The late Miguel Ferrer's final appearance as Assistant Director Owen Granger airs on CBS' "NCIS: Los Angeles" 9 p.m. Sunday Feb. 19 (Channel 12).
Ferrer, son of singer Rosemary Clooney and cousin of actor George Clooney, died of throat cancer on Jan. 19. He was 61.
Katie Barker, CBS Entertainment vice president, tells me that Ferrer will be in a couple of scenes taped before his death.
CBS' publicity photos and media releases for the Feb. 19 broadcast do not mention or show Ferrer.
In the "Payback" episode, CBS says that "emotions run high for the team as one agent is held in an unknown location and tortured by the mole, while another discovers he was betrayed by someone he least expected."
Two of the five publicity photos show Special Agent Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) at a church.
After airing reruns opposite the Academy Awards on Feb. 26, "NCIS: Los Angeles" returns with a new program on March 5 including a tribute to Ferrer in his own voice, Barker confirms. Producers plan to broadcast Ferrer singing Bob Dylan's "Knocking On Heaven's Door" with his band, The Jenorators.
The episode will end with a remembrance title card, she says.
CBS promotions for the March 5 episode also don't mention the late actor. Called "Old Tricks," the March 5 description says:
"After a retirement home resident is kidnapped, the NCIS team uncovers a pair of con artists: Ginger and Edward O’Boyle (Debra Jo Rupp and Martin Mull), who hop from home to home scamming the elderly out of their money. Also, Callen (Special Agent G. Callen, played by Chris O'Donnell) confronts his father on his illegal activity and the danger it places on their family."
Ferrer started his career as a drummer, and toured with his mother and Bing Crosby. In the early 1980s, he and his father Jose Ferrer shot a movie in Kentucky in which his younger cousin, George Clooney, was an extra.
As I wrote on Jan. 19, George moved to Los Angeles and lived with Rosemary in 1982 to pursue acting at Miguel's urging. And here's a link to my Feb. 2 story with George's remembrances of Miguel from a Paramount Studios memorial service.
