"Monk" Star Stanley Kamel Found Dead Of Apparent Heart Attack
I know, I'm supposed to be off work recuperating from pneumonia, and I promise I will go right back to bed as soon as I get done, but I couldn't let this go.
Stanely Kamel, who played Dr. Charles Kroger on Monk (one of my all-time favorite television shows), has been found dead in his home:
Kamel was found dead in his Hollywood Hills home on Tuesday. He was 65.Access Hollywood has learned Kamel died of a heart attack. [...]
A rep for the USA network, which airs the Emmy-winning “Monk,†released the following statement to Access Hollywood:
“USA is deeply saddened by the news of Stanley Kamel’s passing. Stanley was an amazingly talented and extremely kind man, and an important member of the USA family. He will be sorely missed.â€
This makes me very sad. One of the best parts of the show was watching Dr. Kroger and Adrian Monk interact with one another, and I always enjoyed the episodes where Monk became involved with Dr. Kroger outside of the office (such as the one where the good doctor retired after believing he was responsible for the death of his cleaning lady). He brought humor, warmth, sensitivity, and a multi-faceted portrayal to a part which could have ended up being very one-dimensional and staid.
It's funny how we become immersed in these shows...one of my first thoughts was, "First Trudy, now Dr. Kroger...Monk has a hard enough time, what is he going to do now?" Silly, perhaps...but for those of us who know personally what the character of Adrian Monk goes through on a daily basis, maybe it isn't so silly after all. You see, I got to thinking that it could be possibly the best testament an actor can leave...to somehow break down that wall that separates actor from audience and make us think beyond a character, beyond an actor, helping us to expand our horizons and incorporate new thoughts and feelings and ideas and ways of coping into our daily lives. Anyone can mouth words off a page, but it takes someone special to mold and squish and mesh it all together and create a new person of themselves who truly touches others.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Kamel's family and friends.
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