Ron Glass Dies at 73

Ron was 71 and never married.

Will 2016 be the year when we lost the greatest number of famous people?

I often wondered about him. He did an episode of Barney Miller in drag and he looked really good and comfortable with it.

fine looking black man!

He apparently had a long-term relationship with Tony Geary back in the day.

I thought he was out.

Wikipedia already updated. Damn, they work fast.

He was really cute on "Barney Miller."

R8 I always thought he was kind of sexy on Barney Miller. He's the detective that always dressed up in a fancy suit for work.

He was my better half on "The New Odd Couple."

I loved his sister Nancy.

Once again 2016 can fuck off!

Florence was #1

Ron is #2

R13 I believe he was involved with a soap actor, but I don't think it was Geary. Someone on DL reading this will know.

Sorry, that was meant for R5

[quote]I loved his sister Nancy.

I loved his brother, George.

Sure, Jan.

I remember reading several times it was Geary. But nothing more than rumor.

R18 I don't know how to do it on my prehistoric device, but if you know how to search it on here it should come up.

R19 again. However now that it's mentioned, I do recall many on here discussing Geary's fetish for black guys. So you might be right.

And they both worked at ABC . . .

I still remember being annoyed that his character's death was spoiled for me before I saw Serenity. I looked up the score on Amazon and one of the tracks was called "Shepherd Book's Last Words." Why would you put a huge spoiler like that in the tracklisting?

[quote]Wikipedia already updated. Damn, they work fast.

Not really, [R7]. Glass died yesterday. TMZ, some British paper, and Variety beat them to it by hours and hours.

I grew up in Evansville Indiana where he was from. Some time in the 70s his mother was murdered in her home. Was big news there at the time

R24, I live in Evansville! Did you like living here?? I find it fairly bleak :(

NO! He was one of those hot daddys who could've had his way with me. Definitely a silver fox.

I think he was a bottom.

Geary sucked Ron's big black chocolate stick many many times.

So is this #3 (#1 Florence Henderson, #2 Fidel Castro) or are we waiting for another TV personality and Fidel is in another trio?

His brother George was the dreamiest!

I'm telling you all, be prepared for a huge spate of celebrity deaths in the coming weeks. They come rushing at you at the end of each year.

Who's next to go? That Girl!

When someone dies and his main legacy is his sexual orientation, there's something wrong. The man was a famous actor. Whether he was gay is HIS business. RIP, Mr. Glass.

Florence Henderson and Glass make two recent celebrity deaths, both from southern Indiana. Who's next?

Mike Pence, r34.

one can only hope, r35

R33 Thank you, Mike Pence.

R25 What's the gay scene like in Evansville? Do you get much action?

r13, Mickey Rooney was # 1........Florence Henderson was # 2 and Ron Glass was # 3.

Where there's Adam4adam, there's hope, r38

R29, the "Death-in-Threes" is for show biz folk, Fidel doesn't qualify. Maybe Zsa Zsa will be next.

Mickey Rooney?! He died two years ago.

3 deaths is for anything according to granny. Evan in a small town. And she was right.

You're right r42. Mickey Rooney died in April of 2104. For some apparent reason AOL news said he died 2 days ago on Thanksgiving. WTF? Ok, I know not to trust AOL news anymore. lol Thanks for the correction.

Ooops. Meant the year 2014 in my post above.

I always loved anything he did. Just a great actor. Barney Miller is still one of the funniest shows ever.

Thanks to the internet and social media celebrities' death are much more in the public's eye than ever before. I swear sometimes I feel like "are there any celebrities left to die?".

R30, see R16.

If there's a 3rd tv death by the end of the year, I predict it'll be a big one. NOT Betty, NOT Valerie, NOT Cloris......

Dick Van Dyke and Rose Marie.

Jesus God in Heaven, please keep Ruth Bader Ginsburg healthy for years to come! PLEASE!!!

LOL R3, I remember the epi you're talking about. Barney was all WTF because Harris went out and had his undercover drag outfit custom made. Harris' response to Barney was immortal: "I don't wear anything off the rack".

Isn't Hugh Hefner said to be at death's door?

[quote]Jesus God in Heaven, please keep Ruth Bader Ginsburg healthy for years to come! PLEASE!!

Don't worry the old girl is doing what she can to stay healthy.

Back when Barney Miller was a TV staple and I was a wee girl I thought Ron Glass was the most handsome black man in the world.

He was really kinda young to die wasn't he?

R55 I hope, for your sake, OJ isn't reading this in prison.

Now I feel like watching Barney Miller.

[quote] [Ron Glass] was really kinda young to die wasn't he?

I'd say so. He was 71, and a devout Buddhist. Buddhists tend to stay in pretty good shape. I saw a interview he did last year in a sleeveless shirt, and at 70, had a fine pair of guns. Maybe he was a smoker?

