Category Archives: Famous/Celebrity

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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The Mary Mac Show | When Someone Famous Is Sick or Has Died

The Mary Mac Show PodcastExperiencing the death of a significant person in our life is extremely difficult. But what if our grief is directed toward someone we don’t personally know?

In Episode 10, Mary honors Alex Trebek who has been battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer since March, 2019, Rush Limbaugh who announced his advanced stage lung cancer diagnosis on February 3, 2020 and Kobe Bryant, who along with eight others including his 13 year-old daughter, Gianna, was killed on January 26, 2020 in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

Others might make us feel we don’t have a right to feel the way we do, but this is nonsense. If we have followed the careers of these individuals and they have brought insight, education and entertainment into our lives, we can have feelings of sadness, even shock, when our hero is stricken by a significant illness or dies too soon.

Alex Trebek has hosted Jeopardy for over thirty years and it is one of the most successful game shows of all time.

Hosting the most successful radio talk show, with an audience of 25 million people who tune in each weekday for three hours to hear him, Rush Limbaugh has hosted his signature The Rush Limbaugh Show also for over three decades sharing his political commentary.

Kobe Bryant, a professional basketball player, led his team, the Los Angeles Lakers, to five championship seasons and won gold medals on two USA Olympic basketball teams.

All three men were philanthropists who gave to others less fortunate than themselves for decades, often in secret.

It is natural to want to cheer on successful people and live vicariously through them. When we watch and listen to them on a frequent basis, we feel a solid connection to them. They become part of our lives.

Visit here to listen to Episode 10 and share your comments below.