"LUCKY" PIERRE, ESQUIRE

During the 1960s, "Lucky" Pierre was the leading legal representative for the Underworld in Gotham City. His career reached its pinnacle and suffered its greatest debacle when he represented the second Catwoman and the Joker in court in 1968.



I'm assuming that Pierre was his last name and that "Lucky" was his nickname. As to what his first name was, we have no clue, but I think Masson would have worked well. "Masson Pierre" has a nice ring to it......



We have no definitive proof nor confirmation of his death; this is an assumption based on the fact that the actor who portrayed him in the Real World, former spokesman for the Kennedy White House Pierre Salinger, also passed away.

('Batman')



In Toobworld, many characters can live long after their human creators have died. For example, we're fairly certain that even though Andy Kaufman passed away in 1984, his character of Latka Gravas kept working at the Sunshine Cab Company - at least until his widow Simka made mention of her status in 1997, when she gave sportswriter Tony DiMeo a lift in her cab.

('Taxi' & 'The Tony Danza Show')



Sometimes those characters aren't afforded the luxury of living out their lives after their portrayers have passed away. They could have been sent off to live elsewhere off-screen and away from the prying eyes of the audience viewing at home. But instead the writers take the option of either writing up the deaths of the characters as well, or simply recasting them (which to me, seems like an insult to the work of the actor in the role).



The suicide of Pete Duel, who was playing one of the two lead roles in 'Alias Smith & Jones' forced the show's producers to take the drastic measure of recasting; calling on the show's narrator, Roger Davis, to step in as the new Hannibal Heyes/Joshua Smith.



(I've been able to splain this away with a rather lengthy essay calling on a role Davis played in an earlier episode of 'Alias Smith & Jones', as well as on the intervention of my choice for the most powerful character in the TV Universe: Dr. Miguelito Loveless.

('Alias Smith & Jones' & 'The Wild, Wild, West')



We'll see another example of how an actor's death can make an impact on a role in a few weeks, when it will be revealed that Dr. Virgil Swann, young Clark Kent's mentor, will have died. This will be to bring closure to the character now that real-life superman Christopher Reeve has passed away.

('Smallville')



Getting back to "Lucky" Pierre, he would have been the same age as Pierre Salinger, but his health was probably broken by his lengthy incarceration in prison. Or it could be that his underhanded tactics might have antagonized one of his Underworld clients who would have taken revenge.



With all of the modern ills in our society, Pierre would have been lucky indeed to make it to the age of 79.



At any rate, we doff our wishbone-decorated derby to the departed defense attorney and wish him Godspeed.



BCnU!

Tele-Toby