Jim and I were in the cast of the play Balm In Gilead during it's premier run in L.A. in 1983. He was a unique personality as well as actor. I loved working with him and getting to know him and becoming friends with him and hanging out with him. I lost touch after I moved back East.
But others in the cast, the tightest knit group of people I've ever worked with on any production, stage, screen, radio or whatever, kept in touch with him as he receded from L.A. and became what looked to me from a distance like a genuine mountain man, who called himself "Whisper."
Jim was profoundly himself, catering to no one else's ideas of who he should be, for which I greatly admired him, and always will. My condolences to his family and friends, among which I am proud to have been included for many years.
[This is the cast of the '83 L.A. production of Landford Wilson's Balm In Gilead, with Jim down in the lower left hand corner of the photo in checkered shirt and me on one knee in bookending him in the lower right hand corner of the shot...]
2 comments:
Many of us who knew Jimmy before he left his home town of Pottstown, Pennsylvania are deeply sadden by his passing. I myself, was always happy for him quitting his job & seeking his dream to be in acting. As it seems, he had touch everyone's heart who he met along his way in life.
Eric
i went to pottstown high with jim. he was hilarious, he could create all these weirdly funny voices and noises and crack you up...i later heard he'd pursued acting and it seemd only natural. i too ended up in ca., to the north...too bad i never got to see jim again. you followed your dream, jim. RIP
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