George Carlin: A Sweet Old Man?

Comedian and actor George Carlin become an icon for profane humor and anti-establishment sentiment. Yet, at the same time, his cranky persona never translated to him as being unfriendly. In fact he broke boundaries with the ways in which people could identify with his actions and spoken thoughts. Many fans around the world will mourn the loss of George Carlin, who indeed died on Sunday June 22nd 2008.

George Carlin was 71 years old and dealing with heart issues when he was checked into St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica. The reported cause of death was heart failure. In 2005 he had also gone to the hospital with heart and lung issues.

Personally, I began to see the man behind the curse words and comedy routine in some of his latest works, as a sentimental and sweet seeming person. His roles in in the films of another magician of the naughty language, director Kevin Smith, went beyond dirty jokes and displayed a range of emotion not possible if not rooted within the human being already. He took on the role of Ben Affleck's father for Jersey Girl, which was a tear jerker of a movie overlooked by many thanks to Affleck's relationship to Jennifer Lopez and their previous collaboration on the movie Gigli. Audiences missed out on one of Carlin's shining moments in acting, however, and if you were one who found him too racy in the 70's perhaps you should look Jersey Girl up for a rental. He also appears in Kevin Smith's movies Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; a religious man in one, but a hitchhiking man giving out oral pleasures in the other. After Jersey Girl though he continued to push the more family friendly image by doing voices in animated features such as Disney's Cars; he was Fillmore. He also voiced Zugor in Tarzan 2 and The Wizard in Happily N'ever After.

Fun Trivia Fact About George Carlin:

He was the very first host for Saturday Night Live in 1975.

George Carlin was born May 12 1937. His wife Brenda preceded him in death in 1997, one day before his sixtieth birthday. They had one daughter together: Kelly.