James Mitchell, All My Children Actor, Passes Away at 89

This one hurts more than Phoebe, Mona and Myrtle COMBINED!  I'll never forget how Palmer Courtlandt, aka Pete Cooney, burst onto the landscape of Pine Valley to shake that burg up in the early 80s.  The Tyler and Martin family rivalries had already become a big yawn...and then came Palmer. Palmer, with his overbearing parenting, serial marrying, and corporate rivalries.  Without Palmer, we wouldn't have Adam Chandler!  What will we do without the Hatfields and McCoys of Pine Valley bustin' it up?  Tough to imagine.  Although in recent years we hadn't seen James much (as All My Children has a nasty habit of pushing their most interesting characters onto the back burner), we always hoped against hope that he'd pop up in the very next scene.  He will be missed him dearly.  James was also an accomplished dancer on Broadway and in film, most notably, dancing the part of Curley in the dream ballet in the movie version of "Oklahoma!"  And, I'm probably one of the few people who remembers him as Shirley McClaine's choreographer pal in the movie "The Turning Point."  Oh, Palmer!  Pine Valley just won't be the same without you.  I think I'm hopping the next train outta there. At least if the show tanks without the greats like you, we know we'll still get to see Adam Chandler on "Law & Order."