� � �We've all read about the last words of some famous people. For example, drummer Buddy Rich died after surgery in 1987.� As he was being prepped for the operation a nurse asked him, "Is there anything you...

� � �We've all read about the last words of some famous people. For example, drummer Buddy Rich died after surgery in 1987.� As he was being prepped for the operation a nurse asked him, "Is there anything you can't take?" And he responded, "Yeah, country music."

� � �Or the composer Gustav Mahler who died in bed. He reportedly was conducting an imaginary orchestra. His last word was: "Mozart!"

� � �Basketball great "Pistol" Pete Maravich collapsed during a pickup basketball game. His last words were: "I feel fine."

� � �John Wayne who died in L.A. at age 72 turned to his wife and said, "Of course I know who you are. You're my girl. I love you."

� � �Joe DiMaggio reportedly said, "I finally get to see Marilyn."

� � �Then there's my favorite, from Steve Jobs. According to his sister Mona, the Apple founder's last words were, "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow!"

� � �But famous endings go beyond last words. My favorite ending to a TV show is from�The Sopranos, when the screen just goes black.

� � �You probably remember Mary Tyler Moore who was laid off along with her TV family, saying goodbye, then turning out the lights in the studio and walking away.

� � �Or Ted Danson, aka Sam Malone, turning away a customer at Cheers and saying, "Sorry, we're closed."

� � �My favorite last line from the movies is from the coming-of-age drama�Stand By Me. The story is told as a flashback, and at the end Richard Dreyfuss, now an adult, sits at his desk and slowly types: "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?"

� � �There are a lot of other famous last lines, like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, at the airport telling Louis, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

� � �Or the classics. Judy Garland in�The Wizard of Oz�says, "There's no place like home."

� � �From�King Kong: "Oh no. It wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast."

� � �Scarlett O'Hara in both the movie and the book�Gone with the Wind�says, "After all, tomorrow is another day."

� � �Another famous last line of a novel comes from the unforgettable�Catcher in the Rye�when Holden Caulfield says,�"Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."

� � �Or how about this one from The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen: "She was seventy five and she was going to make some changes in her life."

� � �But my favorite last line in a novel is from The Great Gatsby, which I read again last winter. F. Scott Fitzgerald concludes: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

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