You knew Andrew Gold as a popular recording artist, most familiar for his songs, "Lonely Boy" and"Thank You for Being a Friend." I knew him -- for one brief e-mail moment during the summer of 2001 -- as the son of Ernest Gold, the award-winning composer who developed musical scores for such movies as "Exodus" and, of particular interest to me, for United Artists' 1956 documentary motion picture, "UFO: The True Story of Flying Saucers."
Andrew died last week following lingering health issues. Drawing upon messages saved 10 years ago, I decided to post his one e-mail message and my two, keeping in mind how rare and appreciated it can be when a celebrity spares a minute or two to answer questions from inquiring minds. Frankly, I was a little surprised that he shared his and his grandparents' thoughts about UFOs in an e-mail to a stranger such as I, but including those few words of a personal nature really did speak kindly about the writer.
(Recently, I discovered that the soundtrack music for "UFO" is missing no longer, and I hope to offer further details later this year.)
