The Long Goodbye - Continued

By: Michael Lynch & Laura Flowerday
Monday, February 2, 2015

Two of this year’s Academy Award nominations will have a very poignant significance for Hollywood movie makers.

Many of the stars who once graced the silver screen, amongst them Ronald Regan, Charlton Heston, Peter Falk, Charles Bronson and Rita Hayworth, all succumbed to Alzheimer’s.

Actor Julianne Moore and singer Glen Campbell are strong chances to pick up Oscars this year for films in which the insidious disease is the theme. Moore has been nominated as Best Actress for her performance as a 50 year old linguistics professor suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s in ‘Still Alice’.

Singer/actor Glen Campbell, now 78 and suffering stage six Alzheimer’s, is in the running to take out the Oscar for Best Original Song.

 

Glen’s heartfelt song, and final studio recording, ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’ features in the documentary ‘Glen Campbell...I'll Be Me’. The film centres on Campbell's struggles with Alzheimer's disease and documents his farewell tour. The Washington Post described it as “an elevating experience, inviting the audience to bear witness to Campbell’s courage, humour and spiritual strength. His story may make for a tough movie, but it’s an important and triumphant one, as well."

Early last year when he composed and recorded the song, Glen wrote on his blog…

“This might just be the most difficult post I have ever written here. To see someone you love forget themselves and forget everything around them, while slow degenerating, is a dark place I would not wish on anyone. In the same breath, we ALL need to talk about this condition more, and a song like this will incite the needed discussions.”

For the tens of thousands of people throughout the world who care for Alzheimer’s patients, the opening lines of the song will be tragically profound, “I’m still here but yet I’m gone”.

Leave a comment
Name*:
Email:
Comment*:
Please enter the numbers and letters you see in the image. Note that the case of the letters entered matters.

Comments

Please wait

Previous Posts

Introducing our #SayItNow Ambassadors for 2024

#SayItNow 2024 Ambassadors #SayItNow returns in 2024 as Victorians join the conversation to celebrate the important people in their lives. #SayItNow is an annual initiative of Tobin Brothers Fune...

#SayItNow Returns for 2024

#SayItNow returns for 2024 #SayItNow returns in 2024 as Victorians join the conversation to celebrate the important people in their lives. Victorians young and old are being encouraged to celebra...

Father Gerard Dowling OAM DE celebrates 50 years on radio!

On Sunday 3rd September 2023, Fr Gerard Dowling OAM DE celebrated a wonderful milestone of 50 years on Sunday evenings on the radio.   It was in 1973 that Fr Gerard first hosted his first ra...

Introducing… Tough Times from the Heart

Introducing… Tough Times from the Heart Tobin Brothers Funerals has joined forces with SPAN CV to bring greater awareness to suicide prevention. 3144 Australians died by suicide in 2021, accordin...

The day Queen Elizabeth II came to Frankston

It was Friday 7th March 1986 and I was 15 years old, attending Ballam Park Technical School in Frankston.  One of the largest schools in the area, Ballam Park had been selected for Que...

Celebrating Father Gerard Dowling

  Today we would like to pay tribute to Fr Gerard Dowling OAM DE. In recent weeks he celebrated his 90th birthday and also the 49th anniversary of him being on air with the Family Counsellor...

Bushfire Support and Counselling

As a funeral director of 33 years I think the most difficult thing I have ever confronted was the town of Marysville following the Black Saturday fires. During the days that followed we, at Tobin B...

Coronavirus Assistance

On 30 January 2020, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. ...

Black Saturday Fires 10 Years On

Ten years on and this is the first time we have shared reflections on Tobin Brothers involvement in the Black Saturday fires and their aftermath. The 7th of February is my wife Louise’s birthday.&...

Prostate Cancer Breakthrough

  "Together in Discovery and Care" is the theme for the 19th Asia-Pacific Prostate Cancer Conference taking place in Brisbane from the 22-25 August 2018. Prostate cancer is the most c...