David Rappaport

Re Sharon Bernstein’s May 9 article on the death of actor David Rappaport: When his manager, Frankie Leigh, told me of the suicide, I was struck numb.

Apparently David felt that at 3 feet, 11 inches tall he just couldn’t measure up to society’s expectations of “normal.” I turned on the radio and television, hoping that their reporting might help me understand “why.” It did. One report began, “Diminutive actor David Rappaport was found dead”; other announced, “The pint-sized star of ‘L.A. Law’ . . .” and so on.

In an age when news is reduced to “infotainment” and “sound bites,” an age in which it is assumed the viewer has the attention span of a gnat, there is no time for depth or clarity. Accordingly we have all become reduced, it seems, to one adjective. It is time we look beyond the five-second categorization of people.

David Rappaport was one of the most intelligent, articulate, talented, dignified and fun people I have ever known. There was nothing “diminutive” about him.

SHELLY GOLDSTEIN

Los Angeles