Death for Hollywood stars comes in 3's

First Don Knotts on Friday.

Darren McGavin on Saturday

and finally

Dennis Weaver.

Hollywood oldsters must go on lockdown when someone dies. While Knotts was a talented actor and made The Andy Griffith Show the legend that it is, I was never to keen on him, even when he played the buffoon on Three's Company.

Darren McGavin, however, was for me the best character acter out there. I still remember watching the first two Kolchak TV movies and then the limited series. And who can ever forget him in perhaps his most classic role as the Dad in the best Christmas comedy ever made made, A Christmas Story. He'll be missed.

Dennis Weaver was always, to me, a strange actor. I first saw him in McCloud, the Texas cop who befuddled the big city police with his down home country style on those Mystery Movies that aired on NBC in the 1970s. Little did I know, until years later, that he had starred on Gunsmoke -the longest running primetime TV drama in history and something that shall never be surprassed {espcially with episode count} - and a little TV movie called Duel that introduced the world to Steven Spielberg.

Still, I never found him more than one dimensional in the roles he chose. Maybe, I forever cast him as McCloud?

So, there is relief in Hollywood tonight as a rain passes to the ground like a slow divorce. Three are gone, so at least for Andy Rooney, he can rest easy.