January 15, 2006
BaD Radio Inducts "Blue" into Ring of Honor
Very old actor stopped living on Jan 1st.
DALLAS - Actor Patrick Cranshaw, passed away in the early morning of January 1st, due to complications of old age, according to Harris Methodist Hospital's Head Medical Examiner, Dr. Phillip Smith.
"He was old, that's what old people do." said Dr. Smith, when asked to clarify Cranshaw's cause of death.
BaD radio, the noon to three radio show on SportsRadio 1310 the Ticket in Dallas (with hosts Bob "the Sturminator" Sturm, and Dan "Big Mac" McDowell), recently inducted Cranshaw into their show's "Ring of Honor". He became only the fifth member to have his name unveiled in the Ring, joining the likes of Brett Hull, Gabe Kapler, Mike Haynes, and Line 4 guy.
"Blue was a guest on our show a while back, and it was a great interview, not so much because of the information we got out of Blue, but for the uncomfortable pauses and awkward moments, and when we heard he died we were sitting around talking and we thought 'why not induct him into our Ring of Honor?'--which, at the time, had not been talked about or mentioned since 2001 when the charter members were inducted--but Dan thought it was a decent idea, as did Tom, our producer, and Grubes, our board operator--so I'm simply saying that, when it comes down to it, Blue was a worthy candidate for induction into our Ring of Honor." said Sturm.
Mr. McDowell could not be reached for comment.
Throughout his career spanning nearly 50 years, Cranshaw had dozens of roles, including a bank teller in "Bonnie and Clyde" and a demolition derby owner in "Herbie: Fully Loaded" (2005). Other credits included "Bandolero" (1968), "Best in Show" (2000) and "The Hudsucker Proxy" (1994), as well as television series "Mork & Mindy" and "The Dukes of Hazzard."
But he was probably best known for his role as elderly frat boy Joseph "Blue" Palasky in "Old School," starring Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn.
In the hit comedy, he was about to wrestle two topless girls but dies of an apparent heart attack from overexcitment. After singing "Dust in the Wind" at Blue's funeral, Ferrell's character calls out in agony: "You're my boy, Blue!"
Fans would yell the signature line whenever they saw the actor and erected Web sites paying homage to his "Old School" character. He was even invited to meet with the Texas Rangers when they played the Angels in Anaheim.
Cranshaw was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 1919 and became interested in acting while entertaining American troops before World War II.
The last five paragraphs were blatantly stolen from cnn.com.ROH Images:
