Author: Henry L.

Has anyone ever sent out sympathy cards to the family of a celebrity or some other famous person’s family after hearing of a death of someone prominent? With the deaths recently – on successive days – of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson, I began to wonder how many of their fans might take it upon themselves to grab some sympathy cards and send them out to the celebrities’ grieving families. More than likely, there are probably quite a few.

As Johnny Carson’s sidekick for over 30 years, Ed McMahon came into our homes on a daily basis…remember the show Who Do You Trust, and of course, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, where we knew him as that guffawing sidekick who made Johnny look so good. Later, after Jay Leno took over the show, Ed went on to host several popular programs, helped out Jerry Lewis each year on the Labor Day telethon, and even became a pitchman for Publishers Clearinghouse. The thing about Ed was, you could trust him…at least I did.

As for Farrah Fawcett, was there anyone from the 1970s who was more beautiful? (My personal choice would be her Charlie’s Angels replacement, Cheryl Ladd, but that’s another argument altogether.) Anyway, Farrah’s poster showing her great smile while wearing a sexy, one-piece bathing suit was what helped catapult her to super-stardom. She went on to become a very good actress and was always considered a respectful member of the show business community by the way she carried herself and the seriousness as to how she viewed her craft.

Michael Jackson’s existence was filled with contradictions. He was hugely talented at age 10 as the lead singer with his brothers in the Jackson 5, and became the biggest star in the world during the 1980s and 1990s with the albums “Thriller” and “Bad.” His benevolence and immense amount of charitable work and generosity added to his status as a pop icon. Unfortunately, his sometimes bizarre behavior, his idiosyncrasies, as well as allegations of child molestation put a damper on how he was viewed in later years.

All three deaths are sad, regardless of whether they were anticipated – either because of a lingering illness at an old age, a long battle with a deadly cancer, or in Jackson’s case, a death heard about from a special report on the news (or not). These people all perhaps had mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and sons and daughters who cared about them and are feeling a great loss after their loved one’s death. Deciding to help make someone who is grieving feel better by reaching out with sympathy cards is a wonderful thing to do.