Honor a Drug Addict Dis a TV Legend

TMZ ^

[BenLurkin]

We've spoken with several people who have won Emmys who are upset with the decision to give a special honor to Cory Monteith but not Jack Klugman, and they're all too scared to speak out ... for fear of some sort of retaliation.

Jack Klugman -- who has won 3 Emmys and starred in TV classics -- "The Odd Couple" and "Quincy M.E." -- has been overlooked and disrespected for special mention during tonight's ceremony. Instead ... Cory Monteith gets the honor. Jack's son thinks it's ridiculous and disrespectful, and he's right.

[DoodleDawg]

Cory is in the demographic.

He's also recent. I doubt most of the people who vote on the Emmys know who Jack Klugman is. He hasn't been on TV for almost 20 years.

[IronJack]

Does anyone still actually watch these vapid awards shows? Who wants to see a bunch of pampered poodles breaking their own arms patting themselves on the back?

[InvisibleChurch]

The Emmy must be very important to Jack Klugman’s survivors.

[Jim from C-Town]

I know I had to Yahoo the name. He is the druggie from Glee.

Having had to sit through that show once with my wife, I am glad my children are not in public school. It has become so Liberal and PC that after the first season she even stopped watching.

[Patriot Babe]

Yes he was married to Bret Sommers til her death in 1997 then he went on to marry Peggy Crosby who was Bing Crosby former daughter-in-law.

[dfwgator]

Says it all about Hollywood, honor some frickin’ drug addict.

[dfwgator]

Same here. Never heard of the guy and until he died.

At least he died doing what he loved.

[SamAdams76]

It is absolutely an outrage. Now let me tell you about my first crush on a TV actress. It was Suzanne Crough , who played Tracy Partridge on the Partridge Family. Now before you start thinking I'm some kind of pedophile or something, I was only 8 years old when the Partridge Family debuted on September 25, 1970 (43 years ago on Wednesday!). So that put Suzanne and I in roughly the same age bracket.

What a different time that was back in September of 1970. The Beatles had just broken up and Vietnam was getting ugly. But what did I care? I was getting my Suzanne Crough fix every Friday night at 8:30 (after having to get through "The Brady Bunch" and "Nanny And The Professor") so the rest of the world really didn't matter - except for maybe my third grade teacher who looked uncannily like Shirley Partridge, which pretty much made her Suzanne/Tracy's mom too in my eyes.

So desperate was I to get close to Susan that at one point in early 1971, I penned a letter to Reuben Kincaid, manager of the Partridge Family, (with a blind copy to Danny Partridge), letting him know that I was taking clarinet lessons on Saturday mornings at the church rectory.

Could the Partridge Family use a clarinet player? I certainly thought so at the time. If anything, I could at take the place of the mostly uselss Chris Partridge. I mean, that kid couldn't play the drums worth a crap!

So I let Reuben Kincaid know that I could be available to join the band on tour "at any time." While waiting for a response, I would be found out in my back yard, carving my initials with "TP" on a tree. (If you were to go to my childhood home, you would probably still find our initials carved on some of those trees.)

After about 8 weeks, I finally got a response to my letter but it wasn't from Reuben Kincaid. Instead, it was a generic letter from "ABC" thanking me for my interest in the show and inviting me to join the Partridge Family fan club, which included a quarterly newsletter, an official Partridge Family pin, and a glossy 8x10 photo of David Cassidy ("Keith Partridge"). Nothing about my request to join the band and absolutely nothing about Tracy. They were treating me like I was some 10-year-old girl!

Remember this was decades before the Internet so I couldn't find out any news about my Tracy, for all I know, she never even knew I existed, even though I thought about her every day for about three years (until I started to focus more on Susan Partridge). But for that period of time, Suzanne/Tracy was the girl of my dreams. She will never know what she missed out on.

[fella]

The Professor is 99 and still drawing breath. First saw him on the Steve Allen Show before Jack Parr took it over and made it the Tonight Show.

[ColdOne]

Interesting a TMZ story.

[machogirl]

Hollywood Reporter says Jack Klugman will be in a group remembrance along with Larry Hagman and Charles Durning. Jack’s son is right on.

[ColdOne]

good!

[Liberty Valance]

Great story. Hayley Mills was my heart throb when i was about 9 or 10.

[FlJoePa]

Used to see Brett Sommers in the Backstage (a bar owned by Burt Reynolds across from his theater) here in Jupiter back in the day. Charles Nelson Reilly, Dom Deluise, and a bunch of others. It was like watching a panel of Match Game stars getting drunk at the bar and telling stories every Friday night. Sadly, never saw Elaine Joyce or Joyce Bulifant in there though.

Fun times. Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford were regulars as well.

[Patriot Babe]

That is awesome. Unfortunately today’s comedians do not gather like this and are no where near like these group. I remember hearing I think it was Don Rickles who stated that once he was gathered at a restaurant just to talk and eat. Those who were seated at the table: Johnny Carson, Red Buttons, Milton Berle, etc. and many big star comedians. Unlike today’s they would gather just to show off.