"I'm just as God made me, sir."
Bad news from the world of entertainment: Actor Paul Benedict died earlier this week at the age of 70. Benedict had a solid career in theater as both an actor and director, but in the great American-based tradition of being best known for the wrong thing (see: "Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alec Guinness as"), he’s probably most easily remembered as Bentley, the wacky, often pants-less neighbor on “The Jeffersons.”An interesting tidbit from the L.A. Times obituary:
The accented speech that he used even offstage led many to assume that Benedict was British, but in fact he was born Sept. 17, 1938, in Silver City, N.M.As my friend Brad said of Benedict’s passing, “I guess God needed to walk on someone’s back.” I couldn’t find any clips of the back-walking (Bentley often complained of spasms, and asked George Jefferson to stomp on him as a cure), but I did find his shining moment in This is Spinal Tap, in which he plays a hotel clerk who has fouled up the band's room request. I could try to come up with a number for how many times I've repeated the phrase "I'm just as God made me, sir," in everyday life, but then you'd know how incredibly irritating I can be in everyday life:
Labels: Obituaries, Paul Benedict, Spinal Tap, The Jeffersons
posted by JMW at 12:49 PM
6 Comments:
When I see Benedict, I think of how he's actually Roy Loomis, and not the longed-for but absent Mort Guffman.
i first loved him as the stealth letter- and number-painter (or was it just numbers?) on sesame street. i'll try to find a clip.
Mad Painter #10, for example. RIP, Mad Painter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ooPf4LLbLk&NR=1
(Unrelated: Who salts a banana?)
I don't know, but I'm going to try it...
will report back.
BTW -- I am no relation to the Dan Carlson above (I don't think...). I am a Canadian living in Ottawa, Canada but have dual citizenship. Very proud of my birthplace America right now. Audacious hopes.)
Every time I see a clip of 'Spinal Tap', I am reminded of how absolutely packed that film is with great lines.
In that clip, I have always loved: "We'd love to stay and chat, but we've got to sit down in the lobby and wait for the limo." The fact that they are already standing in the lobby when he says it...yes.
Re: salt on bananas...
1) hard to do, evenly.
2) makes banana taste somewhat sweeter
3) but on the whole, totally unnecessary.
Bananas are perfect unadorned.
Enjoy them while we have them.
They may not survive the blight ripping through the
world's supply.
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