Word: dillon
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Carved on Martin Dillon's tombstone are words from the Book of Wisdom: "The just man, though he die early, shall be at rest." But Dillon, who was 30 at his death, has not yet found rest. He has died, so far, in three different ways...
This is the first version of his death. On June 2, 1976, Dillon, a lawyer, and his friend Stephen Scher, a physician, were skeet shooting at Gunsmoke, a hunting camp in northeastern Pennsylvania owned by Dillon's family. According to Scher, as the two of them blasted clay pigeons, Dillon caught sight of a porcupine and, after grabbing Scher's 16-gauge Winchester pump-action shotgun, ran off after it. Scher told police that he heard a shot, ran toward it and found Dillon 250 ft. away with a fatal wound to his chest. He had apparently tripped over...
...years later, Scher married Dillon's widow Patricia and raised Dillon's son and daughter as his own. The family moved to North Carolina, leaving Dillon's grave to be tended by his father Lawrence, a former mayor of Montrose. But questions remained. There had always been rumors that Scher and Patricia had been in the middle of a torrid love affair before her husband died--a rumor they denied repeatedly. Dillon's father, for one, always wondered about the autopsy report and never believed the death was an accident. Says Bonnie Mead, who was Martin Dillon's secretary...
...this is the second version of Dillon's death. Isadore Mihalakis, a pathologist, declared that the shape and angle of the shotgun wound indicated that Dillon could not have shot himself accidentally. There was also no evidence of the burn marks that usually come from a gunshot at close range. Mihalakis concluded that Dillon was killed not while running but while sitting, and that his death was a homicide. The police declared Scher the chief suspect, charging him with murder...
This tale of a small-town high school teacher (Kevin Kline) whose life is turned upside down when he's declared gay by a former student-turned-star (Matt Dillon) constitutes Hollywood's own coming-out comedy about homosexuality. It's therefore an appropriately bland comedy that ends up reinforcing, not puncturing, gay stereotypes, and doesn't get enough out of a cast which includes Joan Cusack, Tom Selleck, Debbie Reynolds, and Bob Newhart. However, Kline still manages to rise above the plodding humor, especially in his show-stopping dance scenes; and Selleck is terrifically funny as the sleazy, sardonic...