R.I.P. Art Carney...

[JohnL]

According to the news, Art Carney died Sunday at his home in Connecticut. He was 85.


Actor Art Carney dead at 85

[Scott]

Honeymooners was and is a great show. The only other time I ever seen him was in the TV show Alice when he shows up at Mels Diner with some Chili Con Carne idea. I always liked when Art Carney's character Ed Norton would prepare himself to do something like sign a paper or shoot pool and he would prolong it by stretching his arms once or twice then three times and Ralph would yell something. Ed Norton was a classic TV character.

[Eirik]

Jackie Gleeson always said he had to work harder for his laughs because Carney raised the bar so high for the show.  Praise from Caesar.

[BlackAngel]

My favorite scene is when Norton was trying to teach Ralph to dance.  Greatness.  In Brooklyn, the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority, my job) have some bus depots and its buses dedicated to Ralph Kramden.  Maybe ConEdison (utility company in N.Y.) should have the Brooklyn sewer system in his honor.

Hey, Art, keep the sewers clean up there.
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Bulls**t, I still can't hear you, sound off like you got a pair.

[AndyC]

And who could forget Carney's outstanding performance in the Star Wars Holiday Special? The way he delivered the Wookie stag film to Chewbacca's dad, then distracted the Stormtroopers with a Jefferson Starship video. Incredible.

[Flangepart]

A class act all the way.
Thanks, Art.

[JohnL]

He also appeared in episodes of Batman and The Twilight Zone as well as the movies Firestarter and The Last Action Hero. (before anyone speaks up, I know he was in a lot more, but I just picked out some of the ones more in spirit with this site).

[Susan]

People don't give enough credit to comedians..not until they turn their back on comedy and go into what hollywood considers "serious" acting. In my opinion it's harder to make people laugh than to cry. He was brilliant. Alot of touching moments on that show - I grew up watching those reruns...they had great chemistry and timing. It's hard to believe that they did those live shows..I doubt the actor's in today's sitcoms could never pull that off.  I always wondered about him in recent years..like johnn carson just seemed to fade out of the limelight.

[Lee]

I agree Susan. Comedy is an underappreciated skill. Thanks for entertaining us for all those years Art. God bless you.

[Scott]

Yep, Bob Hope actually saved all comedy material. He studied comedy. He saved every joke or line he ever heard. Kept them on file.

[The Burgomaster]

I'm an Art carney fan . . . Ed Norton is one of the great characters in TV history.

I also enjoyed him in movies like THE LATE SHOW and HARRY AND TONTO (although, I will never agree that he should have beat Al Pacino's performance in Godfather Part II for the Best Actor Oscar that year).

[yaddo42]

Yeah, he was good in "The Late Show" and a part of the B-movie fun that was "Roadie".

One of the underappreciated masters. I heard some producer or director (wish I could remember who) say in an interview that  Carney retired from acting in recent times, despite tons of people still wanting to work with him, because of losing most of his hearing which made it difficult for him to react to and play off of other actors and what a shame that it was.