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Face - One of four soldiers-of-fortunes on the adventure THE
A-TEAM/NBC/1983-87 on the run from the US Army for a crime they did not commit.
Dirk Benedict starred as Lt. Templeton Peck (a.k.a. "Face" - short for "Faceman"),
a handsome con-artist who could talk his way out of just about any situation.
According to his fellow AWOL buddies "Who couldn't believe that face."
Face, The - Occasionally during episodes of the private detective drama THE NEW
MIKE HAMMER/CBS/1984-87, gumshoe Mike Hammer (Stacy Keach) would gaze across a
crowded room or a busy street and see a seductive brunette female known only as
"The Face" who popped into frame and just as quickly popped out again, much to
the chagrin of Mike Hammer who was dying to meet her. The general public was
also kept in the dark as to her identity until her credit line appeared on an
episode of ABC's PERFECT STRANGERS. It revealed that "The Face" was model
actress Donna Denton. Finally after three years of just glimpses Mike Hammer got
to meet the mysterious woman in the spring 1987 episode entitled "A Face in the
Dark." It turned out that "The Face" was a writer named Laura who penned a
series of successful detective novels published by Bartlett Publishers. Her
primary character Nick Steele was based on Mike Hammer. Each time she had eluded
Mike Hammer, she had been doing research on her character. When Mike finally
caught up with this vision of loveliness, more than just words passed between
the two of them. But as quickly as Laura came into Mike's life, she just as
quickly disappeared through a pair of French doors, leaving Mike to wander the
streets and wonder if he'd ever see her again. When THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MIKE
HAMMER/SYN/1996-97 debuted actress Rebecca Chaney continued the role of The
Face. TRIVIA NOTE: Anita Colby, the nation's first Supermodel was also known as
the "Face." She was the first model to make $100 an hour and appeared on the
cover of Time and 14 other magazines in one month in 1945. She was the hostess
of PEPSI-COLA PLAYHOUSE in 1954. Colby died on March 27, 1992 of lung disease at
her home in Oyster Bay, NY at the age of 77. "The Face" was also the name of a
Edwardian criminal (Peter Ducrow) now living in modern London (via suspended
animation) who battled his nemesis Adam Llewellyn de Vere Adamant (Gerald
Harper) on the British series ADAM ADAMANT LIVES!/BBC/1966-67.
Falcon, The - Charles McGraw starred as Mike Waring, an American espionage agent
whose code name was "The Falcon" on the spy drama THE FALCON/SYN/1954-55. The
series was based on Michael Arlen's book "Gay Falcon" (1940), featuring the
dashing hero Gay Stanhope Falcon, whose real identity was Gay Lawrence. The
Falcon also used the names Spenser Pott, and Colonel Rock. Movie adaptations of
The Falcon character included The Gay Falcon (1941), A Date with the Falcon
(1941), The Falcon Takes Over (1942), The Falcon's Brother (1942),
The Falcon
Strikes Back (1943), The Falcon's Adventure (1946); The Devil's Cargo (1948),
Appointment with Murder (1948), and Search for Danger (1949). Movie actors to
portray the role of The Falcon include George Sanders, Tom Conway and John
Calvert. On radio The Falcon was played by actors Les Damon, Berry Kroeger,
James Megham, George Petrie, and Les Tremayne.
Fast Gun From Texas, The - The legendary nickname of lawman Dan Troop (John
Russell), the former marshal of Abilene who moved to the frontier town of
Laramie, Wyoming to rid it of outlaws on the western adventure THE
LAWMAN/ABC/1958-62. He was assisted by deputy Johnny McKay (Peter Brown).
Fat Albert - Oversized black youth who lived in the poor section of a
metropolitan city on the animated cartoon series FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY
KIDS/CBS/1972-79. Fat Albert (his favorite saying was "Hey, Hey, Hey") was one
of many black youths created from the childhood memories of actor Bill Cosby who
grew up in North Philadelphia. TRIVIA NOTE: The Boeing 737 airliner was
nicknamed "Fat Albert."
Father of Television, The - In 1923 US physicist and inventor Vladimir Kosma
Zworykin of Wilkinsburg, PA (actually born in Russia) designed the "iconoscope,"
the photocell "eye" of the early TV camera. His device was the first element
necessary in the development of an all electronic television system. For his
contribution he was dubbed "The Father of Television." His patent application
(No. 2,141,059) was filed December 29, 1923.
