WHOA!!! Dude. GNARLY news indeed!!!

FATHER GEEK here with still more sad tidings. That strict teacher we all hated in school, but came to understand and love later in life is gone. Mr. Hand the archtype overbearing prof died yesterday at his home in LA. Yeah ol' Father Geek watched every episode of MY FAVORITE MARTIAN when it was first on TV years ago. I loved it, and I loved it because of Ray Walston. Loved his Judge Bone too. But, when I think of him now its as MR.HAND, he was soooooo perfect in that role. Before that his POOPDECK PAPPY from the Robin Williams POPEYE was his persona in my mind's eye. And before that? Well, it was that Martian uncle we all wished we had as kids.

I awoke this morning to a ream of letters about his passing, for every one that didn't deal with it I had 3 that did. I guess we all loved him.

Here's what UNCAPIE wrote to Father Geek today...

Some very, very sad news. Legendary actor, Mr. Ray Walston has died. A man of extraordinary acting talents, passed away peacefully, January 1st in his home. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, December 2, 1914, his father wanted him to go into the oil business, which he rejected for the love of acting on the stage.

Mr. Walston was a kind, cheerful man with much to offer. He always signed autographs for fans and enjoyed talking about his wide body of outstanding work. Not only was he an incredible song and dance man from "Damn Yankees" and "South Pacific", but his other motion picture credits included "Who's Minding the Store?", "The Apartment"(He played a real lovable bad guy in this!), "The Sting", "Paint Your Wagon", "Silver Streak", "Popeye", "Portrait In Black" and of course, the stern, but likable "Mr. Hand" in "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" to name a few.

Outstanding performances on television were featured in "Wild, Wild West," "The Incredible Hulk," "Mission: Impossible," "Garrison's Gorillas," "You Are There"(The D-day landing episode.) and of course, everybody's favorite uncle in "My Favorite Martian." Not to forget the Emmy's and Golden Globe he won for his performance on "Picket Fences."

A couple of stories I would like to share with you about him. I met Mr. Walston twenty years ago this month when I worked on "Galaxy Of Terror" for Roger Corman. Mr. Walston, Robert England(Before "Freddy Kruger") and I would have lunch together on the set. We would listen to Mr. Walston's sage advice on acting and performances. One story he told was when he worked with the late silent film star, Mr. Francis X. Bushman when he was a young man and gave him some advice on the business. Mr. Bushman said that he never heard the birds sing in the morning or at night. Mr. Walston couldn't figure out what he meant by that as he started to walk away. Mr. Bushman turned back and laughed saying, "It means don't let the son-of-a-bitches work your ass off with no overtime pay!" Mr. Walston learned to hear the birds after that.

Mr. Walston was also a bicycle enthusiast and in incredible shape. He would ride his bike all the way from his home in Beverly Hills and be on set every day we would shoot at 7:00 am in Venice. Then, he would ride home after work. That's about fifteen miles, one way. He did this for a month. One of my fondest memories is when my car was in the shop and I had to ride my ten-speed to work. I got off early one day and Mr. Walston asked me if I wanted to ride with him as he was heading home. We talked about the day's shoot and life in general during that ride. It has always been one of my fondest memories of him.

On the set of the "Incredible Hulk," Mr. Walston was given this cramped, third rate, dressing room in a broken down honey wagon(That's a large trailer-type dressing room). There wasn't even a nameplate on the outside to indicate that this was his dressing room until the 2nd A.D. took a piece of masking tape and wrote it on the door for him. Mr. Bill Bixby, star of the show, went over to see his old friend and found out how they were treating him. Mr. Bixby not only gave Mr. Walston his own trailer, but ordered another one the same size filled with every beverage and type of food that one could imagine for Mr. Walston when it arrived. Two days later, it was Mr. Walston's birthday. On the set, they threw a party and Mr. Bixby had presented two topless dancers for the occasion. When Mr. Walston got back to his trailer, inside waiting, was a brand new, ribbon wrapped, bicycle personally bought by Mr. Bixby. Class act all the way.

