Good Morning, Vietnam inspiration dead at 79

The former DJ who inspired Robin Williams’ character in war movie Good Morning, Vietnam has died.
Adrian Cronauer passed away on Wednesday (18Jul18) at a nursing home in Troutville, Virginia, at the age of 79.
He was in the U.S. Air Force back in 1965, when he was shipped off to Saigon, which has since been renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
He began working for the Armed Forces Radio Service, and soon took over the morning show Dawn Buster, on which he would greet listeners with his signature, drawn out call – which would later provide the name for the semi-autobiographical 1987 movie. Cronauer actually came up with the trademark greeting years earlier, while stationed at Iraklion Air Station in Crete.
He went on to pitch a TV sitcom based on his experiences as an Armed Forces Radio Service DJ in 1979, but when it failed to draw interest, he rewrote it as a small screen film, which caught the attention of funnyman Williams.
The star helped to turn the project into a reality, and the 1987 movie, directed by Barry Levinson, became a huge critical and commercial success, earning Williams an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.