Weather Alert!    Heldenfels' mailbag   The HeldenFiles Online
Darren McGavin  By RD Heldenfels Published: February 26, 2006
To me, the great good fortune for an actor is to find a great
role somewhere along the way -- a role that sticks in the public
imagination, a role that is satisfying to play, a role that
other actors can look at with awe. Don Knotts, eulogized below,
found that role in ''The Andy Griffith Show.'' Ray Walston, an
actor who had done wonderful work along the way, once longed for
that kind of role; he looked more than a little enviously at
Burgess Meredith, who at the time was enjoying just such a role
in ''Rocky.'' Of course, Walston was stuck doing dinner theater
at the time, which may have added to his depression; years
later, he would have another grand moment in the sun on ''Picket
Fences,'' winning Emmys for it.  I'm rambling about this because
Darren McGavin has died, and I hope that he has gone to his
grave knowing he had had not just one grand role, but two.  The
first, of course