I have fond memories of actors and actresses who were in TV shows when I was a child. And of course I have a natural tendency to ask “Whatever happened to…”
But I am starting to realize that somebody I fondly remembered from my childhood TV watching is probably not around anymore. On a rational level this is an obvious point, but on an emotional level it feels very strange.
My memory of these people is frozen in amber. I remember them as being exactly as they were when I was a kid. So there is something unnerving in the thought that the people I remember from that time are, at the very least, very changed — and in many cases are no longer with us.
I guess that is part of the magic and mystery of television. In real life people grow old and eventually pass on. But on TV, you remain young forever.