RIP Jeff Conaway 1950-2011

[Bonehead]

Can't believe we've lost another one. And what a horrible way to go. RIP Jeff
You willl be missed

[tdiers]

RIP Jeff

Rest in peace Jeff. You will be missed.

tdiers

[babylonlurker]

A sad day for us B5'ers.

May you rest in peace, Jeff Conaway.

[valens_shadow]

RIP Jeff.

Is there a Babylon 5 curse? the actors are all so young.

[Jan]

RIP Jeff.

Is there a Babylon 5 curse? the actors are all so young.

NO, there's no curse. Recall the wise words of a certain Marcus Cole:

You know, I used to think that life was terribly unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair? If all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.

Jan

[paula352]

R.I.P. Jeff, Sleep in the Light!

[valens_shadow]

NO, there's no curse. Recall the wise words of a certain Marcus Cole:



Jan

Well said. I just hope none of the rest of cast pass before their time. It's so sad we'll never see them reprise their characters again.

[AmyG]

Yeah, seriously. Let's not feed the "Babylon 5 curse" fires, please. It's sad and unfortunate enough to lose someone (again); it just feels like it makes it *worse* to attribute it to some kind of sentient and deliberate maliciousness.

[Jonas]

Another one gone before his time. This is such a sad story. But I'm glad he had a chance to shine.

[AmyG]

Something I wanted to throw out here, which came up on the newsgroup in the context of talking about mentions online of the so-called curse. I was looking up some statistics (comparing our B5 deaths to Treks), and I came to a conclusion: I think that, as a fandom, we B5 people are worn out from grieving. It's not just that we have had the death of three core characters; it's that we have had the death of three core characters within *seven short years*. Rick Biggs (and Tim Choate) in 2004; Andreas (and Johnny Sekka) in 2006; and now Jeff in 2011. That's a fairly rapid succession, especially since none of these guys (save Sekka) were at an age where you might have *expected* to lose them (like Doohan and Kelley, who were 79 and 85 when they died).

Add to that the fact that our first death came just six years after the conclusion of the original series (Trek's first major cast member didn't die until thirty years after the conclusion of their original series), and it just seems unfair, or at least unnecessarily hard.

Yep, I'm feeling very, very sad today. Memorial Day, indeed.

[DGTWoodward]

The sad truth is that shit just happens.

It's that simple. It is horrible, it's depressing, it only seems to happen to the good ones.

But shit happens.

[JoeD80]

Death is an end result you're guaranteed from birth. What matters most is not who burns the longest, but who burns the brightest. The tortured artists among us have bursts of genius that outshine the rest of us. Jeff burned that brightly.

[KoshN]

Death is an end result you're guaranteed from birth. What matters most is not who burns the longest, but who burns the brightest. The tortured artists among us have bursts of genius that outshine the rest of us.

Made me think of Blade Runner:

Tyrell: The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long -and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy.

Batty: I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die.

That second quote is one of my all-time favorites.

Jeff burned that brightly.

Hey, I liked him and I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but c'mon, you're stretching it here.

[JoeD80]

Probably was a mish-mash of that. I was thinking of some other quotes and just wrote out a jumble with a touch of me thrown in. I do think that Jeff burned brightly at the times, to semi-quote Joe, when the demons weren't calling him though. It was a life also mixed with some very low lows.

[Marsden]

I know this is petty, but does it bother anyone else that he was the star of "Grease" instead of Babyon 5? I never thought B5 was just a "cult" show, but maybe I'm just part of the cult and don't realize it. I knew him from Taxi, which I thought he was good in. And I never once thought "Oh, look Bobby Wheeler is working for Garabaldi" I really like his work as Zack, some of my favorite little moments were his. I really don't know how they can go on with so many of the actors gone, but then I would never to be able to produce/write/star in anything so I'll leave that up to the experts. It's especially disappointing with this pending announcement, I don't know what it means, if anything, but it certainly can't help.