Pastorelli Dies

According to CNN, Robert Pastorelli died today. Sounds like drugs.

Pastorelli played Eldin on Murphy Brown back in the day. One of my favorite scenes occurred when Eldin finally decided to show some of his work at a gallery. He invited all these critics and it was very hoity toity and finally he opened the door to the gallery to reveal his works.

All the critics walk into this white room with a "No Smoking" sign in the middle, and a light switch on the wall. There's some silence, and then the critics start raving about how powerful his message is... they go on and on about the simplicity of our lives (as seen through the light switch) and how the "No Smoking" sign conveys the way we're destroying the Earth, or something like that. Anyway, after several minutes of this Eldin breaks in and says, essentially, "That's great guys... but actually my painting is on the ceiling." Get it? See, the light switch and No Smoking sign weren't his art... but art critics are so... you know.

Classic scene. It's been years since I've seen the show. I may not be remembering it correctly. Or it may actually be another show entirely that I've transposed into Murphy Brown land. Still, classic.