Mr. Garibaldi

Jerry Doyle died yesterday.

As a (somewhat rabid) fan of "Babylon-5" it nearly broke my heart to read that the actor who played "Michael Garibaldi", the hard-bitten, alcoholic security chief of the Babylon-5 space station, had died.

I think I made it clear in past incoherent posts that I loved the series. When Andreas Katsulas died, it was a serious kick to the head. Then Richard Biggs, Michael O'Hare, and Jeff Conaway followed.

Each time, I would sit down and re-watch the series, focusing on episodes in which the actors starred that I felt made them shine. It was pretty hard with Katsulas, who made the alien G'Kar go from the hated, scheming villain to the Christ-like heroic warrior-philosopher at the end of the series. I expect it'll be the same with Doyle's Michael Garibaldi.

It wasn't until "Babylon-5" had ended that I learned about Jerry Doyle as a person. I can's say I would have liked the man, had I ever met him. I find his politics extremely disagreeable, but for all that, I find the world is a lesser place for his passing. He was a very entertaining actor, and I think I'll always admire that.

While searching for more information on Doyle's death, I found a eulogy written by the series creator, J. Michael Straczynsky at Epic Times. It's pretty goddamn awesome.