1987 Year in Review

Ken Herrera: In 1987, we lost some of the best-loved entertainers in the nation. The list of those who died reads like a Who’s Who from Hollywood. Among those who left us: Danny Kaye; the incomparable Liberace; director John Houston; comedian Dan Rowan; actress Geraldine Page; drummer Buddy Rich; actor Lauren Green; and who could ever forget "The Great One", Jackie Gleason …

Jackie Gleason (as Ralph Kramden in "The Honeymooners"): "Go ahead, say it, Alice; say it! Go ahead! Tell me I'm a maniac; go ahead, say everything you want. But I don't care. I don't care. That's the way I feel!"

"(Laughter.)"

Audrey Meadows (as Alice Kramden in "The Honeymooners"): "Ah, Ralph (laughing). I love you."

(Music.)

Ken Herrera: We also lost one of the best-loved men in Hollywood whose greatest work without a doubt took place in a motion picture shot in late 1930s …

Ray Bolger (as The Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz") {singing}: "I could while away the hours, conferring with the flowers, consulting with the rain. And my head I'd be scratchin', while my thoughts were busy hatchin', if I only had a brain ... "

Ken Herrera: Actor/dance-man Ray Bolger.

Actress Rita Hayworth, a Hollywood legend and longsuffering victim of Alzheimer's disease, also died this past year; television producer and controversial talk-show host David Susskind; prolific TV producer Quinn Martin, his name became a household word.

Actor Hugh Brannum died during the year, known to millions as Mr. Green Jeans; jazz great Woody Herman, whose friends came to his financial aid during his final days; pop artist Andy Warhol; western star Randolph Scott.

The real renaissance woman of the century died in '87, Clare Boothe Luce; she showed American women they would achieve anything. And Robert Preston died; he was the music man to an entire generation. We knew him as the man who warned about trouble, right here in River City.

And Bob Fosse, a legend, one of the most prolific choreographers and directors in American theater history, died during the year.

And we lost perhaps one of the greatest ever to take the dance floor, Fred Astaire: a suave, modest master of his art, a man who made complicated dancing and mood-making seem, oh, so easy …

Fred Astaire (as Peter P. Peters in "Shall We Dance") {singing}: "The way you wear your hat, the way you sip your tea … "

Ken Herrera: 1987, The Year in Review, was produced by Dennis Daly, Executive Producer Michael Friedman; Contributing Correspondents: Bill Small from the White House, Rob Navias in Miami, in Washington Barbara Porter, Pye Chamberlain, Bonnie Yerva, Bob Berger and Dennis Daly, in London Tom Rivers, in Los Angeles Bob Brill and Bob Futz; Technical Assistance from Ken Robbins.

1987, The Year in Review; I'm Ken Herrera on the UPI Radio Network.

Fred Astaire (as Peter P. Peters in "Shall We Dance") {singing}: "No, no, they can't take that away from me … "