Rest in Peace Markie Post

photo by Alan Light.

 

Markie Post died earlier this week.

A native of California, she entered the entertainment industry as a researcher on game shows.  Eventually she moved up the acting chain to TV shows like The Fall Guy.

But to me, she will always be Christine Sullivan from Night Court.

Forgive this personal aside, but she was one of my first television crushes.  Post was so funny and she projected intelligence as she butted heads with Harry Anderson and John Larroquette.  For most of the series, she was a moral center, who practiced chastity while all others around did not (this did not last, but it went longer than I expected).  I remember being completely drawn in to the will-they-won't-they relationship Christine and Harry had.  I remember recording on VHS the scene in season 4 where they confess their feelings to each other and I was crushed when they did not get together.  I know it was silly to be so emotionally invested in ficitional characters like that, but I couldn't help it.  A lot of the reason I felt this way was because of Markie Post.

She was the perfect element that Night Court was missing.  For the first two seasons, they had been through several female public defenders.  But Post held on to the spot from Season 3 until the finale.  She was completely her own woman but was no afraid of being feminine.  She portrayed Christine as someone that made men want to be with and want to be better.  She made you believe that perpetual sleaze Dan Sullivan could find decency in his heart.

After the show ended, I caught her appearances here and there.  She kept working, at first in a three season comedy with John Ritter, but she never landed another gig like Night Court, which is a real shame.

John Larroquette wrote of her: "Her grace, her warmth, her intelligence, her compassion, her optimism, her empathy, her humility, her love and devotion to her family. And her flawless comic timing, her beauty, her laugh and more. We all wish she could have stayed longer but we thank the cosmos for blessing us and enriching the world with her for as long as it did."

Post was diagnosed with cancer four years ago but continued to work as much as she could.  She was married and divorced from her first husband within a year.  But she and her second husband were together for 39 years and had two daughters.

Let us pray for her family.  

We will miss her, but her performances will be with us for years to come.

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord and perpetual light shine upon her.  

Rest in Peace, Markie Post.