Adrienne Barbeau

Beatrice Arthur's friends and colleagues remembered the Emmy- and Tony-winning actress as a brave force in comedy whose talent and voice were one of a kind.

"I knew it would hurt, I just didn't know it would hurt this much," said Betty White, Arthur's Golden Girls costar. "I'm so happy that she ...
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Question: What was Maude's husband's name? My husband and I have a bet going. Can you please help? Thank you.

Answer: OK, Kandi, allow me to bore regular readers with my usual admonishment that those who have bets should let me know what's at stake in their questions — I'm just snoopy like that — before moving on to the usual enlightenment.

So, here's the enlightenment. On Maude, which ran on CBS from September 1972 to April 1978, the fourth husband of Maude Findlay (Beatrice Arthur) was Walter Findlay (Bill Macy). Rounding out the family was Maude's divorced daughter, Carol (Adrienne Barbeau) and her young son, Phillip (Brian Morrison for five years, then Kraig Metzinger).

And don't feel too bad about forgetting Walter's name — it's not the first time Macy has suffered character-related ind read more

Question: Oh, great Televisionary, I vaguely recall a game show where the contestants got a chance to play on a giant pinball machine. Who was the host and how was the game played? Thank you.

Answer: Well, I... uh...

Sorry, Jeffrey — I was stunned into pfumpfery by your shameless worship (not that there's anything wrong with that). The show you're thinking of was called The Magnificent Marble Machine and it aired on NBC's daytime schedule from July 1975 to June 1976. Hosted by Art James, it featured celebrities who teamed up with average-joe contestants to play a 50-foot-high pinball machine. Without getting into too much detail, players were supposed to light up bumpers and earn points using a regular ball and a special bonus ball in an attempt to win cars and other big prizes. Before they could do that, though, they had to defeat another contestant in an initial round, which called for them to identify mys read more