Dear Ken: As I watched Lonesome Dove for the umpteenth time with my stepfather recently, I recalled that several of these characters’ namesakes were in the 1968 western Bandolero! that starred Dean Martin, Jimmy Stewart and Raquel Welch.
In Bandolero!, Martin was the outlaw named Dee, George Kennedy was the lawman July Johnson, and Andrew Prine played his deputy Roscoe.
In Lonesome Dove there is an outlaw named Dee Boot, a sheriff named July Johnson and his deputy Roscoe.
Was this a strange coincidence or an homage by author Larry McMurtry?
� Lex Suite / McLemoresville,
Dear Lex: I contacted Booked Up, the bookstore in Archer, Texas, that McMurtry owns, and they responded: “We checked with Larry about your movie question, and he said it was an homage.”
In Lonesome Dove, Chris Cooper portrayed Sheriff July Johnson, Barry Corbin was his deputy Roscoe Brown and Michael Tylo played Dee Boot.
McMurtry wrote Lonesome Dove as a movie script with the hopes that John Wayne would play the character of Woodrow F. Call, Jimmy Stewart as Gus McCrae and Henry Fonda as Jake Spoon. The story goes these actors thought they were too young for the parts, so McMurtry turned his screenplay into a book, and that eventually became a terrific TV miniseries with Tommy Lee Jones as Call, Robert Duvall as McCrae and Robert Urich as Spoon.
You most likely would want to know that a new McMurtry miniseries, Comanche Moon, commences a three-night run Jan. 13 on CBS. I’ve screened this prequel to Lonesome Dove, and it’s a mighty fine piece of work.
Steve Zahn plays McCrae, Karl Urban is Call, Val Kilmer plays Capt. Inish Scull, and Wes Studi portrays Comanche chief Buffalo Hump.
Dear Ken: Whatever happened to Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie in A Christmas Story? How old is he now?
� Alyce Bell / Cottontown
Dear Alyce: Billingsley, 36, works mainly behind the cameras these days in Hollywood, although he occasionally pops up in a film. He was a co-executive producer of the Dinner for Five series on the Independent Film Channel.
A close pal of actor Vince Vaughn, he was executive producer of The Break-Up (2006), which starred Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston, and Billingsley appeared in the role of Andrew. He also had an uncredited part in Elf.
Most recently, he has been working as executive producer of Iron Man, which is set for a release in 2008.
Dear Ken: I have been trying to come up with the name of a movie I saw on TV a few years ago. It was the life story of a man born on a trans-Atlantic passenger ship (in 1929, I think). He was left on the ship by his mother and was raised by the crew and was given the name 1929 (I could be wrong about the date, but I’m close). He never left the ship his entire life. He became a piano player in the ship’s band.
On a voyage from New York to London, Fats Waller was a passenger. Fats heard about 1929’s piano-playing talent, and a challenge ensued between the two. The piano duel was one of the high points of the story. Later the ship was scheduled to be destroyed, and the story ends trying to find 1929 in the bowels of the ship and to convince him to leave the ship before its destruction.
� Harold Yielding / Nashville
Dear Harold: You were off by 29 years. The film is The Legend of 1900, and Tim Roth stars as 1900. I found it available at Amazon.com for $15 on DVD. It sounds mesmerizing.
Celebrity deaths
The Associated Press has reported the death of Floyd Red Crow Westerman, an American Indian activist, actor and folk singer who appeared in Dances With Wolves and performed with Willie Nelson and other musicians. Westerman died Dec. 13 in Los Angeles of complications from leukemia. He was 71.
The entertainer appeared in dozens of movies and television shows, including in recurring roles as Uncle Ray Firewalker on Walker, Texas Ranger and George Littlefox on Dharma %26 Greg.
His most memorable movie role was Sioux leader Ten Bears, who befriends Costner’s character 1990’s Dances With Wolves. Last year he released A Tribute to Johnny Cash to positive reviews.
The AP also has reported the death of TV personality Jack Linkletter, son of famed broadcaster Art Linkletter.
He died Dec. 18 of lymphoma in Cloverdale, Calif. He was 70.
Jack Linkletter hosted TV shows such as Here’s Hollywood, Haggis Baggis, The Rebus Game and Hootenanny. He also hosted the Miss Universe pageant, World’s Fair events and major parades.
His 95-year-old father survives him.
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