Comedian Johnny Carson once said of him: "If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth,
inventor of television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners." A statue of
Philo T. Farnsworth stands outside the old Beaver County Courthouse in Beaver,
Utah.
Philo's wife, Elma G. "Pem" Farnsworth was the first person to appear on
Television. She was called the "Mother of Television". She was on Philo's
technical team in San Francisco when he demonstrated his invention in San
Francisco on September 7, 1927. Elma died Thursday, April 27 in Bountiful, UT at
age 98.
Fat Man - The celebrity nickname of British radio/TV personality Tom Vernon who
starred in a series of travelogues sponsored by PBS and Britain's Channel 4
Television wherein he biked about the world in search of Epicurean delights
(Food y'all). In 1987's "Fat Man Goes Norse" he visited towns in Norway and ate
smoked reindeer. In 1990s "Fat Man Goes Gaucho," the blimpy Brit bicycled a
thousand miles and feasted on the Argentinean cowboy delicacy, fried bull's
testicles...Gulp! And in a 1991 installment, "The Fat Man Goes Cajun," Mr.
Vernon experienced the Cajun culture and chowed down on Louisiana sausage,
crayfish and alligator. With all of his bicycling bravado, he still weighed in
at 250-295 pounds. Another popular TV Fat Man appeared on the detective drama
JAKE AND THE FAT MAN/CBS/1987-91 which starred the portly William Conrad as
Jason Lockinvar McCabe, (a.k.a. the "Fat Man" and "Buster), a prosecuting
District Attorney who chased down criminals in Los Angeles and later Honolulu
with the assistance of his partner, Jake Styles (Joe Penny). And, finally, J.
Scott as Brad Runyon was the star of the radio series "The Fat Man" created by
Dashiell Hammett and based on his magazine detective "The Continental Op."
TRIVIA NOTE: In military terms "Fat Man" was the name bestowed on the Atomic
Bomb (11 feet long by 5 feet in diameter) dropped onto the Japanese city of
Nagasaki on August 9th 1945. Reportedly, it was nicknamed after the British
politician, Winston Churchill.
FBI's Most Unwanted, The See - "Spooky
Mulder"
Fearless Fife See - "Crazy
Gun Barney"
Feather - The stylish nickname of beautiful Los Angeles attorney Toni "Feather"
Danton (Stefanie Powers) on the crime drama THE FEATHER AND FATHER
GANG/ABC/1977. Together with her con artist father, Harry (Harold Gould) and his
group of bunco artist friends, they set out to "out con the cons."
Ferg-face - What 14-year-old Clarissa Darling (Melissa Joan Hart) called her
scheming dweeb of a younger brother, Ferguson W. Darling (Jason Zimbler) on the
sitcom CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL/NIK/1991-94. Clarissa said Ferguson was a "burr
on my butt since I was born" and referred to Ferg-Face as a "dork-headed creep
they should grind up for puppy puke."
Fernwood Flasher - The nickname of Grandfather Raymond Larkin (Victor Kilian) on
the soap opera satire MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN/SYN/1976-77. Grandpa Larkin
earned the moniker "The Fernwood Flasher" for his habit of running around the
small Midwest town of Fernwood, Ohio and exposing his aging naughty bits to an
unsuspecting public. TRIVIA NOTE: In 1979 Raymond Larkin was clubbed to death
while watching TV in his Hollywood apartment.
Ferret-face - The insulting but quite appropriate nickname for Major Frank Burns
(Larry Linville), a weasel of an army surgeon on the military comedy
M*A*S*H/CBS/1972-83. Frank was married but that didn't keep him from fooling
around with nurse Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) who was
stationed at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. Frank always quoted
chapter and verse from the Army manual and questioned everyone's patriotism when
they didn't do things by the book. When Margaret Houlihan got married later in
the series, Frank went bonkers with jealousy, as well as AWOL. While drunk in
Seoul, he accosted a General and his wife in a bathhouse and was placed on
psychiatric observation. Back at the 4077th, Captain Hawkeye Pierce toasted his
departure with a simple "Goodbye, Ferret Face." Frank was also called the
"Lipless Wonder." See also -"Hot
Lips"
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