1919--2006

Hollywood lost another star this week. Red Buttons died Thursday. For as long as I've been alive, Red was a star.

His most famous role was in "Sayonara" with Marlon Brando in the late '50s. He won an Oscar.

But I'll always remember Red Buttons for his role as Pvt. John Steele in "The Longest Day." Steele was the unlucky paratrooper who gets his parachute caught on the church steeple during the Normandy invasion, and hangs there pretending to be dead. The ploy worked.

Many of the 3 dozen stars in "The Longest Day" have long since passed on, and now Red Buttons has joined the cast.

Sayonara, Red.