Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Ill Street Blues by Joe Martin Ill Street Blues by Joe Martin. Charlie Daniels can be found here www.chat2charlie.co.uk. Michael Conrad played the unforgettable desk sergeant Phil Esterhaus. As the adorable sergeant, he brought a sensitive, calming influence amongst all the haste, chaos and drama and was known for his subtle turn of phrase. During the fourth series in 1983, Conrad became seriously ill but he didn';t let urethral cancer stop him going to work. He wanted to be surrounded by his "on set family" and he passed away during the shooting of the police drama. Charles Haid (Andy "Cowboy" Renko) said "he died in the saddle" Esterhaus was written out of the show in a moving episode called Grace Under Pressure in which he dies making love to Grace Gardner. When the sergeant';s cause of death is announced, Andy Renko can be heard saying - "Damn that was a good way to check out" His successor Robert Prosky (Stan Jablonski) hard had shoes to fill so thankfully was written as an entirely different character and changed the famous roll call end phrase from "Let's be careful out there!" to "Let's do it to them before they do it to us." Born October 16th 1925, New York City Passed away: November 22, 1983, Los Angeles, California aged 58 Won two Best Supporting Actor Emmy Awards, 1981 and 1982. René Enríquez was a Nicaraguan-born actor and according to IMDB the nephew of General Emiliano Chamorro, one-time president of Nicaragua.Enríquez played the Hill';s Latino captain Lt. Ray Calletano. A character often caught between the open racial ignorance of Lt. Howard Hunter and his inability to rise in the department. Enríquez died of pancreatic cancer, the same year as Kiel Martin also passed away. Born Nov 24th 1933 Granada, Nicaragua Passed away March 23rd 1990, Tarzana, California, aged 56. Kiel Martin was best known for his role as lovable-loser, rogue Detective John La Rue. Known as JD on the Hill, his trademark Italian shoes were as cheap as his chat up lines and his Rolex as fake as his integrity. JD showed the darker and more complex effects of being a cop. JD was a real sleaze too, if it moved he tried to "nail it" and one particular encounter with the glamorous Joyce Davenport is one rebuttal not to be missed. Real life mirrored his on screen battles - chain smoking, heavy drinking and twice divorced – he wasn';t so much acting as revealing his own soul. Martin';s first wife was the daughter of actor/crooner Dean Martin. It was eventually a bitter battle with lung cancer which finally took his life. Martin was once in contention for the lead role in the Oscar winning film Midnight Cowboy. He also acted alongside Robert Mitchum in the movie Moonrunners, which inspired the TV series Dukes of Hazzard. Like many others in the series, he also starred in iconic TV favourites - Perry Mason and Ironside. Born Kiel Urban Mueller, July 26th Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Passed away December 28th, 1990 Rancho Mirage, California, aged 46 years. Trinidad Silva (JR) played the Diablo';s gang leader Jesus Martinez. Known for his catchphrase "hey Frankie!" Jesus was a clued up character (*spoiler alert*) who later in the series transformed, when he switched sides to work for the justice department. In 1988 he and his family were involved in a serious car accident. Silva was killed at just aged 38 years old. Silva';s wife and son escaped with only minor injuries. The driver of the other vehicle pleaded guilty to drunken driving and vehicular manslaughter. The film he was making at the time, UHF was later dedicated to his name. Michael Warren who played Bobby Hill believed Silva died on the verge of becoming a huge star. Born January 30th 1950, Mission, Texas Passed away 31st July 1988, Whittier, California (aged 38) Ill Street Blues by Joe Martin. This is a section for those 'fleeting recollections' and other thoughts about HSB by those that were part of it, if you wish to add something here please email us) About Trinidad Silva : Just wanted to add an addendum regarding Trinidad Silva. Prior to his accident Trini had just completed working on a television pilot (Home Free) that I helped create and produce in 1988 for NBC. He was magnificent in it, as you probably can imagine because he was such a fine actor. His wife and his son survived the automobile accident. Trini, I believe was on the verge of becoming a big star. Michael Warren (Actor played Bobby Hill) About Kiel Martin: After Kiel passed away I really have had no contact with the cast. I did meet several of them at Bruce's golf tournaments and had really nice conversations with them. I talked with Ed Marinaro a few times because he liked skiing in Vail and I was paired up with one of his buddies two years in a row in the golf tournament. His name was Joe Stone and was stunt co-ordinator for a TV show called Falcon Crest. I spoke a few times with Barbra Bosson. She told me she lived in Miami for a while when she found out Kiel and I were buddies there. She told me she was a bunny at the Playboy club for a time. I know her husband Steve was instrumental in saving Kiel's job and getting him into Betty Ford for rehab. They had already brought in Ken Olin to replace Kiel and be partners with "Washington". Kiel made it back, super clean I might ad, and Ken Olin's character was subsequently killed off for Kiel's return. I did see something on Kiel's bio that said there were no funeral services. In fact what happened was in Kiel's will he set aside some money for a party in some park in Palm Springs for close friends. He then was cremated and his ashes were flown over the gathering and spread from the sky. His mother Eileen called me in Miami to see if I was coming to Palm Springs for the celebration and I told her it was too tough for me. Her response was "If you're not going neither am I." Guess I'm not the Hollywood type. Kiel and his mother and father were very close friends of mine. I worked in downtown Miami for 25 years and Kiel's dad Karl was a court recorder and would stop by once in a while and keep me posted on Kiel's career. I wish all the group could have visited the set in Studio City. It was something special. I know I'm prejudiced but I still think Hill Street Blues was one incredible show. It was still very popular when it was canceled but Kiel told me the huge success brought big increases in pay to the actors and the producers decided to do another show, NYPD Blue. Ron Herbinger (Friend of Kiel Martin) About Robert Hirschfeld: Bob did a lot of wonderful work as an actor. His best was probably before Hill Street--on the stage at Berekely Rep and Magic Theater in the Bay Area. He moved to NY from LA to be with me, and acting was only occasional, so Bob started a whole new career as a writer, writing about 30 books for kids and young adults--mystery and science fiction, mainly! He was, indeed, an amazing guy. Here's a recent brief quote from a friend that says a lot about him: "Amazing guy, always the smartest in the room, heart of gold." Nancy White (Wife of Robert Hirschfeld) About Mick Belker : I had known Steven (Bochco) since we were at Carnegie Tech together and when he got the commission for Hill Street he said he could get me a part in it. That part was John LaRue, but when I read the script I could see the potential for Belker. What interested me about him was his vulnerability,or at least the potential for vulnerability. Although he was this super tough guy on the outside I visualized him as lonely and hurt on the inside and fortunately for us, the writer had the same idea. So I got Belker and left the door open for Keil to LaRue. People often ask if we knew how good it was at the time, well although others have said not I know some of us did. You could not read that script with so much going on and not know this was something unique.There was a feeling of responsibility many of us felt towards Steven (Bochco) and Michael Kozoll. to do the best we could for them and the script. Bruce Weitz (Actor) About The Theme Music : When I was asked to come up with the music for the series I went to the Studio and watched the first episode. Within seconds I knew this was something special and that ending with Renko and Hill going down in slow motion was just incredible! Afterwards I went to a meeting with Bochco and some of the executives, I had an idea in my head for something dramatic sort of down and dirty, but then Hoblit said he wanted something to go with an idea he had in his head, for a opening garage on to a desolate inner city street, with a police car speeding out of it! Then Bochco asked me what I thought and I suggested doing something opposite to that, light but conveying the non stop excitement that would shortly follow.