One of the problems of growing older is that in most cases so do the heroes of our youth. Many of the entertainers I loved in my youth died from what I refer to as rock and roll causes: an overdose, gunfire, a car accident and the ubiquitous plane crash.
Today the musicians we heard on the radio long ago are ageing as we do – one day at a time. Their ailments are now our ailments. For example, George Harrison – my second favourite Beatle – died of cancer. While I wonder what other songs George may have given us since his passing, I also think that a pernicious disease is just not a very rock and roll way to go.
And so to the television news that Van Williams died last weekend. Williams played Britt Reid / The Green Hornet at the same time Adam West and Burt Ward were camping it up on Batman. But renal failure? Seriously? Van’s death would have been a lot easier to take if he had been taken out in the line of crime fighting duty. For an actor who portrayed a superhero that would have been a rock and roll death.
But there remains one unanswered question. What would be a rock and roll death for Nicholas Hammond? He not only portrayed Peter Parker and Spider-Man on TV but also Friedrich Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Maybe we should be expecting him to rescue someone dressed in lederhosen.