Robert Urich

My great friend
(originally posted 3/22/2004)

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Robert Urich and his wife Heather Menzies Urich were two of the greatest friends I have ever had. I lived in their home for half of 1995, and hung around with him on the set of The Lazarus Man the first four months of 1996. The kindness shown me by the Urichs is unsurpassed.

Robert was a thoughtful man, and I think this shot of him in his Lazarus costume between "takes" catches something of that spirit. The depth of his spirit was put to the test when, in mid-1996, he was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer.

He fought it bravely for years. I was around for the first course of treatment, but work took me to Japan early in 1997; I missed a lot of what happened, but my bond with the Urichs was never broken.

I returned to the U.S. in late 2001, hoping to spend more time with Bob and Heather. In April 2002--nearly two years ago [over 20 now!]--this great man was struck down. I miss him terribly to this day, and I think I always will.

[NB My Lila and I saw Heather and and the Urichs' daughter Emily in New York City in the fall of 2015; sadly, cancer has also taken Heather since.]

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Technical note: The original photo was a near-monochrome brown-and-white slide; it was re-shot with a digital camera, with some resultant blurring. In Photoshop, it was taken to grayscale, then RGB, then to a bluish tone. Other than the re-shoot and the color adjustment, no other processes were applied. 

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