Nancy Parsons - Coach Balbricker

 

Nancy Anne Parsons was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin on January 17, 1942.  She was one of three children to parents Charles and Mary Margaret.

During her high school years, Parsons was a member of the drama department, where she earned the praise of both faculty and students alike.  Upon graduation in 1960, she accepted a full scholarship to the Pasadena Playhouse and was off to California.  After she completed her studies there however, she soon met her husband and spent the next decade raising a family.

She returned to acting in 1974, making her mark on the Los Angeles stage scene.  Her first screen credit was the 1977 film American Raspberry, also known as Prime Time.  This blogger has never heard of it, and after viewing the trailer on YouTube, you'll understand why.

In 1980, Parsons was cast in a schlocky, low-budget horror film called Motel Hell, where as the tagline suggests, "it takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's fritters."  In other words, while guests check into this hotel, they never check out.

Her claim to fame however, is the role of coach Beulah Balbricker in the Porky's films of the early 1980s, a trilogy this blogger has always deemed to be overrated.  When the series ended in 1985, she continued acting in Hollywood, most notably in the 1989 hit Steel Magnolias.  She also appeared on such notable TV series as Charlie's Angels, Family Ties, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, seemingly typecast as a nurse.

Nancy Parsons died of congestive heart failure on January 5, 2001, two weeks shy of her 59th birthday.  She was laid to rest at Viroqua Cemetery, near her hometown of La Crosse.

The two inscriptions read "we love you mom" and "mother of Elizabeth & Margaret."

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• Parsons appeared in the 1985 Motley Crue video Smokin in the Boys Room.  See if you can spot her on YouTube.
  
  
• Daughters Elizabeth and Margaret both tried their hand in Hollywood as well, with limited success.  Margaret's only credit is the Lingerie Football League (?).  Elizabeth fared slightly better, appearing with her mom in the sequel Porky's Revenge.  Today, they are both retired from acting.
  
  
• To date, Porky's is the highest-grossing Canadian film of all time in the United States and Canada.  It was also a video game for the Atari 2600.  You can't make this stuff up.

Tim Russert

 

"The primary responsibility of the media is the accountability of government, whether it's about lying under oath - which upsets Democrats - or about the mismanagement of responding to a hurricane...which happens to upset Republicans."

Timothy John Russert was born in Buffalo, New York on May 7, 1950.  He came from humble beginnings - his mother a homemaker and his father a sanitation worker.  Like most parents, they wanted better for their son, opting to send him to private school. 

Russert set his sights on law, first graduating from John Caroll University in Ohio, later earning his law degree at Cleveland State University College of Law.  After graduation, he went to work for U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, heading up his Buffalo field office.  In 1983, he became a special aide to New York Mayor Mario Cuomo.

The following year, Russert joined NBC News as an executive, never intending to appear on camera.  However, he would take the helm of the network's long-running Sunday morning political affairs program Meet the Press.  He served as anchor for the next 17 years, the longest of any host to date.  Under his watch, the program extended from 30 to 60 minutes, adding in-depth interviews with high-profile guests, a tradition still done today by his inferior successor.

On Friday, June 13, 2008, Russert was at his Meet the Press studio in Washington recording voice-over segments for Sunday's show.  He collapsed in the soundproof booth, asking his colleagues "what's happening," which would prove to be his final words.  Although both co-workers and EMS personnel attempted to revive the host, he ultimately passed from a heart attack.  He was just 58 years old.

Tim Russert was buried in scenic Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• Russert was both the author and subject of several books on politics, family, and his life.  His most famous work was Big Russ and Me, Father and Son: Lessons of Life, a book devoted to the wisdom he gained from his father, Timothy Joseph "Big Russ" Russert.  Sadly, Russert would precede Big Russ in death by one year. 
  
  
• The Buffalo History Museum has a special exhibit on Russert's life and career, entitled Inside Tim Russert's Office: If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press.
  
  
• In 2000, Russert provided the voice of our 13th President Millard Fillmore for the PBS series The American President.
  
  
• One month before he passed, Russert was included among Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World." 

Philip McKeon

 

Philip Anthony McKeon was born in Westbury, New York on November 11, 1964.  When he was four years old, his parents took him and his sister Nancy, age 2, to a modeling audition, the first step in what would become two very lucrative Hollywood careers.

He began working as a child model, appearing in magazines, newspapers, and television commercials.  This led him to the Broadway stage, where in 1974, he was spotted by actress Linda Lavin, who had recently filmed a television pilot based on the Martin Scorcese film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.  Although actor Alfred Lutter had reprised his theatrical role of Tommy Hyatt for the proposed new series, Lavin recommended McKeon to producers, and the role was recast.

When the series ended in 1985, McKeon continued working in Hollywood, mostly in a string of low-budget horror films, including Return to Horror High (1987), 976-EVIL 2 (1992) and Ghoulies IV (1994).

In the early 2000s, he began working in radio.  He began his new career working in the news department at 980 AM in Los Angeles.  He eventually relocated to Wimberley, Texas, where he hosted his own morning show called The Breakfast Taco on 94.3 FM.

Philip McKeon died on December 10, 2019, after a long, as-yet-unspecified illness.  He was just 55 years old.  He was laid to rest at Saint John Cemetery and Mausoleum in Queens, New York.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• McKeon was cremated, and his ashes were buried in the same plot as his father Donald, who had died a mere six weeks earlier.
  
  
• McKeon was a frequent guest at the Chiller Theatre convention in Parsippany, New Jersey, where this blogger saw him shortly before his death.
  
  
• Saint John Cemetery is also known as "The Mafia Cemetery," and was the subject of a recent blog post here at Six Feet Under Hollywood.