Mr. Walston was a man that loved his work. He had once told me that he wanted to do one more great role and when I wrote my detective script, "Cryptic," and that he was impressed by the story and the writing that went into the character; a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Quincy. Sadly, I will never get that chance to direct him.

Kind, caring and always ready to help to people with advice, Mr. Ray Walston was one of the finest actors that I have ever had the pleasure to have known for twenty years. I am very proud to have known his as, and called him, my friend.

Uncapie

Father Geek back. Here's what the AP wire had to say...

Associated Press; 01/02/2001

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Ray Walston, who played the lovable extraterrestrial Uncle Martin on the 1960s TV sitcom "My Favorite Martian" and the devil in "Damn Yankees," has died. He was 86.

The slim, icy-voiced actor died Monday of apparent natural causes at his home here, said his agent, Harry Gold.

Walston made a career of playing charismatic, cranky characters. He won a Tony in 1955 for his performance in Broadway's "Damn Yankees" and two successive Emmys in 1995-96 for his role as acerbic Judge Henry Bone in the quirky small-town series "Picket Fences."

In "My Favorite Martian," Walston played opposite Bill Bixby as a Martian explorer stranded on Earth. His antennae-sprouting alien character masqueraded as Bixby's "Uncle Martin" and spent most of the episodes trying to conceal his identity from curious Earthlings.

Walston once said he auditioned and accepted the role for the money. But after just four episodes, he recalled, "I thought, 'What am I doing here? I'm running around with two pieces of wire coming out of my head. I must be crazy."'

Despite its popularity, the role of Uncle Martin actually slowed Walston's Hollywood career. When the series went off the air in 1966 after a three-year run, the typecast actor returned to the stage for several years before re-emerging with a succession of solid supporting roles in movies and television.

But it took Walston decades to receive award recognition from the Hollywood community: "I have 30 seconds to tell you I have been waiting 60 years to get on this stage," he said in his 1995 Emmy acceptance speech.

Walston's film debut came in the 1957 movie "Kiss Them For Me" with Cary Grant, and the next year he played the devil again in the film version of "Damn Yankees." The smash musical told the story of a frustrated baseball fan who sells his soul.

He also appeared in "Say One For Me" with Bing Crosby and in director Billy Wilder's films "The Apartment" and "Kiss Me, Stupid."

In addition, he had supporting roles in "South Pacific," "Portrait in Black," "Wives and Lovers," "Caprice," "Paint Your Wagon," "The Sting," "Silver Streak" and "Stephen King's The Stand."

Walston was known to younger film fans as the irascible Poopdeck Pappy in Robert Altman's live-action film "Popeye" in 1980, and as the crusty, slacker-hating teacher Mr. Hand in the 1982 teen comedy "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

In 1999, Walston made a cameo appearance in the feature film version of "My Favorite Martian," which starred Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Martin and Jeff Daniels in Bixby's role as the alien's beleaguered partner.

In a 1996 interview, Walston said he had recently turned down a request to appear on a television news in a report on the possibility of life on Mars.

"Would you believe they were planning a sequence featuring two of the world's most distinguished scientists evaluating this monumental discovery, and they wanted to sandwich me in as sort of comedy relief?" Walston said. "Of course, I said no."

Born in New Orleans, Walston started his acting career with a local stock company.

It wasn't until the mid-1940s that Walston's stage career really started taking off, with roles in 22 productions by the famed Cleveland Playhouse.

By 1945, he had moved to New York to appear on Broadway, which later brought him the biggest break of his career – George Abbott casting him as the devil in "Damn Yankees."

The musical also became a breakthrough for Gwen Verdon, who played the devil's amorous assistant, Lola. Verdon, who died last year at 75, teamed up with Walston in the film version, too.