One of my favorite roles for Laurie was Tim, with young Mel Gibson, based on the Colleen McCullough novel. It was an interesting role and let her reverse the usual movie pattern of older man and much younger love interest, as she is an older, educated, professional woman, living in Australia, who hires a developmentally challenged young man to do some handiwork, and falls in love with him. Great turn on Gibson's part and she is terrific in the film. Somewhat controversial (as was the novel) due to the mental issues of Tim's character, which is a major plot point, with Tim's sister objecting to the relationship.

Just saw the news that Suzanne Somers has died at the age of 76. Found it a bit surprising since I was under the impression she was one of those super-healthy types who would live to a 100, but now see that she has battled with various forms of cancer (including several bouts of breast cancer) since her 30s.

I remember her fighting and winning against cancer using alternative medicine and methods. It’s a shame she didn’t finally beat it. She even wrote books about her battles. 

He was certainly talented. He could do a 180 from the Paulie type role in the Rocky movies to a much more commanding mob boss type character like in Betsy's Wedding. His look was perfect for a lot of the roles he played.

It's a valid critique that some actors play themselves every role. Dinero does that.

Burt Young had a pretty diverse career, beyond the Rocky movies (and the first one is by far, his best turn, there. He had a pretty good guest role, in MASH, as a sleazy officer and he played a great sleazy promoter, in All The Marbles.

He had an interesting life. he grew up in Queens, where his father was a shop teacher and he served in the Marine Corps, in the late 50s, and was a professional boxer, with a record of 32 and 2, meaning, of all the cast in Rocky, he was the one who could probably legitimately hurt you.

He trained at the Actor's Studio, under Lee Strasberg. It's sometimes hard to remember that he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, for Rocky (he and Burgess Meredith were both nominated and Talia Shire was nominated for Best Actress).

He is in Chinatown, as a man who finds out his wife is cheating on him (shown photos by Nicholson) and didn't want to know, he appears in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America, He did Cinderella Liberty (with James Caan and Marsha Mason), as well as The Gambler (also with Caan), Sam Peckinpah's The Killer Elite (another Caan film), The Choirboys, and was Rodney Dangerfield's driver and friend, in Back to School.

Watch his early work, before the third Rocky, after which he was usually typecast. He often played similar types (blue collar workers, Italian-American guys, petty criminals, non-commissioned military officers, and sleazy hustlers); but, he was good at it. After Rocky, he is mostly playing a version of Paulie, but not always.

I never found that he played a false note. He may not have had diverse roles; but, he played them well.