They say death comes in 3’s, well this week has been an absolute killer of a week for that to be proven truthful. Three of the biggest actors/entertainers of the 70’s and 80’s have all passed away on successive days. Each of them were a major part of my life growing up.
First, we learned that Singer/Songwriter/Actress Dolly Parton passed away on August 25, 2026. Dolly was probably the greatest female country singer in the 70’s and 80’s. She wrote songs such as “Jolene, 9 – 5 and I will Love You”. While everyone remembers the Whitney Houston version of the last song, it was all Dolly. She stared in the movie based off her song 9 – 5, and delivered a standout performance as a female employee tired of taking “stuff” from her male boss. Dolly loved everyone, it didn’t matter who or what you believed in, she accepted and loved everyone. She said “I’m a Christian, and Jesus said to love everyone”. She was a philanthropist who created a reading program that gave books to children up to the age of 5 for free, all you had to do was sign up, and books were mailed to you. You can find the information at this Link https://imaginationlibrary.com/
Next we had Tim Curry, who Passed away on the same day as Dolly did. As most people know Tim was the original Frank-n-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. a character that made him famous. He played Darkness in the movie Legend, Dr Petrov in The Hunt For Red October and of course he played Pennywise in the TV Movie It. he also did voiceover work and was an accomplished singer.
Today it was announced that Peter Cullen, long time voice actor known mostly for his role as Optmus Prime from the Transformer series of TV and Films, passed away at 85. Peter was a regular on the sci-fi convention circuit, and had plenty of upcoming appearances with Galaxycon and others.
Of course I am not discounting the other deaths this month, such as Hayden Panettiere, Frank Beard(drummer for ZZ Top) and Shelley Fabares, who also passed away this month. But none of them were a constant in my life growing up. I mean you could always go watch a showing of Rocky Horror someplace, Dolly was mainstream before most singers understood what that meant, and Peter was the go to guy for voice acting.
This has been an amazingly rough month for deaths, and it reminds me that even at 61 years old, things I grew up with, watching or listening to, are getting close to their “expiration date”. It makes me wonder what my expiration date is going to be. It is just another sign of how far we have come, and yet, I still yearn for that childhood, where they were all at the height of their careers, and made us all smile and laugh.
August has been a heck of a month on the entertainment industry, RIP to all who have gone past the Rim.
“we will see you in the place where no shadows fall”
Jon Tessler
