In Memoriam: Stanley Kamel, 1943-2008

[thatcrazycajun]

With thanks to kradical for the notice and the link...Another shocking sudden loss to show business is reported by TV Guide's website here: Stanley Kamel, a veteran television character actor whose work encompassed such genre favorites as Beauty & the Beast, Dark Skies, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Dark Angel as well as many others, has been found dead at his apartment in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills of an apparent cardiac arrest. He was 65 and currently playing Charles Kroger, MD, the long-suffering therapist of Emmy-winner Tony Shalhoub's titular character in the USA Network series Monk. IMDB.com's page on him lists his acting roles going back at least two decades.

I remember Mr. Kamel playing TNG's rather Lobachevsky-esque scientist Kosinski as well as in a number of other favorite old shows, and my Songbird and I have been fans of Monk since at least its second season. (His new assistant Natalie's okay, but dammit, I still miss Sharona.) He will be missed, and my heart goes out to his family, friends, fans and colleagues. And knowing from firsthand personal experience how disruptive losing one's longtime shrink can be, I can only imagine what the writers will be putting poor Adrian through next season trying to find a new one who can deal with him.

Comments

[singingpatient.livejournal.com]

holy crap!
i wonder how in the world they are going to handle this on monk, but as human beings and as characters.
seems like sharona just sort of dropped out without much fanfare, but the therapist?
i love Monk.
Who is the poor soul who found this man?

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Carla hon, if you read the linked story, you know as much as I do at this point. More details will probably come out in the next few days.
UPDATE, 10:39P: The Los Angeles Times now reports as follows: "Kamel was found dead...by his longtime agents and friends Donna Massetti and Marilyn Szatmary, publicist Cynthia Snyder said Wednesday in a statement."

[singingpatient.livejournal.com]

sorry for not checking out the link
thanks!

[darrenzieger.livejournal.com]

Damn. Kamel was one of those terrific character actors who everyone has seen in dozens of roles over the years, but no one knows their names.

For whatever it's worth, the Dr. Kroger role is probably the most visible, longest-recurring one he ever had, so he he did go out at the top of a long, very successful career arc.

You always hate to see someone kick off way too young -- and 65 is way too young these days. But as I often reflect, when it's a well known/successful artist, at least he got to spend around thirty years making a living (probably a very good one) doing what he loved, in a profession that can't support more than a tiny fraction of even its most talented practitioners. Very few people, no matter what their ambitions, are that lucky.

You mentioned

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

the character Stanley Kamel played on STTNG. Well, his counterpart, who was doing all the work, was played by an actor named Erik Menyuk. Now, IIRC, the two of them also showed up in an episode of LA Law together. I could be wrong, but I seem to recall that.