https://biffbifford.com/blog/ Longer stories behind the classic TV, movies and music on @TBifford. en-us https://biffbifford.com/blog/planes-trains-and-automobiles.html https://biffbifford.com/blog/planes-trains-and-automobiles.html Fri, 06 Nov 2026 12:00:00 GMT John Hughes wrote Planes, Trains and Automobiles in three days, shot far more than anyone could use, and then rewrote the ending because he didn't like his own hero. Here is how the holiday favorite came together. https://biffbifford.com/blog/tom-skerritt.html https://biffbifford.com/blog/tom-skerritt.html Thu, 05 Nov 2026 12:00:00 GMT Tom Skerritt, who has died at 93, was the doomed captain in Alien, the flight instructor in Top Gun and an Emmy-winning sheriff. He once called himself a character actor locked in a leading man's body. https://biffbifford.com/blog/ann-hornaday.html https://biffbifford.com/blog/ann-hornaday.html Wed, 04 Nov 2026 12:00:00 GMT Ann Hornaday, the longtime Washington Post film critic and Pulitzer finalist, has died at 66. She spent her career helping ordinary moviegoers see more in the films they loved. https://biffbifford.com/blog/patrick-stewart.html https://biffbifford.com/blog/patrick-stewart.html Thu, 29 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Sir Patrick Stewart, who has died at 86, left school at 15, spent 16 years on the Shakespeare stage, and almost didn't sign on to the show that made him Captain Picard. https://biffbifford.com/blog/jack-elam.html https://biffbifford.com/blog/jack-elam.html Tue, 27 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT You have seen Jack Elam's face in dozens of westerns. Before that, he was an accountant who kept the books for Hopalong Cassidy and audited Samuel Goldwyn. https://biffbifford.com/blog/william-conrad.html https://biffbifford.com/blog/william-conrad.html Sat, 24 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT William Conrad was Matt Dillon on radio for nine years. Then Gunsmoke went to television, and CBS cast someone else. What happened next is better than the story you may know. https://biffbifford.com/blog/lee-majors.html https://biffbifford.com/blog/lee-majors.html Sat, 24 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Lee Majors planned to be a football coach. One hit in his first college game changed everything, and it led to The Big Valley, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy.