RIP Jim Lovell

[MileHigh]

Apollo 13 commander. 97.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jim-lovell-dies-age-97-apollo-13-commander/

 

[BTExpress]

Tremendous ambassador for the space program.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

A big one. RIP to a space pioneer. And the commander of the best "failed" mission in history.

 

[Starman]

The first human to orbit the moon twice.

Fred Haise survives.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Lovell spent most of his childhood in Milwaukee, where a downtown street is named for him. He attended the University of Wisconsin before securing an appointment to the Naval Academy.

 

[Meat Slapping Sound]

Of the real-life people once portrayed by Tom Hanks, Jim Lovell was probably the coolest.

Either him or Fred Rogers.

Gonna have to watch Apollo 13 this weekend.

 

[Here me roar]

Sometimes heroes do go to space. He was one.

 

[micropolitan guy]

He appeared in Apollo 13, shaking the hand of the actor playing him, pretty neat.

"My Jimmy could fly a washing machine," one of the better lines in a movie full of them.

 

[Gutter]

About a dozen or so years ago, I was working PR for a well known aviation membership organization with a pretty large annual air show. Jack Roush always has an eye on this air show. IYKYK.

Friday of the event is the salute to veterans with a slew of veteran-centric features. Among them was an honor flight and a post air show concert near the flight line. The headliner that year happened to be Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band. Yes, he fronted a pretty damn good cover band.

Halfway through the show, they took a break and the focus turned to the honor flight returning from D.C. Me and a couple colleagues had to escort Sinise through the crowd a few hundred feet to the flight line so he could greet the returning veterans. Professional security, we were not. Selfies and Usies were starting to become a thing at the time, so we were doing our best to keep him moving along.

Then an older gentleman yelled out, “Gary!” and reached through me essentially and grabbed Sinise’s arm. Thankfully I didn’t react with any aggression. Gary turns to him … “Jim! How the hell are you?”

Jim Lovell.

Gary Sinise and Jim Lovell having a candid conversation right in front of me. We got them to the flight line quickly from there.

Amazing that Jim Lovell could walk through a crowd of aviators and go virtually unnoticed or unbothered.

 

[Gutter]

He appeared in Apollo 13, shaking the hand of the actor playing him, pretty neat.

"My Jimmy could fly a washing machine," one of the better lines in a movie full of them.

I love breaking out, “Well I guess you can keep your job,” whenever a coworker gets overly excited for completing the most mundane task.

 

[Ookpik]

RIP.

 

[mpcincal]

He appeared in Apollo 13, shaking the hand of the actor playing him, pretty neat.

"My Jimmy could fly a washing machine," one of the better lines in a movie full of them.

Grandma Lovell was gold in that movie. I loved when Mrs. Lovell introduced her to Neill Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin and she said, "Oh, are you boys astronauts, too?"

 

[UNCGrad]

What a hero. A real American hero.

Terrific story, @Gutter.

 

[MileHigh]

 

[Starman]

Grandma Lovell was gold in that movie. I loved when Mrs. Lovell introduced her to Neill Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin and she said, "Oh, are you boys astronauts, too?"

Especially since the two guys cast as Armstrong and Aldrin looked nothing at all like them (the guy cast as Armstrong kinda vaguely resembled Wally Schirra) so they had to shout out their names on screen so the audience would know who they were.

If only the director of the movie had access to an actor who actually somewhat resembled Neil Armstrong in 1969 ...

so they wouldn't have had to introduce him by name on screen??

 

[BTExpress]

Resemblance was at the bottom of the priority list to the casting directors of Apollo 13.

Ken Mattingly was basically bald.

They did decent with Ed Harris as Gene Kranz, however. But white vest and a blond crew cut isn't that hard.

 

[garrow]

RIP to an American hero

 

[Starman]

Resemblance was at the bottom of the priority list to the casting directors of Apollo 13.

Ken Mattingly was basically bald.

They did decent with Ed Harris as Gene Kranz, however.

Harris for Kranz was good. Hanks for Lovell was OK, not an exact match by any means but not jarringly different.

Bill Paxton looked little like Haise. Kevin Bacon would have been a passable match for Swigert if he had gotten a short buzz-cut, but he didn't.
As others noted above, Sinise looked nothing like Mattingly.

Of course by most accounts, the original first choice for Lovell, Kevin Costner, was indeed a near dead ringer. Kathleen Quinlan was a fairly good visual match as Marilyn Lovell.

 

[DanOregon]

Him and William Webster in the same week. They don't make people like that anymore.

 

[Typist Clerk]

Hanks hung with Lovell for a few days to get his speech patterns down. The movie studio didn’t want Hanks to go up in a plane Lovell would fly. Said Lovell, “I’m the best insurance policy he’ll have.” They flew.