Week of 9/17: Aloha To a Distinguished Trio

By Sylvia Gurinsky

How strange and sad, when a new CBS show called "Hawaii Five-0" is about to debut, that three men who distinguished themselves on the original, classic series die in the same week.

The first was Morgan White, who appeared occasionally during the first season (1968-69) as Hawaii Attorney General Walter Stewart, but was beloved by Hawaii television viewers as Pogo on the "Checkers and Pogo" children's series.

Kevin McCarthy had a distinguished career as a movie and television actor, and was working up until recently - at age 96! IMDB.com lists his first television appearance in 1949 on "The Ford Theatre Hour" in "The Man Who Came To Dinner." He was a frequent performer in the live television dramas of the 1950s and had a long line of guest-starring roles on successful television series, including "The Fugitive," "Mission: Impossible," "Columbo," "The Love Boat," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Early Edition." He co-starred in three series - "Flamingo Road," "Bay City Blues" and "The Colbys."

"Five-O" fans remember him for two episodes - as forger Hunter R. Hickey in Season 9's "The Last of the Great Paperhangers," and as widow murderer Victor Reese in the series' first regular episode, "Full Fathom Five":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FhDGWTsUiw

Later in the week, Harold Gould, also working until recently, died.

Gould's television career started in 1961. It included two stints as the dad in a television pilot - Lou Marie in the pilot of "That Girl" (Lew Parker wound up playing the role.) and Howard Cunningham in the "Love and Happy Days" segment of "Love, American Style that was turned into "Happy Days" (in which Tom Bosley played Howard).

But the third time was the charm - as Martin Morgenstern, father of Rhoda (Valerie Harper) - first on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," then on "Rhoda":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC9_YNmUbts&feature=related

Later, he played the boyfriend of Rose Nylund (Betty White) on "The Golden Girls."

His Five-O turn came in what series fan Karen Rhodes called the show's magnum opus in her "Booking Hawaii Five-O": The Vashon trilogy.

He played Honore Vashon, the second generation of a crime family that Five-O was determined to bring to justice. These scenes are from the first episode of the original three-parter, "V For Vashon: The Son":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmh_xd59uew

He also appeared in a followup episode, "The Case Against McGarrett."

Lots of good viewing with this trio. The first nine seasons of "Hawaii Five-O" are available on DVD, as are the first season of "Rhoda," all of Gould's appearances on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Golden Girls" and many of McCarthy's appearances on various shows.

Aloha to all.

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See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!