Karen Morley Forum
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| by Chris Chamberlain Hi Burt, just in case you happen to read this - please contact me regarding Cindy Dickson asap - Ive just heard some awful news. My email address above....we met once many years ago... Thanks, Chris Chamberlain Comment on this... |
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| by Burt Brown I had pleasure of knowing Karen for a number of years in the 1990's. She was a very lovely person with a fabulous sense of humor and wit. I don't ever recall seeing her "down," she always had a smile. A good example is that she absolutely loved The Comedy Channel and would stop everything to be sure she either watched or taped her favorite shows on it. Some of my fondest memories of Karen were the backyard parties she'd throw. Character actor Peter Brocco was always there, along with a slew of other actors, directors and show people from the early days of Hollywood. My friend Cindy Dickson had introduced me to the group and I found them all wonderful, gracious and funny. I guess my offbeat sense of humor meshed nicely with theirs. But this group had an undercurrent of intellect which kept one on their toes ALL the time. If you weren't constantly paying attention you'd find yourself out in left field with no clue as to what was going on and why everyone was laughing at something that didn't seem humorous. That's because these folks could keep up with the thread of a comment made an hour or more earlier and turn an oddball reference to it into a witty comment. Remember that most of these people were in their 70's and 80's! Even at this moment I can feel the California sunshine filtering through the big trees, washing over the table and all the guests in a pleasant gentleness. Karen's backyard, with the scent of it's flowers and rose bushes, seemed to wrap one in a glowing cocoon, protecting and separating you from the hustle of Ventura Blvd. just a few blocks away. There is just no better way to describe it than "idyllic." Many of the folks that would drop by had been around during the infamous Blacklisting Days of Hollywood. Karen had been married to actor Lloyd Gough, another activist, and, even though he had been dead for a number of years, she still smiled when she mention his name and called him "my sweetie." We were always trying to gig Karen to get back into acting because at that time she had become the older mother/grandmother type. We kept seeing lesser talented actresses getting roles that we just knew Karen could absolutely SLAY with! She could smile so sweetly, bat her eyes like the kindest, most gentle little lady you could ever imagine meeting, while issuing a four letter expletive so unexpectedly opposite the character you'd die laughing. It is really a shame she didn't get back into acting during her later years because I firmly believe that her great comedic talent was vastly under utilized. She just never seemed to have any big desire to go after parts. I think she was happy with who she was. I remember driving with Cindy and Karen one day in the Beverly Hills area when Karen said, "Oh, there's my old house." Cindy turned and said "Where, where? I want to see." So I turned around and Karen pointed out the HUGE, gorgeous, mansion right off Sunset! We ooohed and ahhhed, but Karen genuinely played it down. She had found it somewhat uncomfortable living in a monster of a house with butlers and maids. The small house she rented at the time seemed to make her every bit as happy as the big mansion. It always seemed that the people were the really important thing for Karen, the friends, the light social atmosphere, the laughs and the stories. Karen had a great interest in health, medicine, natural and alternative cures and that is another aspect that drew a number of us together. She and I were always swapping science and health magazines and discussing the latest research in medicine. Not exactly what one would expect from a then eighty something former star and political activist. I only recently heard that she originally had wanted to study medicine. I don't recall her ever mentioning that to me, but it certainly fit in with her intellect and interests. Her/our friend, character actor Peter Brocco, had the same interest in science. Peter suffered from macular degeneration and found it necessary to read with a magnifying glass. I stopped by his house one day and found him in the kitchen with this huge lens simply engrossed in the latest copy of Popular Science. And he was 95 at the time! Karen and Peter shared a great interest in plants, flowers, anything botanical. Karen, Cindy and I would visit Peter and wander through the terraced backyard of his Coldwater Canyon home. Karen, Peter and Cindy would talk expertly about the plants and flowers (a number, rather exotic) as they'd walk along, swapping tips and anecdotes. I just listened and tried to absorb as much information as I could to later be able to halfway keep up with a conversation. The most curious botanical thing that Karen taught me was how to eat flowers! Nasturtiums, if my memory serves me correctly. They grew right outside Karen's kitchen door and one day she reached down, plucked a bloom and began eating it. "Want one?" she asked. I had grown up in the deep south and knew many plants were edible, but had never tasted FLOWERS! She handed me a flower and, being a finicky eater, I was certain I wouldn't like it! It was quite tasty! A little peppery in flavor. From then on, whenever I would be at Karen's, I'd snag a bloom and chew on it. Probably more to "prove" I fit in than just for the taste, but it was and still is, a delightful connection with Karen. Well, those are a few of the recollections I have of Karen and that wonderful time frame in Los Angeles. Memories are very much like a mental VCR, where you can replay the tape and it instantly brings back wonderful visions, thoughts and emotions. Now if those mental tapes just didn't slowly deteriorate and you could make copies to send to others, that would be perfection. Because then, you too, would be able to experience that delightful friend of mine that was Karen Morley. Comment on this... |
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