started
reenacting sketches he wrote, singing songs that were written for the brothers.
He talked about how back in those days they were smoking a lot of pot, dropped
a lot of acid and fought with the suits. It was just amazing to hear these
stories first hand. Coincidentally today someone asked me of all the famous
people I've taken around who was the nicest and I'm still having trouble
picking just one person but I can say Rob Reiner was the most entertaining.
Good Night Meathead. "Have fun storming the castle" Tony Figueroa |
Silence in the face of authoritarianism is complicity.
Speaking out is a patriotic act.
Democracy doesn’t defend itself.
It requires participation, vigilance, and courage from ordinary people.
-Rob Reiner
On December 13, 1925, Dick Van Dyke, the quintessential “nice guy” actor who would become known for his performances in such movie classics as Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as the popular 1960s TV sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, is born in West Plains, Missouri.
The following year, he signed on to play comedy writer Rob Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show. The show was the brainchild of the writer-director-producer Carl Reiner, who reportedly based the sitcom on his own experiences working as a comedy writer for Sid Caesar_.The Dick Van Dyke Show_ featured a strong ensemble cast that included Mary Tyler Moore as Rob’s wife Laura, Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie as Rob’s colleagues Buddy and Sally and Larry Matthews as the Petries’ son, Ritchie.
In the show’s opening credits, Van Dyke was famously seen tripping over an ottoman in the family’s home in New Rochelle, New York, where, in keeping with the conservative broadcasting standards of the time, Rob and Laura Petrie slept in separate beds. After The Dick Van Dyke Show went off the air in 1966, Mary Tyler Moore starred in her own successful TV sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which originally aired from 1970 to 1977.
In addition to his TV success in the 1960s, Van Dyke appeared in a string of movies, including the 1963 big-screen adaptation of Bye Bye Birdie, which co-starred Ann-Margret and Janet Leigh. The following year, he appeared as the charming chimney sweep Bert in Walt Disney’s movie musical Mary Poppins, which featured Julie Andrews, in her feature film debut, as the umbrella-toting super nanny. The film, now a beloved cinematic classic, earned 13 Academy Award nominations and took home five Oscars, including Best Actress for Andrews. Though Van Dyke received positive reviews for his singing and dancing, critics skewered him for his bad English accent.
In 1968, Van Dyke had another hit movie musical with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in which he plays the eccentric inventor Caratacus Potts, who develops a magic car_._ The film’s screenplay was co-written by Roald Dahl, the best-selling author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
From 1971 to 1974, Van Dyke starred in The New Dick Van Dyke Show, playing a Phoenix TV talk show host. The actor, who in the 1970s went public with his struggle with alcoholism, was featured in a series of made-for-TV movies and did guest appearances on various TV shows before he was cast in another successful series, the medical crime drama Diagnosis Murder. The show, which originally aired from 1993 to 2001, also featured Van Dyke’s son Barry Van Dyke. After half a century in show business, Van Dyke continues to act. Among his recent movie credits are Curious George (2006), Night at the Museum (2006), Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018).
