The marriage of the first ‘Golden Bachelor’ didn’t glitter long

Q: I was surprised to hear about the breakup of Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist of “The Golden Bachelor” so soon after they got married. Will that affect whether the show continues? – Jill Lange, via e-mail

A: That’s highly unlikely, for several reasons. If one looks at the history of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” the length of the relationships they have yielded — whether short or long — hasn’t influenced whether ABC continued with those shows, which the network clearly has. The same is sure to apply to “The Golden Bachelor,” and maybe even more so, given the extra emotional stakes that are involved with senior citizens being the participants.

Even more pragmatically, “The Golden Bachelor” was a giant ratings hit for ABC, proving there is an audience ready to watch people in their twilight years make bids to find love again. To that end, the first edition of “The Golden Bachelorette” is already being planned for this fall, and “The Golden Bachelor” is certain to get future seasons. The biggest question for the network may be where they’ll schedule all the variations of the franchise, since the original “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” shows will be back, too. (Past “Bachelor” contestant Jenn Tran will be this summer’s new “Bachelorette.”)

Q: Upon learning of the death of O.J. Simpson, I thought about some of the movies he made. Wasn’t he in “The Towering Inferno”? – Matt Callan, Bend, Ore.

A: He was. He played Harry Jernigan, the security chief of the then-tallest building in the world — a skyscraper in San Francisco — in that 1974 disaster epic produced by the king of that genre, Irwin Allen. Simpson mainly had scenes with top-billed stars Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, the former portraying the building’s architect and the latter, the city’s fire chief. However, Simpson reappeared late in the film in a scene with co-star Fred Astaire, who was cast as a charming con man.

Simpson would make another all-star tale in the disaster genre, though it wasn’t produced by Allen. “The Cassandra Crossing” (1976) was set aboard a train that was quarantined after a plague-carrying terrorist stowed away aboard it. Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Martin Sheen, Lee Strasberg and Lionel Stander were among the other principal cast members of the European-made drama.

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