VENTURA, Calif. - Actor Dana Elcar, whose role as Peter Thornton on ABC's
adventure series "MacGyver" depicted his real-life struggle with glaucoma and
blindness, has died. He was 77.

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He died Monday of complications from pneumonia at Community Memorial
Hospital in Ventura, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

Richard Dean Anderson, who played MacGyver, recalled working with Elcar.

"At a time when I had very little business being called an actor, he made
things so easy for me," Anderson told the Times. "It was a learning experience
that was very warm and loving for all seven years."

Elcar told producers he was going blind after four seasons with "MacGyver,"
but they simply adapted his character to match his medical condition.

"The fact that you are losing your eyesight does not mean you have forgotten
how to act," Elcar, in a speech to the National Federation of the Blind in 1991,
recalled producers telling him.

The show ended a year later, when he had become almost completely blind.

Elcar's television career spanned 50 years. He played in other drama series,
including "Baretta" opposite
Robert Blake and the
Robert Conrad series "Black Sheep Squadron."

The actor also appeared in at least 40 films, including "The Sting," "2010," "All
of Me" and "The Learning Tree."

"'The Learning Tree' was a big turning point for him, and a good performance in
his mind," said his son, Dane Elcar. "He played a really bad guy really well."

Elcar also starred in off-Broadway plays, including the first American productions
of Harold Pinter's "The Dumb Waiter" and "The Caretaker," Dylan Thomas' "Under
Milk Wood" and Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot."

Running away from home in Ferndale, Mich., at age 13 may have led Elcar to an
acting career.

He and a friend tried to catch a ride on a train to Detroit, but Elcar missed it
because he couldn't run fast enough. So he spent the night in a town far from
home, watching "Citizen Kane" at an all-night theater.

"That kind of sparked him to be an actor. He watched it four or five times in
one night," his son said.

In addition to his son, Elcar is survived by three daughters, Nora Elcar Verdon,
Chandra Elcar and Marin Elcar; a stepdaughter, Emily Prager; a sister, Marie E.
Hewitt; a half-sister, Janet K. Melville; longtime companion Thelma M. Garcia;
and a granddaughter.
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現在才看到這消息>"<
算一算Dana Elcar當年演百戰天龍時50多歲
那嚜Richard Dean Anderson現在差不多也是這個年齡了吧

轉貼至http://0rz.net/be0HF
●馬蓋先跟老皮現在年紀多大了？
馬蓋先的生日是1950年1月23日，今年(2005)已經55歲囉!
至於老皮，我們則感到悲傷，因為在今年(2005)的6月10日因為肺炎
引起的併發症，已經去世了，享年77歲。