1/26/2010

You're With The Angels Now, Palmer Cortlandt...

I know this news is a few days old, but as some of you may have noticed, I haven't been around much lately. Actor James Mitchell who played long-time patriarch Palmer Cortlandt (a.k.a. Pete Cooney) is dead.

Hard to believe, but I was once a regular All My Children watcher. It all started in grade school. I used to walk home for lunch rather than eat at school. Whereas I wanted to watch Underdog cartoons, my mom had other ideas. Apparently, she wanted me to learn about adultery and the prevalence of evil twins at a young age. While I haven't watched it in several years, I did start watching it again while in college and even got a few of my buddies hooked. So, yes, I know all about Erica and Adam/Stuart and Tad and Opal and Liza and her psycho mom and Phoebe and Langley and Brooke and Dixie and Tom and Dimitri and Myrtle Fargate and the Martin family and Jackson and Trevor Dillon (Uncle Pork Chop) and Hayley and when Jenny died on the jet-ski and Greg was really sad and when Buffy The Vampire Slayer played Erica's daughter. But none of them will ever top the greatest character AMC will ever know:

Billy Clyde Tuggle

13 comments:

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

Your mom was so right to teach you about the horrors of evil twins.

SkylersDad said...

Hey, I am here to tell you there was plenty of adultery and evil twins in Underdog also!

Mnmom said...

Palmer's DEAD!!!???? He ruled my world in 1981. He and Mrs. Quartermaine.

Anonymous said...

So...what you're saying is, you've been away for a while growing a vagina?

Anonymous said...

Billy Clyde Tuggle, that's a funny name for a pimp.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I hope Nina and Cliff can make the funeral. I loved me some AMC and Billy Clyde.

Scope said...

Billy Clyde, as immortalized in the Buffett song, "The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful"

Still time to start a new life in the palm trees.

Ah, Billy Clyde wasn't insane

And if it doesnt't't work out there'll never be any doubt.

That the pleasure was worth all the pain.

dguzman said...

Billy Clyde and Opal were classic! It was like Hee-Haw cross-bred with a soap opera. Pure gold. Remember when Palmer almost let his daughter Nina go blind from her diabetes just so she could be more dependent on him? What a rat.

You know Mitchell also played Curley in the dream sequence of Oklahoma (the movie version). I always got a kick out of that, that he was an old dancer who got a cool and easy gig on a soap.

GETkristiLOVE said...

Billy Clyde Tuggle as a pimp was about as scary as Estelle and Donna as hookers. Now Ray Gardner... he was scary.

Least we forget that Mitchell was in The Turning Point.

Joe said...

When I was a photographer in the mid-80's the stylists and layout artist would all watch AMC on our lunch breaks, so I watched a lot of AMC. My mom was always a big fan too, still is.

A couple weeks ago I was at my mom's place two days in a row at lunch time, and I was able to catch up with something like 23 years worth of backstory in no time. Freaky.

And thank you for reminding me about Billy Clyde, one of my earliest white trash heroes as a young man.

Distributorcap said...

better yest - Ethel, who worked in the Glamorama with Opal was my drama teacher.....

and yes i know way too much about AMC.

hey the original Will Cooney is the frigging weatherman on WCBS CHannel 2 in New York NOW -- everytime he goes to the map i wonder if he will point out Pine Valley (i think i have my next post)

Whiskeymarie said...

When they went back in time to the "old west" pretty much sealed it for me- best soap opera EVER.

bubbles said...

I'm catching up on blogs... this post was awesome! I started watching AMC when I walked home for lunch, also! I watched from the beginning, though. I'm old.