Telly Savalas’s Good Samaritan

Telly Savalas

Telly Savalas was an American actor who was known for his tough guy character movie roles. He is remembered however for starring in the 1970s television series Kojack where he played a New York City detective.

He won an Emmy and two Golden Globes for this role. His character Kojack made the catchphrase, “Who loves ya, baby?” popular.

Years before his acting success he experienced what could only be classified as a paranormal encounter. Late one night in 1959, he was driving home to Long Island from a date when his car ran out of gas.

He looked around but everything was closed and deserted. His only option was to walk toward the freeway. From behind him, he heard an odd squeaky high-pitched voice call out—offering him a ride.

He had not heard a car drive up but as he turned, he saw a man in a white suit sitting in a Cadillac. This Good Samaritan then drove him to a gas station. As they returned to his car, Savalas took down the man’s number and address so he could pay him back.

The man told him if he could not reach him he should call a friend of his, a Red Sox baseball player. He gave Savalas this number as well. He then helped fill the car and he even pushed it to help Savalas get it started.

The next day, Savalas read a newspaper report that mentioned the baseball player the man had used as an extra contact, it stated he was dead. Things became eerier when Savalas called the Good Samaritan’s number.

A woman answered. As Savalas told her the reason, he was calling the woman stopped him. She was confused as she told him that her husband had died two years before.

Savalas described the man who had helped him and told her he had given him this number. As he described the man—the white suit he wore—she broke down and mentioned her husband had been buried in his favorite white suit.

Savalas then mentioned the man’s strange high-pitched voice. The wife still crying told him that this made sense for her husband had shot himself in the throat. He had taken his own life.

It appears Telly Savalas encountered a guardian spirit right when he needed one.

I first read this story in a book entitled, True Ghost Stories, by Jason Keeler. It is a quick read and mentions many famous ghost tales. It can be found here.

Buster Keaton’s Ghost

Keaton on stage with his parents.

Joseph Frank Keaton earned the name “Buster” after a family friend watched the 6-month-old child tumble down a flight of stairs in a boardinghouse and escape unscathed.

Joining his parents on stage at the age of 3, Buster spent the next 15 years performing—he attended school just once for one day—during these years.

In 1917 he joined his mentor Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle in making two-reelers—these films are classics today. More information about Arbuckle is located here.

Arbuckle and Keaton

Starting in 1921 Buster produced his own films. He had become one of the greatest comedic actors of the silent film era. His comedy and wild stunts are still watched today with appreciation.

In his film Sherlock Jr. in 1924 when he walks up to a projected image in a movie house and walks into the image on the screen it became one of Hollywood's memorable film moments.

He was a genius when it came to creating gags that involved mechanics. He always did his own stunts.

His most famous stunt—was standing deadpan as a hinged 3-story house front fell around him as he stood in a window gap –there was only an inch and half clearance between this frame and his unprotected body.

In another stunt, he broke his leg during the filming of The Electric House in 1922.

In a stunt, he did for Sherlock Jr. as he dropped from a rope he was blown off train tracks by water rushing out of a railroad refill tank. It wasn’t until later he learned his neck was broken.

Both these stunts are highlighted in the video below.

Like many comedians, Keaton also had a darker side. He was known to drink too much, like his father before him.

It was supposedly a “drunken incident” with Louis B. Mayer in the early 1930s that led to Keaton’s dismissal from a contract, he had with MGM.

This sent him on a downward spiral that ended his film career —another factor was the invention of talkies.

In the 1960s he returned to film appearing in a series of “beach party” movies. Even though this was thought to highlight how far he had fallen Keaton himself stated he enjoyed this work.

In 1960 the Academy Awards gave Buster Keaton an honorary Oscar for his film achievements.

Buster Keaton's villa.

At the height of his career in 1925, Keaton had a 30-room Italian villa built on Pamela Drive in Beverly Hills. This home was surrounded by ten acres.

His gardens had remote-controlled streams stocked with trout. The front of the house had a sixty step marble staircase lined with statues that led to a 50-foot Romanesque marble pool.

To make grand entrances for his friends Keaton rigged his living room drapes so he could swing down from a second-floor balcony.

Keaton had this home built for his wife Natalie Talmadge and two sons who moved into the house with Natalie’s mother.

Buster with Natalie

After the birth of her second son, Natalie decided she didn’t want any more children, so she moved into a separate bedroom. The marriage ended in 1932 in a bitter divorce. Partly became of Keaton’s drinking and party because of his extramarital affairs.

Natalie changed their son’s last names to “Talmadge” and didn’t let them have any further contact with their father. She never remarried and died an alcoholic.

Keaton also lost his beloved home in 1933 after their divorce.

After Keaton’s death in 1966, the subsequent owners of the villa felt Keaton’s ghost haunted this property. His ghost became a “slightly annoying presence” for these owners—for his spirit is playful.

Pamela Mason divorced the English actor James Mason in the mid-1960s. She was one of the first high profile clients of Marvin Mitchelson, the divorce lawyer who pioneered the right to palimony.

Pamela before and after divorce.

Pamela like her husband was an actor. She starred with her husband in a television series called The James Mason Show.

Mason lived in Keaton’s former house for 25 years. During this time she was plagued by the lights mysteriously turning off and on and the telephone wires malfunctioning.

Buster’s ghost also fiddled with the water faucets, doors, wall hangings and any other object he could move to gain her attention.

Pamela Mason had a fatal heart attack in this house in 1996. Some believe her ghost has joined Keaton’s in haunting the property.

This villa has ironically been used in recent years as a “Haunted House” attraction during the Halloween season.

The following short video is a compilation of Keaton’s best film stunts.

RIP Harold Ramis

Harold Ramis in
Ghostbusters

When the film Ghostbusters was first released in June of 1984 many people asked who is that guy who played the third parapsychologist?

The film was a huge critical and commercial success. It was so popular that it spun off a sequel, cartoon etc. It also despite its fanciful nature had an impact on how people viewed ghosts and ghost hunting.

Harold Ramis who played the third parapsycholologist, Dr. Egon Spengler was not as well known as his two counterparts, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray--at least not in front of the camera.

Harold Ramis was born in Chicago, Illinois and was a National Merit Scholar in high school. He graduated from Washington University with a degree in English literature.

Early in his career he was a substitute teacher and then a “jokes editor” for Playboy magazine. In 1969 he joined the popular inprov troupe, Second City. He became known for his quick ad libs. He later both wrote for and performed in the Second City television show.

In 1978 he co-wrote the screenplay with two others for National Lampoon’s college comedy Animal House. The next year he co-wrote the script for Meatballs, which like Animal House became a hit.

Next, Ramis co-wrote and directed the popular film Caddyshack in 1980.

In 1983 he directed National Lampoon’s Vacation.

He then teamed up with Dan Akroyd and the two wrote the script for Ghostbusters in 1984. This film like mentioned above resulted in a sequel in 1989.

Ramis continued to write and direct films for the rest of his career. Including Groundhog Day which was released in 1993 and Analyze This in 1999 and its’ sequel Analyze That in 2002.

Sadly, Harold Ramis passed away last month at the age of 69. During the Academy Awards ceremony Bill Murray while presenting an award did a shout out for Ramis.