Oh, Crap! : Captain Murphy is Gone
Posted on September 12, 2003 at 8:36 am | No Comments
And so they come in threes. I’m so, so saddened by this …
From the Cartoon Network Adult Swim messageboard…
Harry Goz, the voice of Captain Murphy, passed away this week. A message from Adam Reed and Matt Thompson, co-creators of “Sealab 2021,” follows:
“We are devastated by the loss of our good friend, Harry Goz. Working with him was always sheer joy, and his talent was beyond compare. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, and we shall all miss him dearly.”
Anyone who knows me well knows just how much I loved this man’s work as Captain Murphy. He was a truly talented and totally unique voice actor. One of the main reasons for my Sealab obsession, I just loved the way every single word came out of his mouth. It sounds silly, but no one ever said “Oh, crap!” better than Harry Goz. Damn.
Harry’s career was much more than just a cartoon voice on a late-night cable network show. He was a longtime stage and screen actor, as shown by this bio that I was able to dig up online…
Harry Goz starred in 1004 performances as the longest-running Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof in the mid-1960s. His costume hangs in the Smithsonian. Born and raised in St. Louis, Mr. Goz appeared in 33 productions at St. Louis Municipal Opera, toured nationally in both operatic and theatrical productions, and performed with wife Maggie Goz in To Broadway with Love at the N.Y. World’s Fair in 1964. Together in Fiddler at Starlight Bowl in San Diego in 1982, they broke every attendance record in its 37-year history. Among many credits, Mr. Goz co-starred in Broadway’s Two by Two, Prisoner of Second Avenue, and starred in Off-Broadway’s To Bury a Cousin and Ferocious Kisses. His motion picture appearances include Marathon Man, Mommie Dearest and RMC Film’s Mace. He co-starred in TV’s Bill, Bill on His Own, Kennedy and Tales from the Darkside, and guest-starred in Guiding Light, Search for Tomorrow, Edge of Night and Kojak.
Hopefully Cartoon Network will play the Sealab 2021 “Vending Machine” episode this Sunday in tribute to Mr. Goz. Pure genius.
update… someone has put together a Capt. Murphy sound sampling board. Not quite the same to hear him out of context, but still… “It’s like a Koala Bear crapped a rainbow in my brain!” just doesn’t get old.
So long to Jack & the Man in Black
Posted on September 12, 2003 at 6:44 am | No Comments
I wake this morning to find that Johnny Cash and John Ritter have both left us. Died within hours of each other. Hard to find two more completely diverse public figures, and today they’ll be tied together in their passings.
It’s unfortunate that the news stories of Ritter’s death will no doubt be overshadowed by coverage of Mr. Cash, but I admired them both.
John Ritter… been watching him since I was a little kid. When you’re eight years old, raised in no small part on television, and you see the preacher from the Waltons transform into Jack Tripper, you can’t help but be completely confused and eventually impressed. Can’t say the man had range. In every interview I saw or read of his, he struck me as one hell of a nice guy. As an eleven year old comic book fan, I especially loved him in Hero at Large as Captain Avenger. I lost track of him over the years, but it was a nice surprise to see him eventually show up on Buffy, and it’ll be cool to see him in his last role in Terry Zwigoff’s next film, Bad Santa.
What more can I say about Johnny Cash that others won’t say better today? I went through an obsessive Cash phase in college, treated him almost as a required course. An undeniable legend, hugely influential, a creative genius until his very last days. Respected by nearly everyone who’d heard him, and his recent priase at the MTV awards showed the generational and categorical boundaries the man broke.
Tough news to take this morning. So long, John & Johnny. Thanks for everything.