More on Elwood

I was touched to receive this message from cast member Elwood Carlisle's niece Marion about my post upon learning that he died.

Sondra,

As Uncle Elwood's niece, I thank you for the tribute to him. He found his passion in acting and loved it. He loved all of you that he met too. We, his family, are so grateful to all of you that loved him. You made him a very happy man and he had joy in his soul.

Marion

There were other emails about Elwood. From April McKay Dudsic of Flash Forward Institute:

Elwood was a loud, larger than life character that immediately caught your attention and emitted enough sunshine to blind you upon first look. Honestly, I wasn't sure if he was a sane man the first couple minutes after meeting him but after a couple more minutes it became clear he was not only sane but incredibly inspirational... When he was in his late 70's he was swindled out of his retirement money by a young friend. He was beside himself with anger. He bought a gun and intended to use it on this swindler, but on his way to the soon to be murdered man's place he stopped at a church and confessed his upcoming plan to murder the man and then himself. The spiritual advisor managed to keep him talking and call the police. The police took him in for counseling and time to cool off. Basically, he was counseled out of his plan. He was guided to find his passion and create a new future for himself.

That passion was acting. Sandra Lord of the Hollywood Networking Breakfast also wrote about Elwood:

Elwood ventured into the entertainment industry at almost 80 years old to pursue his dream as an actor, and in the span of four or five years went on to become one of the busiest actors in Hollywood. He was cast in hundreds of films and commercials and achieved what many can only dream of – an “in the chair” appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno... Simply put, I adored, admired and respected Elwood Carlisle. He was a delightful “young” man of whom I was extremely fond and whose friendship I truly cherished... He was one of the most genuine people I ever met. He will be SORELY, SORELY missed!