-Caveat Lector- > http://www.latimes.com/obituary/20010313/tCB00V2890.html > > Tuesday, March 13, 2001 > > Lung Cancer Kills Morton Downey Jr. > > LOS ANGELES -Before Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones, there was Morton > Downey Jr., a growling and opinionated TV talk show host who shocked > viewers from behind a haze of cigarette smoke. > > America, he once told The Associated Press, saw him as "a loudmouth > who gets in trouble just like they do, who's had problems just like > they had, someone that they can identify with a lot more than someone > who's squeaky clean." > > Downey, who reigned over "Trash TV" in the 1980s and tried to clean up > his act for a return, died of lung cancer and other respiratory > problems, his family said Monday night. He was 67. > > "The family is very grief stricken and very shocked right now," one of > Downey's four daughters, Tracey Downey, told KABC-TV. "He was a > wonderful, wonderful man, wonderful father. He will be deeply, deeply, > deeply missed." > > A chain smoker for years until losing a lung to cancer, Downey was > known for deliberately blowing smoke into the faces of guests who > annoyed him when he was host of one of the most popular talk shows on > television in the 1980s. > > After his cancer surgery in 1996, he became an anti-smoking crusader. > Saying he had been "an idiot" for smoking, he taped public service > announcements and told the syndicated TV show "Extra" that he hoped he > could "undo some of the damage that I did during all the years that I > did television." > > Downey was the son of popular singer Morton Downey and his > dancer-wife, Barbara Bennett. He pursued a number of professions > including businessman, author, radio host, singer and songwriter. > > But it wasn't until the 1980s that he became a household name with > "The Morton Downey Jr. Show." > > Debuting in the New York City area in 1987, it became a hit almost > immediately and was syndicated nationally the following year. > > In its heyday, he was known as "Mort the Mouth," the host who mocked > his sometimes bizarre guests as "slime" or "scumbucket" and argued > frequently with members of his studio audience, dismissing liberals in > particular as "pablum pukers." > > One show erupted into a fist fight between civil rights advocates Al > Sharpton and Roy Innis. > > Years later he would acknowledge that he probably carried things too > far. > > "It got out of control because the producers ... wanted me to top > myself every night," he said in the early 1990s. "If I did something > outlandish on Monday night, on Tuesday night, we'd have to think of > something even more outlandish. And after a while, you work yourself > toward the edge of the trampoline and you fall off. I fell off a > number of times and I found it very displeasing." > > The effort to top himself led to perhaps the biggest embarrassment of > his career when he claimed neo-Nazi skinheads attacked him in a San > Francisco airport restroom in April 1989, cutting off his hair and > painting a swastika on his head. > > Authorities could never verify the attack, and Downey's critics > pounced, calling it a publicity stunt. They noted he had been in San > Francisco to promote his show when it happened. > > A few months later, the show was canceled. > > Five years later, Downey launched a comeback with a new show, titled > simply "Downey." It met with less success, and Downey acknowledged he > had toned it down. > > In a 1995 interview with AP, he described the show: "No meanness this > time. Just as confrontational, just as tough, just as opinionated, but > everyone else has the right to have their opinion and be heard." > > Still, that didn't stop him from claiming on one episode to have > achieved psychic communication with the spirit of Nicole Brown > Simpson, the murdered ex-wife of O.J. Simpson. > > Downey also acknowledged that he was proud of many aspects of the > original show, crediting it for paving the way for shocking programs > by Springer and others. > > "Everyone says, 'Well, Springer's doing your show now,"' Downey said > in 1998. "That's not true. I didn't do sleaze. There were times that I > did things that were a little sleazy, but I didn't do shows on my > neighbor's collie dog having sex with my neighbor's wife." > > He also said the show provided a forum for working-class Americans fed > up with what politicians in Washington, D.C., were doing with their > tax money. > > "It isn't the rich people who come up and say, 'Oh, Mort, you're just > great,"' Downey once said. "It's the blacks and the ethnics and the > blue collars, those guys with too much hair on their shoulder blades. > They want some answers." > > Born Sean Morton Downey Jr. on Dec. 9, 1933, the talk-show host grew > up in privilege, attending military school and earning a marketing > degree and a law degree. > > He also appeared as an actor in such TV shows and movies as "Tales > from the Crypt," "Meet Wally Sparks," "Revenge of the Nerds III," > "Predator II" and the new "Rockford Files." > > Downey said he was introduced to cigarettes at age 11 as part of a > hazing ritual in military school. > > "They tied me to a chair. They took wire hangers and whipped you until > you learned to inhale," he said. "That was part of hazing." > > For a time, he was a member of the board of the National Smokers > Alliance, a group promoting the right to smoke. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