One of the best Barney Miller eps ever was "Hash", with stellar comedy work from both Glass and Jack Soo

AGAIN JAN? REALLY! I swear! THIS IS about Ron, NOT about you! If mom and dad were alive, what would they say? Already miss mom. Cindy's hysterical and THIS is how you react on such a sad day?

Maybe you should run away again and start hooking AGAIN. THAT seems to suit you much better!

Enjoyed him on Barney Miller and was really happy to see him on Firefly.

I love his cousin, Stained.

Theresa Buchhalter

Remember the episode of All In The Family where Archie, Edith and Meathead all told different versions of what happened when two repair men came over to fix the refrigerator? In Archie's version the black repair man was an insolent, menacing in a huge afro and African garb and carrying a big knife. In Meathead's version he's a harmless, guffawing,obliging Negro with no knife. In Edith's version he's an ordinary guy with a little pen knife. Of course Edith's version was the right one. Ron Glass played all three versions of the black man and he was hilarious. He was a very talented actor.

R64, they actually just showed the episode on Thanksgiving morning. Antenna TV was doing an "All in the Family" marathon for the holiday.

I liked his brother, that famed landscaper, Verybadfor Glass.

NO! Not cousin Ron!

That same AITF marathon included Tony Geary as Mike and Gloria's gay friend and my favorite episode, when Cousin Maude came to care for the flu stricken Bunker's.

R68 I don't think Roger (Geary) was gay in that AITF episode but Archie's army macho buddy played by Phil Carey was - great episode, breaking down stereotypes

R68, the Geary character was gay. Remember how chummy he was with the Phil Carey character? The tag came when the bartender said he didn't want the two of them coming into the bar because he didn't want it to become a gay bar.

Geary's relationship with Glass was pretty well known. After they broke up, Geary turned to Asians.

Loved his puffy, round Afro. Ron was well coiffed.

Agree - very talented actor and very hot on Barney Miller.

Barney Miller was such a good show. Abe Vigoda was such an idiot for leaving it. His "Fish" tv series was a piece of crap. He and his homely wife Bernice take in a bunch of child flotsam? Yeah, right!

But... but... was he... homosexual?

Theresa Buchhalter told me Ron had passed. Rip

[quote] the Geary character was gay. Remember how chummy he was with the Phil Carey character? The tag came when the bartender said he didn't want the two of them coming into the bar because he didn't want it to become a gay bar.

It was never stated Geary's character was gay, ONLY that the bartender thought because he was effeminate that he WAS gay. In fact, Mike denies his friend is gay, and Mike was liberal enough to have a gay friend.

[quote]I thought Ron Glass was the most handsome black man in the world.

What a racist thing to say...

r50

I'm shocked by your rudeness

[quote]Florence was #1

[quote]Ron is #2

All I know is I WON'T be #3, why? Because I won cookie

Harris: I'll call the twinkie mobile

Barney: Harris, watch those euphemisms, huh

Harris: Bellevue, this is Harris we have a customer for the enchanted kingdom.

Harris: Barney, you are looking at one mad nigger.

Actually R13, Fidel was #2. Ron completes the trio.

[quote] Thanks to the internet and social media celebrities' death are much more in the public's eye than ever before. I swear sometimes I feel like "are there any celebrities left to die?".

I'm still here, dahling!

But... but... was he... homosexual?

He partook of the cock.

R77 How broad minded of you to smear a ten year old girl's impression 40 years ago.

r86

It's a valid criticism. What you're saying is that there are other men handsomer, they just happen to be other races, which IS racist. Stop excusing your intolerable behavior and just don't be a racist, OK.

I guess being a special snowflake you're used to being excused, but not with me.

When the world is right, I speak for it. When the world is wrong I speak TO it.

R87 I have no idea if you are black or white, but your over use of the term racist is part of the reason Trump was elected.

Racism by a 10 year old girl who had barely even SEEN a grown black man? Really? If that is your definition of racism then you surely find it everywhere you look. I can see that discerning nuance isn't your strong suit.

Not that I owe you an explanation, but just a few years before that there were still "colored only" water fountains and restrooms in the only department store in my small Appalachian home town. The few black folks lived in a small area known(openly and was even called this by them) as "colored town."

If I had said contemporaneously that (for instance) Boris Kodjoe is the most handsome black man I have seen, that would be entirely different. I know better today, as does all of polite society. But in the late 60s and early 70s, the world I lived in had not yet experienced the civil rights movement of the 60s.

I am anything but a special snowflake, and I can take constructive criticism.

You might examine your own soul.

Recent autograph signing.

He had a brief role on Agents of SHIELD as a doctor/scientist. The show has brought in several Whedon veterans, and I was hoping his part would be expanded. Maybe he wasn't well enough. I really loved him as the preacher in Firefly.

