Hiya,
A sad loss. I wish he had done more comedy albums in his bumpkin persona doing rural patois re-tellings of the great works of Western culture--e.g. the Shakespeare monologues, the opera and ballet summaries--as heard on the
"American Originals" LP. Maybe doing art and sculpture reviews too. Punctuated by those quirky folk wisdom conclusions that close out each tall telling. I imagine him doing the shtick with those cray-cray eyes from "A Face In The Crowd" (1957) and wonder how the public embraced him as America's grandpa given that there was always a fierce intelligence at work behind the country rube stylings. Would have loved to have seen him and Warren Oates as a pair of con men (brothers?) on a tear through high society trying to one up each other's big score until they meet their match in a ball-bustin' battle axe.
