Remembering the Franklins

[Jonas]

Eight years ago today, Richard Biggs died. I remember the day vividly, because it's precisely one day after my birthday, and because I felt really terrible when it happened. Franklin was the character I identified with the most, I think, and I always had this strange feeling as a writer/director that Richard Biggs would be my perfect actor. Working with him would have been a dream, and every time I think about working on some kind of film project or script that could get me somewhere there's a little part of me that thinks "but you can't work with Richard Biggs." I know it's odd and perhaps silly, and it's not like I've even sold a single screenplay, but on a creative level I feel like the universe kind of went astray that day. Which of course is nothing to the pain of losing him as an actual person, which so many people must feel.

Oddly, I just realized that today is also the birthday of Paul Winfield, who played his father, Richard Franklin - also an actor I really liked, and who also died too young.

To absent friends, in memory still bright.

[Jan]

I don't generally remember 'deathdays' but I'm usually pretty aware of Rick's because it was very close to the anniversary date when the memorial 'convention' was held the next year. I had the privilege of meeting Rick's wife and little boys, all as lovely as he was.

My favorite memory of Rick was at a convention here in Orlando. I'd only recently bought my script collection and I'd brought an armful for Rick to autograph. Like every actor, he automatically turned to the Cast page to check that his name was there and said some nice things about the cast memeber I'd bought the scripts from. During the conversation I mentioned that I had almost all of the scripts from both B5 and Crusade.

The next day I brought another armload of scripts (I'd stupidly bound them so I couldn't just take the title page - a mistake since fixed) for Walter Koenig to autograph. It was a slow moment at the autograph area and Rick was wandering around. He recognized me as I came in and we talked for a minute. Then he took me over to Walter's table to introduce me and tell him about my collection.

He was a lovely man and the world is poorer for his loss.

...in memory, still bright.

Jan

[DGTWoodward]

Eight years ago today, Richard Biggs died....

To absent friends, in memory still bright.

What, really 8 years? Where the hell did that go?

I remember meeting him in Blackpool and he came onstage with Jason. Rick was calmly and cooly filming the audience with his camcorder...and Jason was buzzing around hyperactively and you could just tell, there was this connection between them, clearly good friends.

Such lovely memories.