LVCVA has lemons, makes lemonade
World's stupidest couple found
Big Brother 1, Casinos 0: Rou...
Atlantic City strip tease; Sh...
Robin Camacho
Las Vegas Real Estate
David Matthews
Gambling in Space
David McKee
Stiffs & Georges
Jean Scott
Frugal Vegas
Cannery Casino Resorts (24) [RSS]
Melco Crown Entertainment (20) [RSS]
Morgans Hotel Group (23) [RSS]
Pinnacle Entertainment (51) [RSS]
Tropicana Entertainment (76) [RSS]
World Series of Poker (6) [RSS]
Quote of the Day
mike_ch said: A little shocked he didn't take credit for Sean Connery. [More]
Big Brother 1, Casinos 0: Round 2
Mike said: Snide, condescending, and disparaging? From Philadelphia people? I'm so shocked...I don't quite kn... [More]
Quote of the Day
Kerr Mudgeon said: Maybe Mr. Pascal can import the Pratts to perform an exorcism?
(See "World's stupidest couple f... [More]
World's stupidest couple found
Kerr Mudgeon said: Thank you, Mr. McKee for this enlightening post. I didn't know who the Pratts were, so I had to do s... [More]
Big Brother 1, Casinos 0: Round 2
mike_ch said: BTW, I've heard a lot of Wynn's billboards in Atlantic City telling visitors they should be in Vegas... [More]
Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog.
ameristar animals architecture atlantic city australia baseball boulder strip boyd gaming california cannery casino resorts carl icahn charity cirque du soleil colony capital colorado columbia sussex cosmopolitan current detroit dining don barden donald trump downtown economy election encore entertainment florida fontainebleau g2e harrah's herbst gaming horseracing igt illinois indiana international internet gambling isle of capri james packer kansas kentucky labor lake tahoe lawrence ho louisiana lvcva m resort macau marketing melco crown entertainment mgm mirage mississippi missouri monte carlo fire morgans hotel group movies penn national pennsylvania phil ruffin pinnacle entertainment planet hollywood politics problem gambling regulation riviera sheldon adelson singapore sports stanley ho station casinos steve wynn tamares group taxes technology the strip tilman fertitta transportation tribal tropicana entertainment tv wall street
Posted At : July 2, 2008 09:50 AM | Posted By : D McKee
Related Categories:
TV,Current,Movies
Today, a brief break from our regularly scheduled blogging to commemorate an actor, an officer and a true gentleman of the old school, Don S. Davis, who died of a heart attack in his adopted British Columbia on Sunday. For seven seasons, Davis (along with co-star and close friend Teryl Rothery) brought heart and soul to Stargate SG-1, as Major General George Hammond. Much of the series' "family" feeling onscreen stemmed from Davis' paternal mix of sternness, compassion, experience and warmth -- not to mention a periodic exasperation that seemed to say, "I can't let you kids take that Stargate anywhere, can I?"
A true renaissance man, Davis had been a captain in the U.S. Army, had taught at SIU Carbondale (from which he held a doctorate in theatrical design) and was a painter. His distinguished acting career was a mid-life change of course. After doubling for Dana Elcar on MacGyver ("We shared the same beautiful hairline," he noted with characteristic self-deprecating humor), he came to embody the archetypal military man, whether as Major Briggs on Twin Peaks, as Capt. Scully in The X-Files or as General Hammond.
During Stargate's last two seasons, Davis' chair was filled by Beau Bridges, but the courtly man from the Ozarks could never truly be replaced. And whenever he popped up in the occasional episode here and there -- usually as a last-minute fill-in for someone else -- it brought a lump to viewers' throats. Oddly, the producers of the show never seemed quite to grasp the immense affection for Davis/Hammond that permeated the fandom.
I had the great privilege of seeing Davis give a reading of prose and poetry in Burbank, in 2005, and his fine-grained voice and unhurried delivery were things of beauty. What he could do with just the words "Doberman" or "GMC"! And his stage presence seemed to say, "I'm 63, I've got a paunch and I'm bald -- and you know what? I'm OK with that." Would that we could all age so gracefully.
Davis makes a valedictory appearance as Hammond, in this summer's forthcoming Stargate: Continuum. And embedded in the collective memory of millions of us will be the inflection with which, week upon week, he said, "SG-1, you have a 'go.'"
Now Don S. Davis knows what lies on the other side of that portal to the stars.
Print | 
Send to Friend | 
del.icio.us | 
Digg It! | 
Linking Blogs |
There are no comments for this entry.
[Add Comment]