Larry Hagman died the other day, as I'm sure everyone knows by now. I grew up watching him, first in "I Dream of Jeannie" when I was a wisp of a youth and later on "Dallas" when in high school.
He portrayed very different roles which I suppose showed his acting prowess. Later I became fascinated by his eccentricities: his Sunday "silent day" during which he would not say a word, his daily, minute-by-minute alcoholic buzz which in the end caused him to lose his liver. He stopped drinking immediately and apparently without missing it much. The L.A. Times had a nice article on this "Mad Monk of Malibu" who often led impromptu parades dressed in costume on the sands outside his home. He flew a flag that said "Life is a Celebration" in Latin. He would sometimes go grocery shopping in a chicken suit. He seemed a bundle of contradictions: comical but also a perfectionist/control freak who discovered how to "calm down" after $40,000 worth of therapy.
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