James Whitmore, Sr. RIP

I heard tonight on the news that James Whitmore, Sr. died today of lung cancer.

He is a great loss to us because he was such a terrific, mesmerizing actor. I met him once.

In my early days in LA, I used to go to movies at the Academy of Motion Pictures with the actress mother of a young actor I worked with on a short film. She was on the Oscar committee for foreign films so during Oscar season, we'd see all the foreign films, but during the rest of the year, we'd see screenings of the films for the year. One time we went for a double feature film, I forget why, but we had never done that before, so we hadn't been smart, like some people, and brown-bagged it.

So in between the films, we and a theater load of others went rushing out to look for a nearby restaurant for dinner -- and of course we had limited time. There weren't many restaurants within walking distance of the Academy, but we found a little French hideaway restaurant and like locusts, we descended on them. We totally overwhelmed this lovely little restaurant, which was used to small, intimate, leisurely dinners, and didn't have the staff to serve the hungry swarm we were.

My friend Diana and I wound up at a table next to James Whitmore, Sr. He was with a party, but he was the only one I recognized. Diana and I perused our menus and he and his party perused their menus and we made our selections. But in an hour's time, although the waiters were frantically scurrying around, nobody came to take our orders. Knowing we were under a time crunch, Diana and I decided we could live with soup and salad and I went off in search of a waiter to ask if they could get us something.

I told Mr. Whitmore what we were doing and why and suggested he do the same. He said that they wanted a real meal. But it took a bit to get our salads and soup and when they came, and Whitmore still hadn't seen a waiter to give an order to, he changed his mind and they wanted soup and salad, too.

Even though the place was bustling, it was almost impossible to get service for silverware or water or coffee or anything you might ask a waiter to do for you. So I started running for things for Diana and me. And as long as I was getting up, I felt I should offer my help to the senior citizens next to me, whom we were by now chatting with. So I got them coffee and various things as well. And of course whenever I did, Whitmore and his companions thanked me.

At the end of the meal, when we were looking for our checks to leave, James Whitmore said to me that he felt he should give a tip to me since I had worked so hard getting them things when I didn't have to. I told him that it had been my pleasure to give back to him some of the pleasure he as an actor gave me when I was a child.

I will never forget that unusual encounter with such a lovely man and I'm so sad to hear of his passing. My condolences to his family and friends.