Actor Chad Everett, best known for his role as Dr. Joe Gannon on the CBS drama Medical Center in the 1970s, died of lung cancer at age 75. Oddly, obituary writers in both the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post dragged out an old incident from 1972, when Everett -- identified in both newspaper articles as a "conservative Republican" -- upset feminist Lily Tomlin on the Dick Cavett Show as he mocked his wife, the actress Shelby Grant.
Everett and Grant married in 1966 and stayed married until she died last year. This is how Matt Schudel revisited it in the Post:
Mr. Everett was long identified as a conservative Republican. In 1972, during an appearance on “The Dick Cavett Show,” he was enumerating his “personal property,” including horses, dogs — and “a wife.” Comedian Lily Tomlin walked off the show in anger.
Scott Sandell in the Los Angeles Times sounded so similar, you would swear he looked over Schudel's shoulder, or vice versa:
A conservative Republican, Everett made headlines in 1972 after going toe to toe with Lily Tomlin on "The Dick Cavett Show." Tomlin, a feminist, became outraged after Everett referred to his wife, horse and dog as his "property." A 1977 Time magazine profile on Tomlin says she was so infuriated that she "stunned even herself" by storming off the set.
A search for this Cavett clip online isn't easy, but YouTube does have a long interview with Everett and Grant in which their love and respect for each other is quite apparent. Was dredging up this one TV appearance really necessary?
