Someone wrote that character actor Tol Avery was very heavy. Sorry but not really not on TAGS at least. I met Alan Hale, he was huge and was he tall, just walking under the doorway to his restaraunt. Yes Tol was somewhat heavy but look at him in Howard the Comedian. Look closeup, he had lost weight considerable, he died young too in 1973. i have his obit. if you want to see Tol when he was really heavy, check out Ill Cry Tomorrow with Susan Hayward. He plays a fatso drunk who beats her only to get a beating of the worst by Richard Conte. that was 1955. Speaking of Tol, in all due respect how sad this actor was chosen to replace Will Wright. Both men were as opposite as night and day. and AGE was obvious here. Tol did a good job as Ben no argument there . who can ever forget his calling out ANDY in that famous shoplifting scene, numberous times to great effect. he was great at comedy but in drama was he a bad guy all around. yes he was fat but not that fat in my opinon. As Ben Weaver, Tol was a blowhard nobody of a storeowner who threw his weight around (no pun) while Will Wright was downright mean and an old coot at that. his eyes made this character actor a favorite. he had mean snakelike eyes to intimidate to great effect. im sure we all know, none of these stars of today were STARS back during TAGS. they were all on the verge of stardom true stardom but Buddy Ebsen for instance Don Rickles and Jack Nicolson Alan Hale were well known but to prove my point can you envision any movie goers saying back in the 60s, "Im going to see a Buddy Ebsen or Alan Hale or Don Rickles etc movie.?"No that was coming down the line . no true giant star that i know of then, had appeared on TAGS. Thats good. our Mayberry residents are homefolks just plain folks down on the farm. im back into hibernation. God Bless. Tom Kessel Col.Tims Protege Reject _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
