The Jaws Got Her First
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
I know that some of my celebrity encounters are obscure and some are beyond obscure. But oftentimes I am oddly drawn to folks that have only had five minutes of fame. I just feel lucky when I get the chance to meet someone whom I’d never expect to meet…or even look for. It’s likely that you would never recognize Susan Backlinie’s name, nor her face, unless of course it was seen in the context of having a few shark teeth imbedded into it. But you probably will never forget that moment – especially if you saw it in the theater in 1975 – when her character Chrissie Watkins became the first victim of the shark in the blockbuster thriller Jaws. Read the rest of this entry »
Continuing with my series of Hollywood cemeteries is the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, located in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles. For visitors wanting to get the most bang for their buck when it comes to Hollywood celebrities, one wouldn’t find a more condensed gathering of famous burials than this location. Just by casually browsing the cemetery, I was able to spot more than twenty-five famous graves in less than one hour’s time. Oddly situated in a downtown area, this small cemetery is very easy to get around. Tour groups often stop here to see its most famous grave, that of Marilyn Monroe. 
It was in the early part of the 2000’s decade that I asked my friend Bob to pick me up a signed photo Dee Wallace when she made an appearance at one of the Hollywood Collector Shows. My knowledge of her at the time was that she had played the Mom (Mary, with last name intentionally never disclosed) in E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, which was one of the most touching and popular films during my adolescent childhood. By the time she starred in E.T. in 1982, she had already had a rather lucrative career, having starred in The Stepford Wives, The Hills Have Eyes, 10, and The Howling. 
It was becoming clear that we were in some beautiful parts of the country. But as gorgeous as Zion National Park and the drive after had been, they still paled in comparison to the amazing scenery to be found at Bryce Canyon. Whereas almost everything that Bob and I had explored on our previous United States road trips had to do with American History and man-made ‘things’, this time we were enjoying the majesty of many God-made things with histories that dated back billions of years before America was even a twinkle in His eye. Even the Egyptian pyramids couldn’t have rivaled some of these sights. 
The title of this posting might sound a little disturbing if the photo at left didn’t make it obvious that we were talking about the TV show Bewitched. Although in the great I Dream of Jeanie vs. Bewitched debate, I come down on the side of Jeanie as being the better of the two shows, Bewitched is quite fun nonetheless. As a fan who caught the series in reurns, I own all of the episodes on DVD and am anxious to dig into them in the near future. Unlike the cast of Jeanie, I never got to meet any of the principles on Bewitched, but during my visit to the Hollywood Show on October 9, 2010 , I was able to get to meet the actors and actress who played Samantha and Darrin’s children Tabitha and Adam.