Category Archives: Death of Icon

The Mary Mac Show | Remembering Betty White and Others

The Mary Mac Show Podcast

In Episode 111, we remember Betty White who died 17 days before her 100th birthday and others who died in 2021 who impacted us.

Tomorrow, January 17th, 2022 would have been Betty White’s 100th birthday!

An icon on film and television, she was an amazing individual whom we never thought would die ‘so soon’.

She was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1922 and a year later her parents moved to the Los Angeles area where they beared the Great Depression from 1929 through the 1930s.

In 1949 after World War II, she started her career and spent the next 80 years providing entertainment for her fans.

She worked in daytime talk show for 5 1/2 hours each day for 6 days a week on a live show from Hollywood.

In 1952 she had her own show, Life With Elizabeth and became of the first woman producers in the business.

She also loved appearing in game shows and eventually met and married her husband, Allen Ludden who was the host of Password. They married in 1963, were together 18 years until his death at 63, in 1981. She never remarried, saying that he was her best.

She went on to earn 21 Emmy nominations and 5 Emmy awards, 2 for her portrayal of Sueanne Nevins in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

She also portrayed Rose Nylin in the long running series “The Golden Girls.”

In 1988 she even did a Saturday Night Live episode where she won her 5th Emmy.

Later she would appear in “Hot in Cleveland” and the movie “The Proposal” with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds.

She was also a great lover of animals and contributed unselfishly to their care.

In additional to Betty White, we look at others who passed away in 2021:

January 23, 2021 – Larry King died at 87. Phenomenal interviewer of thousands of world leaders, influential individuals and celebrities.

February 5, 2021 – Christopher Plummer at age 91. His iconic role as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music alongside Julie Andrews is, by far, one of the most memorable films.

April 9, 2021 – His Royal Highness Prince Philip of the United Kingdom at the age of 99, just 2 months from his 100 birthday on June 10, 2021. Longest running consort to a queen, his wife, Her Royal Highness, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth Regina II.

May 1, 2021 – Olympia Dukakis at the age of 89. Amazing actress of stage and film, to me her most memorable appearances were in Moon Struck and Steel Magnolias.

June 6, 2021 – Clarence Williams III actor of theatre and television, best known as his portrayal of Link Hayes in the detective drama Mod Squad.

For more of Betty White’s career, please visit here.

And if you’d like to watch the documentary that was developed to celebrate her 100th Birthday, please go here to purchase tickets in a theatre near you tomorrow, Monday, January 17th, 2022!

The Mary Mac Show | Grieving When Someone Famous Dies | Honoring Rush Limbaugh, Alex Trebek and others

The Mary Mac Show Podcast

In Episode 64, we look at the death of celebrities, sports figures, radio and tv personalities, actors and others and discuss why we are affected by their challenges and grieve their deaths.

One year ago this month, in Episode 10, I spoke about the severe diagnoses of Alex Trebek of Jeopardy fame, Rush Limbaugh of The Rush Limbaugh Show, and Kobe Bryant, who along with his young daughter and several others were killed in a helicopter crash in California.

Since that time, both Alex Trebek succumbed to pancreatic cancer on Sunday, November 8th, 2020 and this week, Rush Limbaugh died on Wednesday, February 17, 2021 after a year-long battle with stage-four lung cancer.

Consequently, I thought it appropriate to revisit how we feel when icons, such as these men, share their health struggles with us. And how it affects us, their followers, during the process and after they die.

Sometimes we wonder why we are so close to icons like this. Why we can be so affected.

But when you’ve welcomed them into your home and lives for decades, there is a reverence we have for them which does not go away.

They did what they loved for thirty years both educating and entertaining us and we are so grateful for that.

No one can take their place.

Sending you much love and hugs.

xoxo

Additional Notes:

Treat your young ones to our beautiful Heart of Gold “I Remember” Youth TeeShirt from The Mary Mac Store as they grieve a loved one’s death.

Remember, a portion of all proceeds help fund The Foundation for Grieving Children, Inc., the first national non-profit public charity which benefits children, teens, young adults after a loved one’s death which I established many years ago.

Crisis Hotlines with outstanding counselors who are standing by to listen to your pain and help you. Excellent way to release your pain today.

Arianna Opper, D.O. offers tapping videos and soothing meditations to help you. If you’d like to explore them, please go here.

And remember to sign up for my private list below, so we can always stay in touch. Since social media is no longer reliable, please complete the form below so I can connect with you via email.

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Steve Jobs: “Life is brief, and then you die. You know?”

I think the most admirable lesson Steve Jobs taught us about the way he lived his life was that he LIVED it.

To the full. Overflowing. Nonstop. Always creating. Always dreaming. Always expanding. Completely. He used every drop of it and we grasped all he gave.

Billions around the world honor him today as he leaves this life. But, for me, the true measure of our admiration toward this amazing man is that we did honor him all along his life, at every creation. And there were many.

There is no doubt he is the Edison of our generation. His accomplishments are so vast, I doubt most people know them all.

The Apple II, IMac, Pixar Studio work which brought so much fun to small and big children everywhere (remember ToyStory), ITunes, IPod, IPhone, IPad. All the genius of one man.

I loved the fact that he worked from his gut. He went to the quiet place where all creation comes from and listened to the small voice that he knew was right.

No focus groups, no research, just gut.

In his 2005 Commencement Address at Sanford University, he spoke of his life, his losses, his challenges, his struggles and his views about life and death, especially since, at that time, he had only one year earlier learned he had pancreatic cancer. (Read the transcript here, or watch below.)

His views on life and death are so profound, I wanted to share them with you. (Also read his infamous quotes here.)

Some of his memorable reflections are these:

“When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important thing I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

~~~~~~~~

“[Steve’s pancreatic cancer] was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept.

No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don’t want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we all share.

No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. right now, the new is you.

But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it’s quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.

Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Steve Jobs not only created magnificent products that changed the way we live our daily lives but he also created an awareness in us that life is so short and should be treasured. Instead of focusing on the trivial parts of life, he inspired us to reach for the best in ourselves each and every day. Because one day, as he reminded us, it will truly be our last.