by Jon Dainty Sr.

Created on: September 13, 2008   Last Updated: July 11, 2010

This is a tribute to movie stars who have passed on. Regardless of the productions in which they appeared, each gave the impression of authenticity of character, a kind of real-feel sometimes missing in the persons we actually meet. Some of them delivered important messages through their dedication to the protection of life. They are gone but will never be forgotten.

Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery (as Samantha on television's "Bewitched")

She was beautiful and smart, qualities her screen husband Darrin Stephens appreciated. She was also a witch; he knew this and dreaded the frequent pratfalls the use of her powers caused. Her mother was a unique experience, too: an experienced, mischievous witch, she had unfriendly ideas about her son-in-law and his worthiness for Samantha.

Montgomery was born 15 April 1933 in Hollywood, California, to show-business parents Robert Montgomery and Elizabeth Bryan Allen. "Bewitched" was her only television series, but she starred in several critically praised films, as well, including 1974's television movie "A Case of Rape" and 1975's television movie "The Legend of Lizzie Borden."

Montgomery died in Los Angeles, California, on 18 May 1995 at the age of 62. She suffered from colon cancer. (IMDb, 2008)

Carroll O'Connor (as Archie on "All in the Family")

Carroll O'Connor was born 2 August 1924 in Bronx, New York. He and two brothers were raised by a New York attorney and his wife. But while his brothers became doctors, Carroll went into theater. Following graduation from National University of Ireland, he appeared on stage in Europe in the 1950s.

It was in Dublin, Ireland, that O'Connor met and married Nancy Fields in 1951.

O'Connor's roles in three productions may have been his best. He was Archie Bunker, of course, from 1971-79, leading one of the most socially conscious casts on television. He also portrayed a staff officer to John Wayne's Rear Admiral Rockwell Torrey in the movie "In Harm's Way" (1965).

Perhaps the greatest attraction manyt viewers have felt to O'Connor began with his reprise of the Rod Stiger chief of police role in the television series "In the Heat of the Night" (1990s). This long-running production also featured Carroll's son Hugh O'Connor, who in 1995 committed suicide moments after a telephone conversation with his father.

Hugh's death, O'Connor believed, was the result of his drug addiction, and the elder O'Connor sought out his son's dealer and charged him publicly and repeatedly

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