More and more often, the actor obituaries I see are not of those performers from someone else's childhood, but my own. They are more than just names to me.

I don't know if members of any generations after X got to appreciate Ron Carey, but I just wanted to say that I did.

Carey, who also appeared in scores of commercials, took pride in being a supporting player and a character actor.

"Stars are stars," he told Newsday in 1989. "But without us, the show wouldn't go on."