'Ironside' star Don Mitchell dead at 71

Don was also the former husband of Actress Judy Pace:

http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?ne...&ocid=ansent11

Don Mitchell, star of the original "Ironside" series, has died of natural causes, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. He was 71.

On the series, Mitchell played Mark Sanger, bodyguard and assistant to wheelchair-bound chief of detectives Robert Ironside [[played by Raymond Burr).

"Ironside" ran on NBC from 1967 to 1975. A short-lived revamp of "Ironside," with Blair Underwood in the title role, aired on NBC this year.

Mitchell reprised his role as Sanger in the 1993 TV reunion film "The Return of Ironside." Other TV credits included appearances on "McMillan & Wife," "Wonder Woman," "CHiPs" and the soap opera "Capitol."

On the film end, Mitchell starred in the 1973 blaxploitation movie "Scream Blacula Scream."

This is sad to hear. As a boy in the '60s, the first faces from TV that I remembered were on "Julia", "Ironside", "I-Spy", and "Room 222". As a matter of fact, I recently watched an old "Ironside" episode and I remembered him and his character even though there was a 40 year gap since I'd seen the show last. Anyone who believes that media doesn't leave an imprint on young minds is full of it. Sadly, I'd be willing to bet that we have fewer positive Black faces in significant roles on the box in 2013 than we did in 1968. RIP.

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Originally Posted by Jerry Oz

This is sad to hear. As a boy in the '60s, the first faces from TV that I remembered were on "Julia", "Ironside", "I-Spy", and "Room 222". As a matter of fact, I recently watched an old "Ironside" episode and I remembered him and his character even though there was a 40 year gap since I'd seen the show last. Anyone who believes that media doesn't leave an imprint on young minds is full of it. Sadly, I'd be willing to bet that we have fewer positive Black faces in significant roles on the box in 2013 than we did in 1968. RIP.

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Jerry that is so true. I have similar memories of television in the sixties and Don Mitchell's role on Ironside. He was a role model albeit by default! He was cool, calm, collected and intelligent! Many of the singular roles Black people had on shows that featured ensemble casts such as Greg Morris on "Mission Impossible", Nichol Nicols on "Star Trek" showed black people in a positive light even more so than what we see on television today. Remember Gail Fisher on "Mannix"?

Of course! And I forgot to toss shout out to Clarence Williams III, aka "Lincoln Hayes", who was one of my first televised heroes.