Farewell, Dennis Weaver

I'm very sad to report our third celebrity death in two days.  Actor Dennis Weaver died this weekend from complications due to cancer.  The actor was 81 years old.

Just like actors Don Knotts and Darren McGavin who passed away this same weekend, Dennis Weaver also shared in the success of being well known for playing two different characters during their television careers.  Weaver was known for playing the slow-witted deputy Chester Goode in the TV classic western "Gunsmoke" and the New Mexico deputy transplanted to New York CIty in "McCloud."

Weaver was a struggling actor in Hollywood, earning $60 a week in 1955 delivering flowers when he was offered $300 a week for a rols in a new CBS television series, "Gunsmoke."  By the end of his nine years with "Gunsmoke," he was earning $9,000 a week.  The role of deputy Chester earned him an Emmy award in 1959. 

In 1966, Weaver starred with a 600-pound black bear in the series "Gentle Ben," one of my favorite shows as a kid. I especially liked when Weaver's character would drive one of those cool air boats through the Everglades.  The show was well-liked by the viewers, but after two seasons CBS decided it needed more adult entertainment and cancelled it. 

After "Gentle Ben," Weaver went on to star in another highly successful series, "McCloud."  He played the character Sam McCloud, a deputy marshall from New Mexico who is assigned to the NYPD to study their police methods.  His wild west tactics, such as riding his horse through Manhattan traffic and wearing his Stetson and very cool sheepskin coat, drove the NYPD crazy,  but McCloud always solved the case.  Instead of gloating to the NYPD, he would always say "there ya go."

Weaver also was an activist for protecting the environment and fighting world hunger.  He served as president of Love Is Feeding Everyone (LIFE), which fed 150,000 needy people a week in Los Angeles County.  He founded the Institue of Ecolonomics, which sought solutions to economic and environmental problems, and he spoke at the United Nations and Congress about fighting pollution and starvation.  Dennis and his wife Gerry even built a solar-powered home in Colorado, made out of recycled tires and cans.