Nice try, R21, but Barney Miller was filmed in Hollywood and General Hospital in New York (at that time).

71 is young! Was he sick?

Um, R91? General Hospital production was always based in L.A., not NY.

Not that they're necessarily true, but the Ron Glass/Tony Geary rumors have been here on datalounge as long as I have (2008-ish).

R76, AITF often made it so Mike was just as wrong as Archie. Point, the Rashomon episode where Glass is the guest star. Mike sees him as an Uncle Tom and Archie sees him as a Black Panther. It follows that Mike would not believe an effeminate male could be gay. His prejudices and reverse prejudices were as ridiculous as Archie.

Didn't he father someone's child in Evansville ,In ?

r88

Give it up, it's RACISM. When you qualify someone's looks by isolating a group, in this case, black it's racism.

If I said, "He's the best of my black workers," you would all jump down my throat and say I was racist.

[quote] It follows that Mike would not believe an effeminate male could be gay.

I disagree, the only shred of evidence in that episode that Geary's character is gay, is the fact he's friends with the established gay character. And by that line of logic, Mike would be gay, because he was friends with Geary's character.

The bartender thought Geary's character was gay because he was effeminate. There's more evidence to say the character IS NOT that IS.

GH has always taped in LA. Their studio tapes GH and Grey's.

One of the best episodes R64.

R98, I disagree with you. AITF always made these moral lessons. Both Archie and Mike were wrong: Archie not believing a masculine guy could be gay and Mike not believing a feminine guy could be gay. They both were with the AITF lesson being that gays weren't always what you expect but sometimes they were.

There's no mention of his private life in any of his obits. No partner, no surviving family, nothing. It's almost like a media blackout. Maybe more will come forth a few days from now. In any case, he was one of my favorites from "Barney Miller" and loved seeing him when he made guest appearances on shows.

Thank you R76

I recall seeing Glass at the Daytime Emmys in the early 80s

He seemed like such a cool, laid back guy, very handsome too. RIP

Was he gay?

I'm sure many of us remember the new TZ episode with Mr. Glass and DL fave(?) Sherman Hemsley. Tight red T-shirt. Uh huh.....

I loved his German half-nephew, Steuben.

I worked briefly with Ron Glass on Broadway in 1975. He was hired to replace Cleavon Little in a Murray Schisgal farce called ALL OVER TOWN. Unfortunately , the show closed shortly after he joined the company. A tour was scheduled, but never materialized. It's too bad, because he was quite good, and he was very nice to the entire company and to the crew as well. I have no idea if he was gay, but he definitely was not out to us then.

FYI, The show was directed by Dustin Hoffman, produced by the infamous Adela Holzer, and introduced a wonderful, new comic actress named Polly Holliday. IMHO, she stole the show.

He wasn't gay. He just never found the right girl. lololololol

R97, perhaps you might familiarize yourself with CONTEXT.

Billy Boy, what was Polly Holliday like back then? It seems like she's had a quite a rep for being difficult since becoming well-known on ALICE, though I always wondered if that was a fair assessment. Love her! Wish she still worked.

R107 I tell people about that episode, (with Sherman Hemsley too!) and no one ever remembers it.

Polly Holliday and Dustin Hoffman were very close friends for many years. Just after Tootsie came out, Hoffman discussed in many interviews that Polly helped him shape the character of Dorothy.

Polly Holliday is a cunt.

Is Polly still alive? I thought that old bat died ages ago.

[quote]Cleavon Little

That's a name I haven't heard in a LONG time! Ranks right up there with Scooey Mitchell.

Handsome. Good actor. Great cast on Barney Miller and good writing.

R25 If only SomePlaceEvil would finally die and go away.

He looked FANTASTIC for 71.....still handsome with great skin that easily looked 15/20 years younger.

I wonder what caused respiratory failure.

[quote]I wonder what caused respiratory failure.

A big dick. It'll nearly get you every time...

[quote]Polly Holliday and Dustin Hoffman were very close friends for many years.

Did they have a falling out? Otherwise, why the use of the past tense?

R122 Not that I know of. I also wasn't certain she was still alive, thus the past tense, so I just looked her up on IMDB. Yes, she's still alive.

And in her bio, there's a paragraph discussing Tootsie.

Geary suckedhis big black dick!

Maybe he had AIDS?

Did Geary get the aids from Glass?

No, but Florence Henderson gave him crabs.

Or perhaps Glass got it from Geary?

R54 why did you post a picture of Norman Bates's mother?

Absolute nonsense R97. She's describing his ethnicity.

Sheesh.

He was my father in law

a gay?

Again? Poor Ron.

A corpse is a corpse

r132 You bumped an old thread for THAT?