A tribute to the fiddler

He was known to my generation as Captain Hanzel "Hank" Murphy.\nTo others, frankly, he wasn't known at all.\nThough he starred in 1,004 performances as the longest-running Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof" in the mid-1960s (whose costume hangs in the Smithsonian), though he enjoyed a brief stint on Broadway as Molokov in "Chess", though he had a role in the 1980s classic film "Mommie Dearest" and guest appearances on "Third Watch," "Law and Order" and "Kojak," nobody today seemed to be able to place Hollywood working-class legend Harry Goz's voice with his face. \nAnd with the passing of John Ritter and Johnny Cash this month, Goz's identity again appears to have faded back behind the soundstage.\nGoz died Sept. 5. Until this weekend when the producers at Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" decided to run a brief tribute to his memory before the airing of his latest voice-work project, "Sealab 2021," none of us were the wiser.\nHe was a blue-collar entertainer. He was a man who may not have had his face plastered across the magazine racks, but a man who made the medium work. For the every actor we know by hair style alone, there have been 20 or so Harry Goz's upon whose shoulders they are standing. \nIt's impossible to get that big without a little boost from below.\nStill, a true professional, he did his job well. He worked hard, doing everything from voiceovers for cartoons to narration for books on tape. He was the nameless "Hotel Security Manager" that we pass by when making our way up to our rooms to watch Rob Lowe light up the TV set.\nHarry Goz is everywhere.\nFor every Ted Williams that lies frozen in carbonite somewhere in Arizona, there's an Elden Auker on the mound. For every Homer Simpson on a T-shirt, there's a "Bleeding Gums" Murphy playing the Simpsons' theme. And for every Herman B Wells who walked the IU landscape, there's a quiet groundskeeper who made sure his steps fell on what we all know is the most beautiful campus we can name.\n"Kiss the seamstress, sweep the stage."\nIt's an old actor's adage that reminds us to be thankful to those people who aren't basking in the limelight, but whose efforts make sure those lights are plugged in. \nA little appreciation goes a long way. \nWho cares what a "key grip" actually is. Stay for the credits after the next movie you watch. Chances are, it's somebody's son.\nYou see, Harry Goz was a voice actor. A job that requires amazing talent, but whose work is identified not with their face, but that of a cartoon -- a figment of our imaginations. These images die with their counterparts, though they have no age. \nTheir timeless quality makes ghosts of those who give them life. No body, only voice, they still touch our lives and make us smile.\nPeople die all the time, yet the loss of an entertainer matters more than we might like to admit. It's not shallow, it's not cheap. In a world where we hear the word "terrorist" more times a day than we tell someone that we love them, an individual's ability to lift our spirits, if even for 28 minutes, is a skill this world cannot do without.\nBe him a wacky roommate, a man in black or animated sea-captain, we will miss them.\nSo say a little prayer for Harry Goz. He's probably standing somewhere behind John Ritter in heaven trying to catch a glimpse of God.