R.I.P. Ian Abercrombie

Many remember him only for his 7-episode appearance on Seinfeld, playing Ellen's injustifiably demanding boss Mr. Pitt. Yet Ian Abercombie's career was and up to this point still was far more busy and relevant than some of the aforementioned show's regulars.

For me, he'll always be the wizard-wiseman-whatever who sends Bruce Campbell on a quest in Sam Raimi's cult classic Army of Darkness, but most of us, at any age from any generation, have seen him regularly appearing on TV in whatever popular show dominated the ratings - from the original Galactica to Seinfeld to Desperate Housewives, you name them, they got him on for at least one quick pop-up (he even was in of the Star Trek shows if memory serves). Yet the demand for his work outclassed the media and remained strong until his death this weekend at 77 years old. His most recent work - aside from voice over in comercials and a wide variety of video games, had him give life to Star Wars: The Clone Wars' chancelor Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious) while also playing the Disney Channel equivalent of Professor Dumbledoor on Wizards of Waverly Place.

A great talent populated the arts at large that no one truly seemed to notice, he will nevertheless sadly be missed.