11/14/2024
The sad thing about losing touch with people is that there are times you look them up only to discover their passing. I just learned that Fred Rice passed away March 3, 2023. Fred Rice was an early Colonial Radio Player before he moved to Rome New York soon after recording CAPTAIN BLOOD in 2006. He is perhaps best know to Colonial listeners as DR. WHITNEY in two episodes of POWDER RIVER. Fred was not only a wonderful actor and a fun person to be around, he was a horticultural lecturer, garden designer, floral designer, photographer, potter, theater hair stylist and make-up artist at the North Shore Music Theater. In fact, he styled (and dyed) my hair for my one man show BARRYMORE back in the day. he also was an accomplished water colorist, specializing in garden and ocean scenes on the North Shore, English cottages and cottage gardens -- he collected old canes (the kind that are works of art), and ran a B&B and often had gourmet dinners at a table set for fourteen. I can honestly say he was the only Renaissance Man I ever knew. I'm sorry we fell out of contact, but I will always have fond memories of our times at the CRT microphones. God Speed, Fred. See you in the Green Room later. - JR
