Michael Lindsay, Son of actor James Gleason, Godson of Boris Karloff; dated Maureen Reagan

[deb...@comcast.net]

LINDSAY, Michael Michael Lindsay was a gifted often outrageous child of
Hollywood who drained dry his robust life as a champion of friendship,
conversation and good times. Lindsay died August 25th, in ICU in
Oxnard, his zest for life finally overwhelmed by cancer at the age of
67. Born in 1939, Michael Morgan Gleason Lindsay carved a singular
trail from birth in Beverly Hills through a life of learning by living.
It took him from the parlors of the rich and famous to many a rundown
dive here and in Europe where he served in the Army in the early
sixties and perfected his exceptional photographic skills. Armed with a
fabulous sense of self, Lindsay's knack for meeting interesting people
provided much of the material he wrote about in screenplays, articles
and unpublished memoirs. His stories of the rich and famous, the failed
and foolish, could have kept Liz Smith, Walter Winchell and Rona
Barrett profitably supplied well into second careers. Lindsay, an
autodidact, had a fine mind, a natural sponge, ravenously devouring
those subjects that interested him and ignoring those, and the people,
which did not. He spoke French and Spanish fluently and studied other
languages; he read voraciously, easily, retaining just about everything
that passed before his eyes or entered his consciousness. This is how
he was described in the introduction to his unpublished collection of
memoirs, "And Laughter Intervened." "Michael Lindsay grew up the son of
Hollywood actors (including famed character actor Jimmy Gleason), and
the godson of famed horror keystone Boris Karloff. He was raised in the
atmosphere of Hollywood and the Hollywood establishment. He was thrown
out of the Cub Scouts for trying to overthrow the governing members and
had a romance with Maureen Reagan (daughter of the 38th President of
the United States). Lindsay worked with Michael Eisner and Barry Diller
and befriended hundreds of Hollywood royalty including Sam Peckinpah,
John Huston, Henry Miller and Dorothy Parker, and rubbed sun-kissed
shoulders with Aristotle Onassis, Anais Nin, Sterling Moss, Maria
Callas and dozens more." In his later years, affectionately called,
"The Sage of Oxnard," Lindsay played out, word-for-word, his many often
ribald and off-guard encounters with the rich and famous. Often
scheduled on a moment's notice, Michael and Katy, his wife of 31 years,
hosted salon-like gatherings in their Oxnard farmhouse on a back patio
irreverently named, "The Carmen Miranda Room." Michael Lindsay's
friendships, and memories of rollicking good times and endless
conversation are what he would wish upon those who would remember him.
At his request, there will be no services or suggested donations.
Published in the Los Angeles Times on 9/3/2006.

[deb...@comcast.net]

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1969589/

[mack]

<deb...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1157306643.1...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

> LINDSAY, Michael Michael Lindsay was a gifted often outrageous child of
> Hollywood who drained dry his robust life as a champion of friendship,
> conversation and good times. Lindsay died August 25th, in ICU in
> Oxnard, his zest for life finally overwhelmed by cancer at the age of
> 67.

From this somewhat treacly puff piece obit, I would assume that the only
thing this fellow was incapable of was walking on water. But maybe the
writer forgot.

[tr...@iwvisp.com]

mack wrote:
>
> From this somewhat treacly puff piece obit, I would assume that the only
> thing this fellow was incapable of was walking on water.

And perhaps holding a job!

Ray Arthur

[Hyfler/Rosner]

"mack" <mack...@dslextreme.com> wrote in

>
> From this somewhat treacly puff piece obit, I would assume
> that the only thing this fellow was incapable of was
> walking on water. But maybe the writer forgot.

It's a paid obit. You can tell.

[Colonel Buckshot]

I know the obit says son, but researching the family on imdb suggests
he was really a grandson.

James Gleason was born way back in 1882 and his wife Lucille was born
in 1888. They had a son, Russell, born in 1908 who had a child with
Cynthia Lindsey named Michael.

Russell died in 1945 so Michael may have looked to the elder Gleason as
a substitute dad.